Home Counties Cruise: Day 9

We weren't due out on the tidal Thames until mid afternoon, so we had a cooked breakfast, and then got the DLR to the Tower of London, to see the ceramic poppies marking the more than 800-thousand people who died in the First World War.

The installation won't be finished until 11 November, and more poppies were being 'planted' today.

We noticed that there was a classic boat festival going on at St Katharine's Dock, which is almost next door to the Tower.  There were lots of fascinating boats to look at, and we were impressed at the good quality information boards next to each one.

Back at Limehouse, we made final preparations for our trip.  My former colleague, Peter, who came to see us off three years ago came for a repeat performance, and as I haven't seen him for a while we had a good catch up too.

We were due out of the lock at 2.45, and on schedule the lock was prepared for us.  We were joined by Mick on Jubilee, who needed to go in a convoy as he doesn't have a VHF licence.  Within a couple of minutes we were entering the tideway, with Jubilee following behind.

Immediately I felt the river was much rougher than the last time we did the trip on Briar Rose, three years ago.  Then the stretch through Tower Bridge had been surprisingly calm; today it seemed very lumpy.

The reason may have been the amount of boat traffic, perhaps because of it being a Sunday.  The ribs in particular create a lot of wash -- indeed that seems to be the whole point of them.

Peter had got on his bike after we left, to try to get to Tower Bridge before us.  He later sent me a photo of us passing HMS Belfast.  We look very small!

There were lots of City Cruisers boats around.  One came right up behind us before turning onto a pier, and another made Jubilee look very tiny.

A few things have changed since we last did the tideway.  Beyond Blackfriars Bridge is the Bismarck, with a camoflage paint job.  And further up near Tate Britain there's a large wooden hippo.

It's always quite exciting going past the London Eye, under Westminster Bridge, and past Parliament.  There were lots of tv and radio trucks on the bridge, to cover the cycling Tour of Britain.

We made sure Jubilee was always within sight behind us, although sometimes he seemed quite a way behind.  He later said that at times we seemed to speed away from him, and then he'd catch up -- although neither of us changed our engine speed at all.  It must just be the flow of the tide through different bits of the river.

Before long we were passing through Richmond Bridge, where the half tide barrier had already been raised.  Richmond itself was very busy with people making the most of a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Then we were at Teddington.  A boat was already going up in the lock, and then it was our turn.  A cruiser and a narrowboat from Brentford arrived and came up at the same time.

We moored up just after the lock, and my colleague, Paul, came to meet us.  I went back to the lock office to buy a licence and pay for our night's mooring.  Then the three of us adjourned to the pub for a drink and a meal.

20 miles, 2 locks.  (106 miles, 77 locks)

Autumn Cruise - Day 11, Part 2

We spent a nervous couple of hours waiting for our timed entry to the Thames.  In that time, we checked the engine and removed a pile of London's rubbish from the weedhatch.  We also packed away anything breakable, as we could be in for a bumpy ride.  An expanded crew assembled: as well as Brian and Mike who've been staying for a few days, we were joined by Nigel, one of the co-owners of Debdale.  A colleague of mine, Peter, also arrived to take photos of us as we went onto the Thames.  His plan was then to race us to Tower Bridge to get more photos there.

On schedule at 3.15, Limehouse Lock opened and the green light came on.  We went into the lock, roped onto the risers, and the gates closed behind us.  The water is let out by opening the bottom gates a fraction, and we were soon going down.  At the same time, I radioed London VTS to tell them that we were about to go onto the tideway.  When the lock gates open, the lock cut looks huge.  I sounded a long blast on the horn as we headed out to the river.  Adrian signalled that there was no traffic coming, and out we went; Briar Rose turned right without any steering from me: the tide just takes you.

As we approached Tower Bridge, the water was surprisingly calm; later in the trip it was decidedly choppy, particularly when we had other traffic coming the other way and overtaking us.  At one point, there was water splashing over the bow and up the sides of the boat.  The rudder shakes as each wave passes, and you can hear the prop getting more or less water as we bobbed up and down.

Sue from Indigo Dream said she was working near the river, and later texted us a photo from her phone as we passed Westminster.

At Brentford, Simon from Tortoise was spotted as we passed the entrance to the Grand Union.  He later brought us a fantastic set of photos.

We arrived at Richmond slightly too early, as the half-tide barrier was still down, but it did mean we could watch it rise into the bridge.

It was getting dark as we reached Teddington Lock, where we joined a large Dutch Barge that we'd also seen at Limehouse, and who'd passed us at Richmond.  They'd done the trip in an hour less than we had!  I went and sorted out a Thames licence, and we moored up just above the lock in the gathering gloom.  Nigel's wife, Alison, was there to meet us, and we all went to a pub for dinner.  It had been a surprisingly exhausting afternoon, but also very exciting and not a little nerve wracking at times.  It's a great trip -- and if you get the chance to do it, say yes.

21 miles, 2 locks.  (150 miles, 115 locks)