Lechdale Trip

By Peter Williams We promised ourselves that we'd Winsome all the way down the Thames one day. Following our epic 5-lock Odyssey to Llangattock, we've come to the reluctant conclusion that we're only good for about 15 miles a day, so a complete Thames trip would take some time even before you take the locks into account. One day, however we will have to try, and having engineered a lull in our other work commitments, we decided it was time for some serious Winsome marketing research to test the feasibility of such a trip. This exercise was to touch upon, if not resolve, such important issues as: Can you launch a Winsome on the Thames, and if so, where? We had never done this before. You need to be able to bring the car tolerably near the river, and have somewhere to park it afterwards. Can you carry all you need for stopping overnight? Are there B&B places which offer safe mooring? How easy is it to stop for lunch (on or off the boat) or for comfort breaks? How far can you go comfortably in a day? How long does it take to go through a lock (you can't usually carry a boat the size of Winsome round a Thames lock because (a) there isn't a towpath and (b) the places you can get in and out the water are very few and far between). This is a trip report with (some) pictures covering an exploratory two-day trip on the upper reaches of the Thames from Lechlade to Tadpole (!). We stopped overnight at the Swan Hotel at Radcot, which is about half way between the two. Day One Waking at dawn, we remembered that we had in fact loaded Winsome on the roof rack the night before and went back to sleep. In committing us to this foolish venture on the usual spur of the moment, Kidd had been totally taken in by a very optimistic 5 day forecast for the South Midlands for dry with sunny intervals. At Pencelli, it looked rather gloomy, but we were not downhearted because we had purchased a cycle cape we were very keen to try out. Backing up a little, we are getting used to the new roof rack which is very much quicker to use than our previously faithful servant Honkley - now dismantled but promising to rise again as a boat stand. The main time saver, as anticipated, is the fact that you can tie the boat down while it is still resting on the side of the car. This makes for a better division of labour by the crew. We persist with an additional line around the bow and anchored to the roof bars, which takes almost as long to put on as the rest of the loading operation together. We set off at around 10:00 and arrived without incident at Lechlade around 12:30 after an uneventful trip. The weather did look a wee bit brighter than at home, but not much. After a false start at the wrong pub, we were directed to Lechlade's Riverside Marina, which is hidden down a dirt road running from a lay-by to the West of the town centre. Here we met Dave, and gave him £11 - ten for the launch and one for the overnight parking. He said the slipway could be busy at weekends, which is worth noting because Winsome takes a little longer to launch from the car roof to the water than your average boat. Once she is on her dolly, however, she's probably much quicker. Lechlade Marina proved almost ideal for our purposes, however, with parking fairly nearby and space to unload and reassemble Winsome before trundling her off the slip. The slip leads into a backwater off the Thames that provides mooring for a motley array of craft. There is a fuel pickup point, and a gloriously clutter chandlery to boot. There are also "facilities" that are kept under lock and key by Dave. The slipway is quite a bit longer and slightly steeper than ours at Pencelli, so we managed to launch Winsome stern first without getting our feet wet at all. We then tied her up alongside near the slip to complete the loading of all our bits and pieces. This brought home the fact that river banks are much steeper and taller than canal banks - where you can land at all, the useful bit of land starts at 4 feet or more above water level. For an overnight stay we carried one waterproof overnight bag and another with our foul weather gear. We also took along the dolly and wheel, and one inflatable roller. We left the pump behind since we didn't actually intend to get the boat out of the water expect in an emergency. The only tool we took was an Allen key to tighten up the rudder pin which now seems to loosen over the course of the day, presumably because the locking screw is being slowly unscrewed by the action of the tiller. We locked the car, jumped in the boat and set off. Except that we were pointing the wrong way (see picture) and first needed to turn round. The Captain/Purser supervising the loading at Lechlade: 11 August 2006 We therefore needed to start this epic voyage with a rather inelegant and bad-tempered 3 point turn, before setting off. At this point, the Captain discovered that the tiller was only moving in one direction, and the voyage looked very likely to be curtailed after the first minute. As the Chief Engineer ran through the many horrible reasons why this might be, and rued the omission of a complete tool kit with filing capability, the Captain discovered that the rear hatch was jammed against