Hazards at Clifton Hampden for drafts over 1 metre

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Scapegoat

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Travelling up to Abingdon and a few hazards encountered.
1. Approach to Clifton Hampden bridge travelling upstream, starboard side is shallow - bounced along on the bottom a few times. Upstream of a green buoy on port side (??) and the bridge. Our draft 1.1 / 1.2
2. Above Clifton Hampden (travelling upstream) on starboard side very shallow. Got stuck. Luckily stream swung the bow and we were able to ease off. A row of boats is moored on the port side so stay towards them, slightly port of mid stream and go slowly.
 
We used to always find it shallow around there when travelling up on our holiday. there used to be two points, the first as you mentioned when travelling upstream before the bridge, and the other point we also found shallow was just before the lock when going upstream, just passed the campsite.
 
Scapegoat said:
Travelling up to Abingdon and a few hazards encountered.
1. Approach to Clifton Hampden bridge travelling upstream, starboard side is shallow - bounced along on the bottom a few times. Upstream of a green buoy on port side (??) and the bridge. Our draft 1.1 / 1.2
2. Above Clifton Hampden (travelling upstream) on starboard side very shallow. Got stuck. Luckily stream swung the bow and we were able to ease off. A row of boats is moored on the port side so stay towards them, slightly port of mid stream and go slowly.
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Those are both well known hazards - bottom is bedrock and cannot be dredged.
If you had stayed on the correct side of the green buoy you would likely have been ok. (My Pedro 36 drew 1.4 metres)
Above the bridge local knowledge is, as you say, to stay closer to moored craft .
 
boatone said:
Those are both well known hazards - bottom is bedrock and cannot be dredged.
If you had stayed on the correct side of the green buoy you would likely have been ok. (My Pedro 36 drew 1.4 metres)
Above the bridge local knowledge is, as you say, to stay closer to moored craft .
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The green buoy (before the bridge going upstream) is in the wrong place - see post above. We reported it to the lock keeper and also the problems encountered with depth.

There are no buoys marking out the shallow areas either before or after the bridge which are shallower than that stated on the EA website.

Friends who had successfully traversed the area many times, the last time a couple of years ago, struck bottom several times and are unlikely to risk it again.

Local knowledge is all well and good but the EA could help by clearly marking hazardous areas.
 
I used to moor on that reach for many years so know it really well, but it seems to have got worse. The shoal before Clifton lock on the right is shallower definitely. Also when exiting Days lock going downstream I have to stay left to avoid the shoal in the middle there about 100ft outside the lock.
TBH puts me off going up that far now.
 
Chris_d said:
I used to moor on that reach for many years so know it really well, but it seems to have got worse. The shoal before Clifton lock on the right is shallower definitely. Also when exiting Days lock going downstream I have to stay left to avoid the shoal in the middle there about 100ft outside the lock.
TBH puts me off going up that far now.
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A friend in a boat with similar draft to ours has said that he won't venture up above Days again if things stay as they are. I have sent a detailed complaint to the EA this afternoon about the issues mentioned above, mis-positioned buoys, lack of marker buoys, overgrowth in lock cuts (Culham is very badly overgrown) etc. pointing out that these issues are hazardous to navigation.
I suspect that making complaints is the most likely method of bringing these matters to the attention of the powers that be. It may make no difference but at least I know I've tried!

We enjoy a trip up to Abingdon as its a scenic trip and a lovely place to stay so I hope they will take a proactive approach to maintaining the 1.2 meter draft up to at least Abingdon, if not Oxford.

Thames maximum drafts.png
 
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Salters aren't running their Oxford to Abingdon route this year and they were the only ones keeping the channel open. The tail at Abingdon Lock is so narrow now they could barely get by anyhow.
 
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Barge said:
Salters aren't running their Oxford to Abingdon route this year and they were the only ones keeping the channel open. The tail at Abingdon Lock is so narrow now they could barely get by anyhow.
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It's getting a bit ridiculous below Abingdon lock. When I went up to Lechlade in my boat which draws about a metre last summer I was really quite close to boats moored just below the lock where the marker buoys are.
If there had been any extra water in the River it could have been a collision situation.

Why they allow boats to moor that close to the lock I don't know but it takes all sorts.
The other dodgy one was Eynsham lock which for some unknown reason has visitor moorings down the bottom end of the lower layby.

With the shoaling caused by the weir and no dredging you can't put moored boats there !
 
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