Weybridge to Limehouse

Sun 28th April

We walked to Weybridge Methodist Church for the 1030 service and had a great welcome from all our friends there. Adrian was playing the organ, and the superintendent minister, Keith, was leading the service. We have not met him before, and he was very engaging. We took a few photos of our friends there.

Weybridge Methodist service

(Keith) Hazel and Lili

Mary and Stanley

Claire Carol Linda

Jose and Lili

We went for a buffet lunch at the Great Gurkhas afterwards which was very nice. They bring the dishes to the table. Excellent food.

We walked back to the boat and set off, spotting a Mandarin Duck as we went down river past The Old Boathouse to Thames Lock where Tracy was on duty, with husband Gary. Two boats were coming up and we went in straight away after that.

Mandarin Duck

The Old Boathouse

Approaching Thames Lock

Thames Lock Cottage

Tracy and Gary

So we left the Wey with fond memories of meeting lots of friends from previous years. Our licence was still current, but we needed to leave, as Little Venice Cavalcade beckons this weekend.

National Trust Wey Licence

We went down through Desborough Cut, under Walton Bridge and past the Weir Hotel to Sunbury Lock. Here we used the elsan and the bins. Four bins for general waste, but no recycling available. Please do better, Environment Agency.

Sunbury Lock was self-service, so Hazel went to press buttons. We were running between rain clouds, as this is April. Thankfully we seemed to avoid the rain.

Sunbury Lock

Mixed weather

Really?

Molesey Lock was keeper operated and we went straight in. Hampton Court Bridge was immediately below. We moored at Hampton Court Palace where there are mooring regulations in place, and we had to register our arrival with a company online. We noticed Huffler was also moored up.

Molesey Lock

Hampton Court Bridge

Moored at Hampton Court Palace

Mooring Regs

4 locks, 7 miles. Dep 1415, arr 1645

Mon 29th April

Morning at Hampton Court

Water art

James went to have a chat with Tony on Huffler. We shared locks on the Grand Union with them two years ago. Margaret and he are going to Brentford on Wednesday, the same day we go to Limehouse. Meanwhile they needed to go up through Molesey Lock to fill their water tank.  James walked to Hampton Court Bridge and back to see if our friend Roger Ingold was in sight, as he had said he may visit us. We didn’t see him.

Hampton Court Palace

Huffler going upstream

We had a pleasant cruise down river to Kingston, where we found that the visitor moorings were full of boats that move from one mooring to another every few days. We found a space a little further down where there were no signs to say we shouldn’t moor. We asked a man in an adjacent doorway, and he said all sorts or boats moor there. As we were about to walk off into Kingston, we saw Huffler coming into view, and we said that they could moor alongside us. They were grateful, as there were no more spaces.

Huffler coming alongside

We went shopping: Waitrose, Aldi, John Lewis, Bentall’s, M&S. The Aldi was the oldest, smallest, most cramped one we have ever been in, but they had what we wanted. When we returned Tony was on board Huffler, and he had been told by a lady that these were private moorings. We had done our best to establish whether we could moor here, and there was no sign, so we decided to stay another hour. Tony and Margaret had finished anyway, so they moved off to the opposite bank.

We had lunch at Preto, a Brazilian style buffet where they carve the meat at your table. The food was excellent and the lunchtime special price of £10.95 was a bargain.

We cruised across to the other side where it was quieter, as there are night clubs and bars all along the waterfront in Kingston.

Leaving the waterfront in Kingston

Our lunch venue

Moored on the other side

Horse Chestnut trees

Kingston by night

0 locks, 3 miles. Dep 1105 arr 1150

Tue 30^th April

Warm and sunny today. We made preparations for the tidal voyage through London. We brought out the anchor and chain from the bows, to have in readiness. We connected the VHF radio, and put out our lifejackets ready, as well as the cover for the bows. James also set up the time lapse camera.

We checked with the Teddington lock keeper and verified that our calculations were correct – High water at Teddington was at 1242 BST, so we planned to leave there at about 1200.

We set off, noticing that there were a few more boats moored now than there were last night. Huffler was still moored up.

Farewell to Huffler

Historic boats near Kingston Bridge

Kingston Bridge

Kingston Bridge showing how it has been widened over the years

Small Boats Club

Teddington Weir and Lock Channel

The lock at Teddington was open for us, and we had an audience – a school class was being shown how it all works. No photos, then. James told them about the Monty Python fish-slapping dance sketch that took place here.

As we left the lock, we set the time-lapse camera running, and put the bow cover in place to stop water coming in the bows. Then we settled down to 3½ hours of cruising through London. We took a lot of photos, and the captions tell the story.

This 1909 boundary marker just below Teddington defines the start of the jurisdiction

of the Port of London Authority, taking over from the Environment Agency.

Marble Hill House

This eco warrior has been living here at Richmond for at least 20 years

Star and Garter Home, now made into apartments.

Richmond Bridge

Richmond waterfront

Richmond Weir and Lock opened in 1894 to guarantee a navigable depth between Teddington and Richmond. At high tide we cruise over the weir. At low tide we use the lock.

Great crested grebe

Canada Geese doing a fly past

Four boats at once past Sion House

Brentford

Boat race finish marker

Hammersmith Bridge sadly closed to road traffic again. Boats are OK!

Harrods depository, now apartments.

Albert Bridge, from where we watched the Diamond Jubilee Boat Pageant

Working on the Thames Tideway sewage and rainwater tunnel

Battersea Power Station

MI6 building

National indecision centre

Mean machines closing in for the spill

County Hall and the London Eye

London’s changing skyline

Blackfriars Bridges

Tate Modern and the Shard

St Paul’s and the Millennium Footbridge

Globe Theatre

Bridges

Fast boats

Pickford’s Wharf and the Shard

The Walkie Talkie building

HMS Belfast

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Canary Wharf

Limehouse Lock

Into Limehouse Basin

The voyage was mostly OK except where it was very busy with fast boats from the London Eye to beyond Tower Bridge. There were big waves, and our bow cover was partly ripped off from the force of water. Then we had water even coming into our bow locker so when we moored up in Limehouse basin we had to take everything out to dry off. 

Drying out

Next time we will leave an hour before high water at Teddington, as we had to push it a bit to get to Limehouse with enough water this time. We overheated by Kew Bridge and had to slacken off for five minutes.

Despite those things, it is always an exhilarating experience to cruise through London, with so much history to see, and the ever-changing architecture to admire (or otherwise).

The time-lapse camera worked. James had to acquire some new software online to process the 3671 pictures into a video. The result is slightly low resolution, but you can watch it on YouTube here It takes about 3 ½ minutes

2 locks, 23 miles. Dep 1120, arr 1535

Next: two days in London, including visiting the Olympic Park, then to Little Venice for Cavalcade, which starts on Friday Evening.