the tiller rather than properly placed in its housing. Adding this item to our pre-flight checklist, we proceeded to join the Thames at the upstream exit from the marina, and proceeded upstream into weather that looked altogether brighter and less threatening than the picture shows. It was now about 13:50, and we were booked in at Radcot - about 5 miles downstream - for the night. We reckoned going straight there we would arrive much too early, so we had decided to head upstream instead - to see how far Winsome could get beyond the official limit to narrowboat navigation. So we set off westwards at a GPS-measured 3.7 mph, attracting the usual admiration from all we passed. Narrowboats are constrained by their draught, the bend radius they can cope with, and the width of the waterway (which determines whether they can turn round). The traditional limit to navigation on the Thames is about a mile upstream from Lechlade Marina at the junction with the now derelict Severn-Thames canal. This is a photograph of the "Round House" that marks the limit, taken from just upstream. Unfortunately, you can't see the round tower that gives it its name, but you may get a feel for how much more narrow and "intimate" the Thames is this far up. The Round House from up-stream According to various people we asked, you can go at least 10 miles further upstream than this point, but it does become narrower and more bendy, if not much shallower. Not, I hasten to add, as narrow, bendy and shallow as our canal, but still quite challenging to a boat that might have entered the river at Greenwich. The banks in the upper reaches are a good deal more overgrown and rushy - more reminiscent of the Cherwell above Oxford, perhaps. We went for a few miles then stopped for lunch. Lunch in the upper reaches The weather had become more cheerful, restoring some of our faith in the BBC. We couldn't moor up for lunch because the banks at this point are either indistinct or provide beaches for cows. So we pulled in (rather too literally) at a handy clump of reeds which the Captain lashed to the gunwales with a fender line. And just in case you should be supposing that this is just another typical marketing jolly, we thought about mud weights and other devices for holding Winsome in position on a bank or in the stream. Mud weights are much used on the broads, but they are, well, muddy. Whenever we have to use the boat hook or the paddle to push ourselves along the bottom, we pick up unsightly crud that is easy enough to remove from the hook or the paddle by dangling them in the water. But a mud weight might well weigh itself with mud. Also, you need to be directly over a mud weight to lift it - and that requires access to the bow or stern that could be awkward. And you would need somewhere to put an arbitrary length of rope or chain which would have accreted their fair share of gunge, no doubt. So we thought instead about the desirability of a boat hook attachment designed to grab clumps of vegetation such as reeds, brambles, overhanging branches, or long grass. It might take the form of pincer that when closed would form a circle of three to six inches diameter. It would normally be sprung open into a U-shape say 4 inches across, and pulled closed by a line you cleat off on the boat hook. If I only knew what such a thing might be called, I have no doubt I could find one on the Web. It might be an adaptation of a long-handled pruner that fruit growers use. Having eaten and dozed a little, we decided to set off back downstream, and leave an expedition to the source of the Thames for another day. Winsome seemed easier to turn round in the gentle stream, but as we set off back to Lechlade, we were able to gauge the extent of that stream as we shot back past the marina at 4.3 mph. Having cruised past the tourists thronging the pubs and bridges of Lechlade to the usual acclaim, we arrived at St Johns Lock- the highest on the Thames - at 14:45 where we bought ourselves another 30 day licence. The locks at this end of the river are manually operated, but still manned. They have interesting counter-balanced paddle gates, operated in a two-stage process by turning broad "ship" wheels. This was doubly fortunate because we had left our British Waterways lock handle in the car. We left the lock having taken advantage of the facilities (the last public loo on the river for miles) at five past three. Just downstream of St John's lock there is an attractive footbridge over the Thames (see photo, carrying the Thames Path - a long distance footpath from source to mouth that follows the river bank pretty well all the way expect where there are riparian residences on both banks. A lot of tourists and long-distance walkers use this path, and there are camping sites all along it. Winsome would probably be attractive to a Thames Path walker, and could provide pack-mule transport for a walking group. Footbridge below St Johns Lock A pleasant and relaxed pedal brought us to the next lock, Buscot, at about 15:20 and breezed straight in. The drops on the locks here are modest by the standards of our own canal, and all locks are manned - often by two people - so if they see you and have nothing more important