Before we recount today's cruising events, we must confess to an error at the end of yesterday's blog, concerning the railings and gates along the edge of Hampton Court. A more extensive look in the morning took us to an information board about the works to restore this historic feature.
The Barge Walk railings date back to the start of the eighteenth century and were recently found to be deteriorating rather rapidly. Strangely, no records of past maintenance can be found although 27 layers of paint have now been discovered, at least 18 of which are pre-1902.
As well as conservation work on the railings themselves, new stone footings are being installed to reduce the rate of corrosion.
Further details see http://patrickbaty.co.uk/2010/11/25/hampton-court-palace-2 and http://www.hallconservation.com/?portfolio=tijou-screen-hampton-court-palace
The day started very bright but the forecast suggested rain all afternoon. In fact, although it turned chilly and grey, the rain went elsewhere (we could occasionally see some showers in the distance)
We knew that we could not pass Teddington until 13:45, half an hour before high tide, but we made good time downstream. We called again at Thames Ditton Marina to fill the fuel tank - we did not want to run short on the tidal Thames! The marina itself looks quite different than the view from the river.
The designers of many of the riverside apartment blocks have struggled to achieve a distinctive identity, with the result than many look very strange - some work better than others. Towards central London where there has been intensive re-development, we saw many more such blocks.
Christine managed to elicit a cheery wave from one of the men working one of the Kingston bridges!
To fill in time, we walked to the same shops that Mike visited on the way up and bought another interesting loaf from the German Bakery. Also, Mike walked across the footbridges to the chandlery, which this time was open, and they did indeed have a replacement for the gas cylinder in Mike's life jacket.
There was quite a large police and security presence that arrived in a number of vans and then walked a short way up the towpath. It seems that 15 days have now elapsed since the new bylaws regarding mooring were introduced by the local council. Time now for enforcement. Although the activity was still on-going when we finally left, it did not seem as if there were any boats actually removed.
At 13:30 we moved up towards the lock along with another narrow boat that had also come down from Hampton Court. We were originally led to believe that they would also come down to Limehouse it turned out that they were leaving the river at Brentford.
Initially we made 5 mph as the tide was still rising but before long it went slack and then started to ebb quickly. As a result we did most of the trip at just over 6 mph, rising to 7 towards the last lap.
When we had been past the Star and Garter Home before it had been raining so this time a much better photo - almost blue sky in the background!
Not realised before that most of Hampton Church is a modern building with, it appears, only the tower remaining from the medieval church.
Just an hour after we left Teddington Lock we were at Brentford and, for the first time, we sailed straight past. On previous occasions we have either started or finished the River Thames at this junction.
OK, so we have included of planes on their final approach to Heathrow on previous blogs but this gives a chance to comment that it was rather strange that the river winds to and fro across the path and not long after taking this picture, the planes were crossing us from left to right!
The next couple of hours were uneventful from the steerer's point of view although a stiff breeze and increasing speed over the ground meant that it was always necessary to concentrate. As a result, the next part of the blog will be just a selection of photos. (Not all in the right order as two cameras were on the go!)
By the time we reached Westminster, two factors made the steering more complicated: the breeze had whipped up more significant waves - at least for us even if the huge trip boats seemed unaffected. The second factor was the number of boats on the move - a sudden flurry of Clippers - the fast commuter boats - seemed to be everywhere and a good lookout was needed.
Onwards, past the Houses of Parliament and then the last bridge: Tower Bridge and we were able to pass straight under the middle.
and some more pictures . . .
Time now to report to Limehouse so that the keeper can prepare the lock for our arrival. The traffic had disappeared so fortunately there was nothing to avoid as we turned into the lock. Until the last moment we seemed to be heading in just right until well into the confines of the lock entrance when a fierce eddy from the tide bouncing off the downstream wall pushed us back into the upstream wall. At least we did not give it too bad a bump - not as bad as Tim and Pru!
Before long, with no a little relief, we were safely inside the lock and minutes later able to tie up on the 24 hour visitor mooring. at least that meant that we did not have to go further to seek an overnight stop.
It may have been a bit of an adrenalin trip, but very worthwhile. It is not something ever to take for granted and requires a lot of concentration but in the end not as difficult as it is often described. However, it is always worth remembering that it something does go wrong then it is rather a different matter that if on a canal with banks never more than a few feet away and water shallow enough to walk out from!
25.9 miles - 2 locks
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