Bank side camping

[russ]

Are there any Thames users out there that know of any bank side moorings where you can pitch a tent for the night and maybe a BBQ?
Or where can I find this kind of info?

 

[ms1]

I doubt there are any such publications which are current, and I suspect the answer to your questions lies both in location and scale.
Location as in where, approximately, you have in mind, and scale.. what sort of tent are you talking about .. little 2 man jobbie, or stonking great family one.

I found canoe clubs a useful source of info when I needed to look into this a few years back.

There are inumerable places on the Thames where you can pitch a small tent for the night and no-one bats an eye-lid. Some boat owners often do this for the teenage children or for a father/son overnight if onboard accomm is limited.

There are a couple of locks where you can camp, you can talk to the bailiff at Henley (Steve) and he will prob agree to such a thing at Medmenham Meadows. I have personally overnighted on the meadow at Sandford Lock. There is a river-side campsite at Wallingford.
People camp on the islands between Cookham and Maidenhead. I have also seen small overnight tents at The Brochas in Windsor (often erected late and taken down early).
Desborough Island often sees the odd tent.

Pick a quite little corner somewhere and no one will prob even notice ... do it outside Hampton Court Palace or Christ Church College Oxford and you will doubtless get a different kind of reception.

 

[dancrane]

Paradise in the city...

Freakish, that you should ask about this; I was thinking about it myself yesterday. I lived in fairly central London through the 'nineties, and the useability of many miles of largely empty river, amazed me at the waste! Hammersmith has a few moorings; then there's Chelsea Harbour, and plenty of dinghies afloat at Putney...but given the wealth and the convenience of the capital, for anyone whose vessel might easily be tied up in deep water, with a peerlessly prestigious address, why isn't the city STUFFED with marinas? Is there a good reason? Beats me.

 

[vandy]

Freakish, that you should ask about this; I was thinking about it myself yesterday. I lived in fairly central London through the 'nineties, and the useability of many miles of largely empty river, amazed me at the waste! Hammersmith has a few moorings; then there's Chelsea Harbour, and plenty of dinghies afloat at Putney...but given the wealth and the convenience of the capital, for anyone whose vessel might easily be tied up in deep water, with a peerlessly prestigious address, why isn't the city STUFFED with marinas? Is there a good reason? Beats me.

There are so many problems and that's why less people bring their boats to Central London (But I do keep my boat in tidal part!)

Lack of water access from shore (I mean proper access!), lack of fuel, lack of mooring, lack of restaurants, mechanic, etc. and then lack of boats!

For 2012 olympic, I don't expect to see so many boats either. Although some may travel from other countries by boat, but again London is NOT known as a PORT for many people! even the new marina in Chelsea is not advertising itself on olympic website...It could contribute loads to the economy, and create loads of jobs for people....


As for the camping, I suggest you find somewhere in non-tidal, and that should be difficult as most lands around thames are private!

 

[BrendanS]

Are there any Thames users out there that know of any bank side moorings where you can pitch a tent for the night and maybe a BBQ?
Or where can I find this kind of info?

Which part are you most interested in, there are several places between Henley and Reading where you can easily pitch a tent overnight if you are discreet, and same above Reading.

 

[landlockedpirate]

We tried this a couple of years ago, we didnt actually find many places.We only found 2 on the Thames:

http://79.170.40.247/hurleyriversidepark.co.uk/

http://www.bensonwaterfront.co.uk/

We found this place as well, its about 100m from the Tow path, but the motorway can be heard quite easily.

http://www.amerdencaravanpark.webs.com/

As mentioned above you can also camp at a few locks, link here:

http://www.visitthames.co.uk/text/3160/camping.html


Hope these help

 

[oldgit]

, why isn't the city STUFFED with marinas? Is there a good reason?


The cost of land for a start and suspect the returns on a marina are pretty weedy compared to a nice block of very upmarket flats let to a lot of rich arabs legging it from the middle east with large suitcases full of dollars liberated from British Aerospace funds !

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

, why isn't the city STUFFED with marinas? Is there a good reason?


The cost of land for a start and suspect the returns on a marina are pretty weedy compared to a nice block of very upmarket flats let to a lot of rich arabs legging it from the middle east with large suitcases full of dollars liberated from British Aerospace funds !

I have long speculated that the occasional flakiness of service at St kats is the owners vaguely hoping they could fill it in and put expensive apartments there, maybe keeping the central basin for the tourists As it is staying there is getting a bit second mortgage.

We've commented before here on the numbers of essentially abandoned little wharves, draw docks and inlets along the river that would make viable moorings with a bit of investment, my bro-in-law lives next to one. When the PLA disposed of whafage to developers the idea that boats might want to moor there simply seems to have been overlooked.

 

[russ]

I doubt there are any such publications which are current, and I suspect the answer to your questions lies both in location and scale.
Location as in where, approximately, you have in mind, and scale.. what sort of tent are you talking about .. little 2 man jobbie, or stonking great family one.

I found canoe clubs a useful source of info when I needed to look into this a few years back.

There are inumerable places on the Thames where you can pitch a small tent for the night and no-one bats an eye-lid. Some boat owners often do this for the teenage children or for a father/son overnight if onboard accomm is limited.

There are a couple of locks where you can camp, you can talk to the bailiff at Henley (Steve) and he will prob agree to such a thing at Medmenham Meadows. I have personally overnighted on the meadow at Sandford Lock. There is a river-side campsite at Wallingford.
People camp on the islands between Cookham and Maidenhead. I have also seen small overnight tents at The Brochas in Windsor (often erected late and taken down early).
Desborough Island often sees the odd tent.

Pick a quite little corner somewhere and no one will prob even notice ... do it outside Hampton Court Palace or Christ Church College Oxford and you will doubtless get a different kind of reception.

Thanks for the info. It would be just a two man tent for the kids or friends just so its not a sqeeze on the boat.

 

[northwind]

You might find this site useful...

http://www.visitthames.co.uk/text/3160/camping.html

There are a number of offical sites near to locks on the thames, each only allows 5 or so tents per site.

Regards


Daniel