alpha
Well-Known Member
Well, having made it around the coast from Great Yarmouth we ended up at Chatham Maritime Marina, a brand new MDL place, and very swanky too! I have to say the staff have all been extremely pleasant and helpful, even going so far as to lend an old River Medway chart and photocopying an old guide book when they learnt I was going to explore the non-tidal section. The marina is perfectly equipped and the facilities are superb.
I got a little worried when I found that no-one I spoke to had ever been up the river, but put this down to 'big boat' syndrome, and so set off.
The trip to Allington was fine, though the fee exorbitant (£40 because I was there a little over a week, and £5 for a bridge key, plus £15 for a lock handle from the marina up the river).
From Allington things just got worse, fast. A couple of prop-strikes told me that, though the depth was about 5ft, there were many obstructions in the water, but on reaching the first lock I was horrified to find that despite the lock being deepish (7ft or so), there was only one ladder, right at the downstream corner. The other locks I have visited have been the same.
So, I can only navigate these locks with the boat facing upriver! It's hard enough being single-handed on a seven ton boat without having to reverse the ****ng thing through locks going downstream (which I shall have to do at the end of this week!). To add to this misery there's bad shoaling downstream of the locks so the astern maneouvre out is going to be tricky!
Then there was the issue of moorings. Telephoning ALL the marinas on the river, I was told they were all full or didn't take visitors. Eventually, I was offered a mooring at one, only to arrive and find it was a towpath mooring with all the attendant security worries. The next day I pleaded and begged another marina to take me in, and they did. Cruising up to said location, the marinas on the way all had free berths!
So, what had been planned to be a straightforward solo trip for a couple of days' relaxation turned into a real git of a trip.
Anyone fancy a ride in a nice boat from Twyford down to Chatham at the end of this week? You'll have to help with the locks though!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by alpha on Tue May 28 20:49:01 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>
I got a little worried when I found that no-one I spoke to had ever been up the river, but put this down to 'big boat' syndrome, and so set off.
The trip to Allington was fine, though the fee exorbitant (£40 because I was there a little over a week, and £5 for a bridge key, plus £15 for a lock handle from the marina up the river).
From Allington things just got worse, fast. A couple of prop-strikes told me that, though the depth was about 5ft, there were many obstructions in the water, but on reaching the first lock I was horrified to find that despite the lock being deepish (7ft or so), there was only one ladder, right at the downstream corner. The other locks I have visited have been the same.
So, I can only navigate these locks with the boat facing upriver! It's hard enough being single-handed on a seven ton boat without having to reverse the ****ng thing through locks going downstream (which I shall have to do at the end of this week!). To add to this misery there's bad shoaling downstream of the locks so the astern maneouvre out is going to be tricky!
Then there was the issue of moorings. Telephoning ALL the marinas on the river, I was told they were all full or didn't take visitors. Eventually, I was offered a mooring at one, only to arrive and find it was a towpath mooring with all the attendant security worries. The next day I pleaded and begged another marina to take me in, and they did. Cruising up to said location, the marinas on the way all had free berths!
So, what had been planned to be a straightforward solo trip for a couple of days' relaxation turned into a real git of a trip.
Anyone fancy a ride in a nice boat from Twyford down to Chatham at the end of this week? You'll have to help with the locks though!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by alpha on Tue May 28 20:49:01 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>
rincess 25