to do you can get through one in about 8 minutes. We exited the lock about 15:30 and headed down river at a more relaxed 4.1 mph over the ground. The stream from here on down seemed rather modest, and the river is locked and weir-ed all the way to Teddington. Even though we are in the middle of a drought, the river always appears "full" and the extreme flood markings on the sides of the locks show that the water level has historically been well controlled. Even so, the river has a pronounced bank everywhere except at the locks, so we didn't see anywhere we might surreptitiously drop a Winsome in as you can at lots of places on the canals we've looked at. The river also meanders alarmingly at times, sometimes heading nearly due West while still going downstream. This makes for a lot of blind bends, banked with reeds, and the need for constant vigil as boats are allowed to go at 8 km/h (5mph) and typically exceed that. Unusually, in our experience, Winsome (unless pedalled vigorously) is slower than a narrow boat or cruiser on the Thames. She still overhauls rowing boats, canoes, and powered inflatables and tenders, however. There are also far more fishermen and swans on the river, both exhibiting some resentment at our presence. The final lock before Radcot is Grafton Lock and is regarded as "remote" because it is off-road. We wondered what one had to do to get a job as a lock-keeper. The wonderful gardens they maintain bear testament to the intensity of their workload. But they also have an important job to maintain the weirs, and ensure safe passage of the boaters. They are always courteous and helpful, with funds of information and anecdote to entertain the passer-by. Although the locks are shallow, they still have 6 or 8 feet of slimy wall to contend with if you're in an empty one. You can, of course, get out of the boat and "rope her through", which British Waterways recommends for its (largely unmanned) locks. Certainly, if there were no-one around responsible for ones safety, this is an option I would consider if I had to share a lock with some of the boats we have encountered on our travels. We chose to stay in the boat, because we had brought with us our patent lock chain holder. Unfortunately, our chain holder didn't work on the Thames because the chains are too slack and the links too small for our hook. So you either have to grasp the smelly chains, or try to pass a loop of line over a lock-side bollard (easy when going down, sometimes challenging when going up). The Captain found that the boat-hook sometimes offered a good alternative. Exiting Grafton Lock at about 16:20, we were now on the home straight (or in this case, dog-leg bend) for Radcot, where we arrived at 16:44 with the weather getting blustery and somewhat overcast. Radcot has an island formed by a temporary fork in the river, and has two bridges. The newer one goes over the main navigation channel, and is a rather elegant affair (see photo). The older one crosses what is now a backwater-cum-marina and is a more rustic three-arched affair dating from the 13th century and evidently the oldest bridge on the Thames still standing. It was the site of a noted Civil War skirmish, apparently. Radcot Bridge from up-stream Radcot itself is a hamlet dominated by the Swan Hotel, which owns the island and both banks of the river for some distance downstream of the bridge. This land provides a good camping site as well as private moorings which can be leased for the night or the season, or are reserved for patrons of the hotel. The hotel itself is a very old building, with an extensive garden with tables, including a marquee and a covered decked dining area. The hotel has some day boats for hire, including two day narrow-boats that have everything a narrow boat has except beds and showers. You can rent these monsters for a very reasonable £135 a day. The B&B was very reasonably priced too, although it's fair to say that the hotel mainly caters to camping and boating. The hotel is certainly well-staffed for the holiday season, and offers very good value. It also has a slipway you can use for £10 a time, although they said it was busy at weekends, and since it is in a very small car-park at the back of the pub (from the river) it might not have been as convenient for Winsome's somewhat protracted unloading ritual. Having said that, of course, we can now unload Winsome some way from the ramp provided there is a reasonably straight and flat run between car and slipway. We checked in and had a drink before opting for an evening cruise downriver to "case" the next lock. This proved more difficult than anticipated because the jetty at which we had tied up is guarded by a fierce (and mad) goose called Mary, who bites when the hisses don't work. Once past the security, however, our evening cruise was very pleasant, because the cloud had lifted even though the wind was now getting up a bit. We returned to much interest from the riverside diners and drinkers, and laid up for the night (see photo) right outside the outdoor dining area where we had dinner and sent taunting mobile phone greetings to our sponsors. Laid up for the night We secured Winsome with a padlock through the pedal