Marlow to St Kats

jecuk

jecuk

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Inspired by the Thames to Poole thread, we are thinking about heading down to London rather than up towards Oxford for our week on the boat. It looks like Marlow to St Kats is either a long day or comfortable two days.

Posts on the forum have made me worried about mooring near Teddington. Is it that bad or should I bail into Shepperton Marina.

Last question, it sounds like waiting outside St Kats is not the most comfortable place to be. Are there pontoons to tie up to?
 
A lot of money has been spent on a long layby at Teddington, so it is pretty swisho now. You get a few derro's before you actually get to the moorings, but there are so many available it would be unlikely for you not to find a spot for the night. Unfortunately no pontoons to tie up to at St Kat's, but they do have a couple of buoys if you fancy trying your luck with that. We're going Saturday for a blast to Southend in the morning, then locking in on the evening tide, should give the engines a good de-coke!
 
nothing wrong with Teddington, new moorings upstream or you can pay for moorings down stream if available PM me for the number. Loads of decent boozers and restaurants as well
 
I am guessing that Lady Gay is not the fastest boat in the starting blocks?
You may find it more relaxing to overnight at Chiswick Pier, which gets you through the worst of the initial shallow bits and a shorter trip anyway.
If you do decide on Teddington/ St Kat's direct, first check the time of high water Richmond (HW Lndn Br +1hr). You can use the lock but I would not advise use earlier than 1 hour before the sluices go up and then only if you know where the deeper parts of the channel are. Also note that between the sluices going up and HW the tide comes in at a fair old lick (2 or 3 knots) so if your max' is 6 or 7 you may be down to as little as 4 knots over the ground, so get a wiggle on!
 
Sunbury to Marlow is about 7 1/2 hours and I reckon St Kats is about 4 1/2 hours without being silly on speed. If you want to be tidal on the first day there is also Hammerton's Ferry if you wnat somewhere relatively quiet, if no concerts on anyway.
 
There are no pontoons outside St Kat's, but these days people regularly seem to use the inside of St Katherine's Pier (and occasionally the outside!) while waiting. Depends on timing really, making sure there's enough depth inside the pier. If you are into the evening, then there are few passenger boats using the pier now that the Clippers have moved up to Tower Pier.
 
What posts ?

You make it sound like Tedders is downtown South Central ....

Really depresses me this , It's very peaceful there , sure , you do occasionally get the louts / yobbos around , but you get that anywhere.

I wouldn't say we have any more problems on our moorings than any other site to be honest.

HW Richmond / Teddington is <u>2 hrs</u> after London Bridge , you have to add the extra hour at the moment for BST.
 
St Kats is a great place to moor and be, but for a first trip perhaps consider Teddington to Limehouse as the time window for the lock is much bigger and you should easily make it from Teddington on one tide. Entry to Limehouse is easier and when you prebook they will advise a VHF call when you get to Tower Bridge and they will have the lock ready for you, no waiting about. Then have your next night at St Kats, only half hour or so from Limehouse, and return to the calmer waters when you are ready. Have done this trip a few times and always enjoyed the experience.
 
Once you have braved to terrors of the Thames and have arrived at St Kats a few things worth considering are,
Visit Wapping High St.
Several interesting pubs doing decent pub grub within 20 mins of dock.
Il bordello resturant at end of high st.
Decent supermarket just outside of east of dock.
Nice little cafe opposite west dock for cheap breakfasts/coffee etc
Go across Tower Bridge and left for Shad thames,pubs/resturants.
Go across Tower Bridge and turn right for interesting nice walk up to Tait Modern across Wobbly bridge and back along north bank to St Kats.
Most of the establishments inside dock tend to be pricy so worth wandering outside.
 
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What posts ?

You make it sound like Tedders is downtown South Central ....


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Apologies, but I distinctly recall it popping up in the cast adrift by idiots thread. Anyway, my concern is really with most town moorings as we saw recently Oxford is not immune from stupid behaviour with lines being cast adrift.
 
A bit late notice, but any suggestions for dinner for a group of about 30? Had tried booking Dickens Inn, but they want all food ordered by 1200 today, so no chance of us getting organised in time for that...
 
Try anywhere in Butlers Wharf (browns possibly) left over the bridge or by Kens Helmet (the mayors office) right over the bridge where there are a number of restaurants, just a quick skip over Tower Bridge.
 
Cant go wrong with that, I particularly like it when he throws down the bowl of "indian spuds" as he calls them.

I know everyone has their own curry stories and how they can handle the heat but I have found that this place generally lives up to its name when they say a dish is hot...
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What posts ?

You make it sound like Tedders is downtown South Central ....


[/ QUOTE ]
Apologies, but I distinctly recall it popping up in the cast adrift by idiots thread. Anyway, my concern is really with most town moorings as we saw recently Oxford is not immune from stupid behaviour with lines being cast adrift.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean this one ?

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knife?? - I know someone who had his ropes burnt at Teddington though with a cigarette lighter .....
I have seen two mooring pins (with a loop) driven in at 45 degrees to horizontal so that the loops meet and are then padlocked together. ropes go through loops and back onboard
With pins at 90 degrees to each other and locked together you cant pull them out.
But you still cant beat the scroat wit the lighter.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's always a friend of a friend isn't it , and this may have happened several years ago , but not recently.

We perhaps have one boat a season let go , sure , there are yobbos that live nearby , but they certainly aren't out every weekend letting hundreds of boats go.

Sorry if i appear a bit defensive , but i think we offer a good service with good secure moorings at Teddington , we provided well over 1500 moorings to boaters last year with a very very small rate of unhappiness.

The trouble is , all the months and years of good work and safe moorings can be undone by one horror story. How long would it take to burn through a mooring rope with a cigarette lighter anyway ( unless it was some washing line used to tie up a narrowboat ) ....

H
 
Ah that brings back memories. I ordered the Chicken curry and the choice was mild, hot or very hot. Wanting a medium type I went for the hot...Next time it will definately be the mild one for me, and I like em quite spicy.
 
Understood. I will be sure to make use of your facilities in the future. I have to actually as there is no other way to make an early morning tide!

And I shall happily report back should I avoid ending up on the weir! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
See , thats the added bonus ....

If you do get set loose , you don't drift onto the weir , but down to the lock itself . You can have a cup of tea with us ! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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