Monday 7 May
Tuesday 8 May
Wednesday 9 May
Thursday 10 May
Friday 11 May
Saturday 12 May
Sunday 13 May
Abingdon to Goring
Goring to Cookham
Cookham to Laleham
Laleham to Hampton Court
Hampton Court to Limehouse Marina, London
Limehous Marina, London to Chatham
Chatham
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After four glorious weeks of blue skies and warmth, we started the first day of our cruise with heavy rain! We took the opportunity of the rain to inspect the new window glazing rubbers for leakage and are happy to report that all stood up to their first test.
The rain had stopped, more or less, by 10:30 and that's when we set off. In fact we never got wet all day and reached our goal of Goring by mid afternoon in sunshine.
However, not without incident. In our first lock when it came time to stop the engine it wouldn't! At least not from the top helm position. Thinking the push button had chosen this moment to die, I moved calmly to the inside helm position and stopped it from there - fine. But when it came time to re-start everything was dead. No engine instruments; yet everything on the domestic side was fine.
We manhandled Starry Night out of the lock to the layby and set to work on some basic troubleshooting with the aid of wiring diagrams and a multi-meter. It quickly became apparent that the surface of the main engine control circuit fuse was sufficiently corroded to make a high resistance connection. Why it had chosen that moment to revolt is a mystery.
Anyway, polishing the the fuse caps on the carpet restored electrical continuity and we were back in action! The offending fuse has been dismissed from duty and replaced with a shiny new one.
Ready for the off - where has all that sunshine gone?
Surely this cannot be another boat in the distance?
While we were at Goring, it appeared that the speed log had picked up some debris from the water which was preventing its paddle wheel from turning. It is always a bit scary fixing this when it happens because the log unit sticks out through a 2inch hole in the bottom of the boat to which it is sealed, and from which it must be removed for access. Such operation is accompanied by the inrush of a large amount of water through said 2inch hole at a rate not to be trifled with! So we decided just to loosen the probe and jiggle it a bit. This only resulted in a small amount of water ingress and remarkably fixed it.
We stopped at Cookham as planned, and had a walk round the village and a bevy in Bel and the Dragon.
Whatever the weather you can be sure the rowing fraternity will be out on the river!
A bit of excitement this afternoon with policemen running up and down the tow path. Wasn't obvious what was going on but it somehow involved another boat moored here at Laleham and mention was made of a BMW.
No more excitement, please!
The 24hr mooring at Laleham
A leisurely start under blue sky and white clouds which quickly changed to grey skies after a passing boater remarked to me that the weather looked good so far! We stopped in at Shepperton Marina to top up the diesel tank (we have only used about 40 litres this season so far!) and to take on a fresh gas cylinder to start the trip with. Remembering what a palaver it was to get hold of Calor Gas on the Broads we are hoping this one will last the whole trip, as we now use an electric kettle when in marinas, and have fitted a calorifier (using waste heat from the engine/electricity, for our hot water).
Arrived at Hampton Court in time for lunch where it has been raining on and off since. Our friends Pat and John will be joining us this evening, for the trip up to Lowestoft. Hope they remembered to pack their wet weather gear!
The forecast is not too encouraging though we will almost certainly head down to Limehouse tomorrow. The big question is will the weather permit the onward leg on Saturday to Chatham? We will have to see.
We set off from Hampton Court at 8:30 to catch Teddington Lock at high water and were down to Limehouse by 12:00. Despite being a week day there were still plenty of rowers on the river. There was a huge pile of rubbish floating in the entrance to Limehouse lock, being continuously added to as more was blown in by the wind. Besides the normal plastic bottles there were quite a few life rings, floats and other boating odds and ends.
Further provisions were acquired at Canary Wharf and we had a very nice evening meal at Booty's pub, by the river side just five minutes walk from the boat.
Limehouse marina entrance - rubbish not visible!
The forecast seemed OK for the trip round to Chatham, and indeed all the way to Nore Sand the sea state was smooth to slight.
When we got to the entrance to the Medway the sea state livened up quite a bit, and it started to rain.
By the time we were well up the river near Gillingham, the water was very choppy. We passed a yacht being rescued with a broken mast, and one aground on a sand bank being pulled off. Then we heard on the radio that the little fishing boat following us in had just happened upon some poor lady floating in the water in her life jacket and had fished her on board. She was OK but in shock but there was no sign of any sailing boat owning up to a missing crew member.
We were pleased to get into the shelter of Chatham Marina for a well earned rest after a battering by the wind.
The Thames barrier
Doing the customary dance with the Woolwich ferry!
Shopping in the morning at the outlet mall, and the afternoon spent at the Maritime Museum. The evening studying the weather forecast and fine tuning the route for the trip to Harwich.
Copyright © 2006-2009 Mike Hawkridge