Day 7, Friday 8th October 2004
Sonning to Runnymede

We still had a long way to go, so after waking at 8am, I thought we might as well get going. We left at 8:30am, and were at the next lock just after they opened at 9:00am. We were managing 5.5mph on the way downstream, compared to the 3.5mph on the way up, it was making easy work of the miles. We were warned at Hambleden of some filming happening further down the river at Medmenham. Apparently it’s a popular spot for filming.

When we reached the islands, just after Culham Court, a man in a small inflatable waved his hands about. I slowed down, and he motored closer. I shouted something I could not hear, so he moved closer still. I didn’t know how long we were going to have to wait, so I started to turn the boat against the flow where I could hold it indefinitely. While the bloke in the safety boat didn’t know much, the film is called Mrs Henderson Presents... and stars Dame Judy Dench, and another actor I recognised but I didn’t know the name of. They had a couple of old cars on the bank, and Dame Dench was rowing a period rowing boat (well a diver was pulling it along), while the other actor was in a small motor boat. The film crew were perched on a large raft, with two cine cameras. We passed another boat going up stream as we went through, who seemed quite chuffed at what they saw!

It was 12:15pm when we reached the other side of Marlow lock, where we moored up for lunch. Dad wanted to have a look around, and didn’t get back till 2:05pm. We set off straight away, and even managed to overtake a small outboard powered cruiser on our way down to the next lock. I think he turned in at Cookham. The boat traffic started to increase ready for the weekend, and we shared many locks with other boats, or at least managed to miss some due to the boat in front managing to get to the lock before we did.

We wondered if we could get through the next lock, after passing through the Windsor racecourse lock at 4:40pm. We reached Windsor old lock, and found that the electrics were left on until 9pm tonight, which was really handy, and we did the next two locks with couple who were on the river for the first time who were trying to get their new boat to Penton Hook for the night.

We stopped just pass Runnymede, on some very nice piled, and concreted moorings. We’d just ran out of gas, so we had to swap bottles to finish cooking tea, which was a Steak and Kidney pie.

Day 8, Saturday 9th October 2004
Runnymede to Eel Pie Island

I awoke at 8:30am, and so got ready, and set off just before 9am. I didn’t realise how close to the lock we were, but even though a trip boat had just passed, the lock was empty, and the lock keeper was just letting a couple of boats in at the bottom. Most of the locks were like this when we arrived, the only one ready for us was at Chertsey. I tried to talk to Brentford lock, but no one was there yet. I called Teddington, and asked when would be a good time to leave for Brentford, but it was 12:30pm today, or 1:30pm tomorrow, to early to get there for today, and way to late for us tomorrow as we had to get back to Northolt for Sunday.

We stopped at Hampton Court for a couple of hours for dinner, and then set off down to Teddington. I wanted to have a word with the lock keeper about leaving early in the morning to get to Brentford for 11am, two hours before high water. This was going to be the only way we could get to Northolt in any sensible time.

Dad had other ideas, and talked to a boat going downstream. He said he was going to Eel Pie Island, and that there was a barge that had been left for some time around the back of the island we could moor to. After following him there, it turned out that the barge had a short tug moored along, and some small punts also mentioned were a bit lightweight for us. We decided to have a little look further down, and when we reached a boat club/marina just outside of Richmond, Dad spotted some space to moor in.

I turned the boat around and Dad talked to a bloke who had walked down to see what we wanted. They said it was fine to moor along side a small boat outside the office, but after messing about getting ropes ashore in the strong wind we found out it was going to cost £10. Since it normally cost £15 to moor, the owner was not going to come down anymore, and since the mooring was worse than the barge, we decided to return to Eel Pie, and try there. We had to string the ropes over to the barge, and put on the spring, but it seemed OK. So here we stayed…

Day 9, Sunday 10th October 2004
Eel Pie Island to Northolt

I wasn’t sure just how fast the tide would be running once we reached the other side of Richmond, so we set off early – 8:50am! The sluices at Richmond cause some strange effects both above, and below it. The weir is removed 2 hours either side of high water making the section to Teddington tidal during this time. Outside of these times the river runs down, even though the tide is rising. This mean we reached the Richmond lock quickly. I gave the lock keeper a call as we approached, and he asked us to wait a couple of minutes while he finished doing what he was doing. By 9:35am we were out on the tide way, and now I was relying on the second effect that the weirs cause. Water only moves if it has anywhere to go to, and since there is not much water holding capability in the river so close to the “end”, then the water is not flowing fast.

On the way up we went around the back side of Isleworth Ait, this time we couldn’t even if we wanted to, as there was no water what so ever. When we reached Brentford the tide was running at about 1mph, which made a change from the 2.5mph it was running at on the way up. This meant we reached the lock at 10am, and even though it was an hour before Brentford opened there was plenty of water in the Brent.

The lock keeper turned up early, and so we off 10 minutes early than we planned. The sound of bag pipes greeted us as we went around the corner at Glaxo Smith-Kline’s new headquarters. I guess the wife said “You’re not playing that in here, get out!” :-)

It was an easy run up the locks, mostly because the Hanwell flight locks were all empty thanks to a boat coming down the locks. We met them at the bottom lock, but they didn’t make a move to come through it, so we emptied the lock (using the restored side pounds), and worked through. It turned out that the lady’s husband had run off with the map (not sure where), and so they were running “blind”. She was working the locks with help from her daughter, and they thought that this was the last lock into the river Thames. I told them they had a few more locks yet, and that it was best to stop above Brentford Gauging lock for the night.

We reached the top of the locks at 2:05pm, Bulls Bridge junction at 2:37pm, where we said hello to “Knot Normal”, a travelling boat fitter, which at this rate I might get to do my dinette after Anthony M have ignored my pleas for a quote.

After nearly forgetting to stop at the wharf at Northolt to unload all of Dad’s stuff, and then struggling to turn at Greenford due to a boat moored opposite the winding hole, it was 5pm when we reached my mooring.

75 locks, 158 miles in 7 days. The engine managed to keep going, but I think there is now a problem with the reversing clutch, certainly this boat doesn’t stop even more than it didn’t before. I suspect it’s when I was trying to throw the teeshirt off the prop in Reading.

Dad seemed to be up for a trip to the Boat show at Excel by boat, so if St. Pancreas is doing it this year, this looks likely to be our next trip. Now it’s back to hard work again.