cranks and the dolly, and congratulated ourselves on a job well done while forgetting to take the seat covers off. Fortunately, there was neither rain nor heavy dew that night. Day Two We awoke after a comfortable night's sleep to a very promising looking day (see photo - the view from our bedroom window). A very large breakfast is provided for B&B guests, but the hotel also caters for campsite and boating customers, so this would be a great overnight stop if you were doing either. They also make up monster baguettes for lunch, which we decided to try. Early morning, Swan Hotel, Radcot We loaded up and cast off at 09:15, heading into a cool North wind, and grateful that we had been able to tighten up the tiller retaining screw the night before. The lady at the Swan hotel had the previous day taken a German guest down to Newbridge-on-Thames (about 10 miles away) in the narrow boat, and said she had bruised her upper arm on the return trip holding the boat tiller against the very strong crosswinds. Since the wind was now somewhat stringer than it had been the day before, we were a little concerned that the same trip in Winsome might induce corresponding finger ache. Fortunately, our concerns were unjustified, as the boat handled the wind well throughout the day, giving rise to the usual speculation about whether she could handle an auxiliary sail of some sort. We decided to look into a two string kite! Radcot lock, less than a mile downstream, was so attractive we completely forgot to take a photograph of it. We were through it by 09:40 anyway. The next section of the river is quiet (described in our guide as "rural" and "isolated") and rather bendy. It also seemed narrower with higher banks and more invasive vegetation. The river water is amazingly clear - you can usually see the bottom with no difficulty. At the same time it is also a strange green colour which we eventually decided was a characteristic of the chalky soil thereabouts. We encountered some weed, but in general it is easy to avoid and/or is securely anchored to the riverbed so we gave it no thought. There is also a lot more wildlife to be seen away from people (other than anglers) and we saw many coot, swans and their nests, the occasional small fish, and the occasional large splash suggesting bigger and more sinister fish. At 10:08 we arrived at Rushey lock, (see photo). Rushey Lock Here Winsome much impressed the lock-keeper who had admired the way she moved through the water. As we left, he cautioned us to observe the speed limit. Below Rushey lock on the last leg of our outward passage, the banks of the river get quite high, and it would be difficult to get ashore in places should the need arise. In places like this you get fish and where you get fish you get anglers. Anglers are usually alerted to the approach of boats around blind bends by the sound of the engine, but Winsome creeps relatively noiselessly into view, disturbing the fisherman's reverie and sometimes his cast. I guess Winsome doesn't disturb the fishing ground as much as a passing narrowboat on full throttle, but otherwise I'm not sure we are projecting ourselves as the fisherman's friend as much as I'd like. And so, eventually, we arrived at Tadpole bridge (see photo) at about 10:25, determined to land and take advantage of the hospitality of the famous Trout Inn. The inn has excellent moorings for passing craft (see photo) but alas it would be quite hopeless as a launch spot. Tadpole Bridge Mooring at the Trout Inn, Tadpole It is also hopeless as a coffee stop at 10:30 on a Saturday morning in August. No sign of life at all. Just a full glass of white wine on one of the garden tables in memory of, we must hope, a festive night before. We were now 11-odd miles and 5 locks below Lechlade, with an upstream run ahead, so despite being somewhat ahead of our planned schedule, we decided to turn back. We started back up-stream at about 10:40 and arrived back at Rushey lock at 10:55. Going upstream though locks is a little more stressful because the locks tend to be left full and the lock-keeper cannot always see you coming. In Winsome's case, he doesn't hear you coming, either. In extremis, you can always get out and rouse him (or her) but that seems rude, and in any case he may well be waiting for a down-stream boat which of course you can't see from below the lock. The Rushey lock-keeper spotted us within a couple of minutes, but our transit through the lock took 18 minutes because of the need to empty and refill. Rushey, at a piffling six feet, is the deepest lock on this particular stretch of the Thames. This lengthy sojourn was made more bearable by lurid stories form the lock-keeper about errant boaters and interesting accidents in locks. He remained very impressed with our craft and our enormous handling skill. Above the lock the river swerves sharply above the weir and we took the opportunity to land briefly for an al fresco comfort break - just to see how feasible this is, you understand. It is relatively straightforward given the (rare) kind of bank where you can easily alight, and given the nature of this particular kind of landing, where that bank isn't part of the Thames Path. We re-embarked just