Cut and Rune: Teddington Lock

Here I am Rune

Distance 21.2 miles

Total 1981 Locks 90 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2797.8miles

Today was probably the longest distance that one is likely to get in a narrow boat (assuming that one only travels a normal day, not travelling round the clock). From Limehouse Basin to Teddington Lock, according my calculation, is about 21.2 miles which at the normal travelling pace of 3mph would take over 7 hours to do, when going down the Thames however the speed is doubled (sometimes more than doubled) so it only took about 3 ½ hours. It was in fact a very pleasant trip with no real dramas. There were a lot of trip boats around Tower Pier and Westminster Pier but with a lot of advance planning, we dealt with them with no real problem. The only boat that created a bit of confusion was a trip boat that set itself diagonally across the river just off Tower Pier. As I approached I hoped that he was going to move one way or the other but he just remained where he was, obviously giving some commentary to his passengers. Rather than pass in front of him, where if he set off towards the pier we’d have been sandwiched, I went around his stern, but this put me in the centre of the river in the path of oncoming boats. There was little that I could do since stopping wasn’t an option, out engine isn’t powerful enough to stop our boat against the tide, the best that could be achieved would be to slow it down but then in reverse into the incoming tide it could steer literally anywhere. Once around this trip boat the only other boating obstruction was a tug pulling a very large barge full of waste. Fortunately the skipper of that boat was a bit more competent and clearly wasn’t giving a commentary to any passengers so was concentrating on what he was doing. It was quite impressive just how powerful these tugs are since it began to tow a fully laden waste barge against the incoming tide then turned it around across the river and came past us as we approached Battersea bridge, it seemed a healthy move to slow down and let him past!

Once the tug and barge had gone past the river became fairly clear other than a number of rowers from Putney onwards, but you can learn to live with them. I would certainly have little fear in doing the same trip again.

Tomorrow we need to press on to Thames Lock to get us onto the Wey and Basingstoke since the transit pass that we bought today only last until 5pm tomorrow night.