in time as a flotilla of trail boats we had encountered at Lechlade the day before came round the bend. Going upstream, we were surprised to note that on this stretch of the river we could maintain 4.2 mph over the ground against the stream. It turned out that this was somewhat wind-dependent as we could only manage 3.6 mph into the wind when the river meandered northwards. Wind aside, our passage back to Radcot was uneventful and swift - so much so that we arrived well before the lunch we had planned, so we continued on to Grafton lock. While grappling with the mucky chains here we decided to add a pair of rubber gloves to our cargo checklist for future trips, especially since we were now looking for a lunch stop. Above Grafton the river opens up a little and has a couple of longer straight bits where the map promised mooring opportunities. Unfortunately, these opportunities could only be seized by boats with decks much higher than ours and gangplanks. After a couple of false attempts, we eventually wedged ourselves against the bank just downstream of a stout-looking hawthorn tree we could tie up too. The crew scrambled ashore and tied up, while the Captain tried to work out how to stop the boat drifting out into the stream. We refined our design for a straw clutching attachment, including the obvious advertising sound-bites that would go with such a valuable piece of equipment. And then we tucked into our enormous Swan Hotel baguettes, which had been thoughtfully rendered immobile by a covering of cling-film which also them relatively harmless to eat. Given some of the disgusting things you have to do in locks, however, we were glad we had packed some hand-wipes! After lunch, we rested (see photo) to sleep off the soporiphic effect of the baguettes.... The Captain at rest above Grafton Lock We were woken by a flotilla of cruisers heading upriver, and cursed at the thought of being delayed at the next lock. Since we were unlikely to catch them, we proceeded in leisurely manner to Buscot, where we were duly delayed. Another cruiser came up behind us but when it was our turn to enter the lock was waved in ahead. It's fairly safe to enter a lock behind a much bigger boat when it is supervised (see photo). There is little risk of them crushing you provided they are securely roped on, which is something the lock-keeper will look out for. You do risk diesel fume poisoning if they're in a hurry and don't turn off their engines. Sharing a lock with a narrowboat In the lock we attracted some admiration from the cruiser captain and crew and despite the fact that he was able to go much more quickly than we were, he proceeded to follow us all the way to St. Johns - a little unnerving with the river being quite twisty and with oncoming boats to contend with. Despite hugging the right hand bank we could not induce him to overtake until the Captain's brilliant dummy entry to the outfall of the weir at St. Johns allowed him to pass. We had a lengthy wait at St. Johns but it was worth it for the crowds of well-wishers and admiring glances that Winsome attracted. We exited the lock just after 3pm and since we were still enjoying the run we decided to shoot through Lechlade and have another look at the Roundhouse again. It will be great if they manage to re-open the Severn-Thames canal, and we wondered if we'd be fit enough to do the trip over from Gloucester if they ever do. Unfortunately, by all accounts, this canal bears all too ample testimony to the lock maker's art. And so back down the river to the marina where we coasted up to the slipway and unloaded. Since extracting the boat up the slipway was likely to be more challenging, we elected to strip the boat on the water so we only had the bare hull to beach. Our decision was reinforced by the fact that the ample parking space we had on arrival was now getting quite crowded, so we would need to rack the boat on the car at the head of the slipway, and we needed that to be as swift an operation as we could manage. An empty Winsome floats with her bow about half an inch out of the water and we were determined to see if we could pull her out dry-shod. We inflated one of our orange boat rollers, and gently pulled Winsome towards the slip. Squatting at the water's edge I could lift the bow up just high enough to wedge the boat roller under her, and then it was a case of hauling her ashore. The slipway is a little steeper than Pencelli, so we managed to get the boat out far enough before the rudder grounded for us to be able to bear down on the bow and lift her clear for a final roll onto dry land. This, unfortunately, put the roller just about where we now wanted to put the dolly, but it was a simple matter to lift the bow and move the roller forward, then lift the stern the small amount necessary to place the dolly under the hull at the approved balance point. All done on dry land, although I did get the back of my right hand wet! Once on the dolly, we find that Winsome is perfectly safe for short distance manoeuvre without lashing down, so we could wheel her alongside the car, roll her over onto the rack, lash her down and hoist her up. We were on our way within about 40 minutes of arriving at the slip.