Where can I get petrol north of Oxford on the Thames.

rustic

rustic

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Hi, we are now planning a trip next week north of the Thames from Abingdon, but not sure how much fuel we need to carry, but it would be helpful if we could locate a few petrol stations within walking distance of the river. I am looking at various maps and my sat nav mapping, and I am not having much luck finding any so far. We can carry a few 5 litre containers, and maybe do a double trip.
Any advice much appreciated.
Best regards,
Richard
 
The river is very rural from Abingdon upwards - so any suppliers you can find will be some distance from the river.
Oxford Cruisers near Eynsham may sell petrol.
Further up - I've never seen signs of a filling station - but then I'm not specifically looking for portable fuel. Even at Lechlade there's a long trek.
I've just done a Google - which I'm sure you have and that confirms my thoughts.
I suspect that many petrol boaters just bring supplies with them to their moorings.
 
Thanks Trueblue for your reply, yes I have googled, I found one north of Lechlade, so fine for an emergency or if I calculated the consumption incorrectly.
I will do some calculations and appreciate that the fuel going upstream will be greater than down stream, so as long as I don't exceed half of my fuel stock on the way there, I will be fine on the return journey.

Best regards,
Richard
 
There is a petrol station on the A40 just north of Eynsham. It's about as far from the centre of the town as the river is. It's a bit of a trek but now the only one I know of.

Regards
Derry
 
If you fill up before you leave Oxford or Abingdon there is no way you will run out before you get back if all you are doing is going to Lechlade and back.
 
rustic said:
Hi, we are now planning a trip next week north of the Thames from Abingdon, but not sure how much fuel we need to carry, but it would be helpful if we could locate a few petrol stations within walking distance of the river. I am looking at various maps and my sat nav mapping, and I am not having much luck finding any so far. We can carry a few 5 litre containers, and maybe do a double trip.
Any advice much appreciated.
Best regards,
Richard
Click to expand...

Check this out https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/stay-safe/petrol-safety/spare-petrol/
 
Thanks for all you replies, the petrol station north of Lechlade will be our fall back position, other than that, with the fuel we can legally store, our aim will be to travel north as far as we can, on half the fuel that we can carry, knowing that the return journey is with the flow.
Our boat is a Viking 23, with a honda 15 and on the canals we used fuel at 1.25 litres an hour, on the broads, more like 1.5 litres an hour but we travelled with the tidal flow where we could, and on the single run on the Thames so far against the flow, 1.7 litres an hour, but that is on a return run, and only a one off.
The increasing flow rate is in proportion to river speed. We find ourselves using more revs to maintain 4mph (overland) going upstream, there must be an optimum speed to get the best fuel consumption, depending on river flow rate, but we'll simply go at the speed we feel comfortable at.

With reference to the maximum amount of stored fuel on board of 30 litres, if I recall, when I contacted them, this was in addition to the main proprietary fuel tank. I stand to be corrected on this one, as the regulations are a little grey in this area.

Again, thank you for all your replies and to the PM's I received.
Look out for my next thread in the future, when I will ask about petrol stations near the Thames South of Oxford lol
This will pose a bigger challenge, as we will need a lot more fuel on the return upstream. Hopefuly the records of fuel usage on the Lechlade run will help us with the decision.
best regards,
Richard
.
 
In the past I used to do Thames trips with a 15HP O/B. I had 2*25litre tanks, and carried 10 litres in cans.
A similar setup with your estimated consumption would surely let you do Abingdon to Lechlade and back with plenty of reserve? Or am I missing something?
 
Alan ashore said:
In the past I used to do Thames trips with a 15HP O/B. I had 2*25litre tanks, and carried 10 litres in cans.
A similar setup with your estimated consumption would surely let you do Abingdon to Lechlade and back with plenty of reserve? Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

You are probably not missing anything but I think everybody can empathise with the desire to not run out of fuel. Particularly in places where there isn't any more.
 
Thanks for all your replies, well yesterday we made it to Lechlade, we used just under 20 litres, so we have plenty for the return without having to top up on route. We are now taking a more sedate return trip, We had some great advice and offers via PM so thank you to those that replied direct. The upper Thames is beautiful and we will return, but take a little longer.
We have allowed 4.5 days for the return trip from Abingdon, with 5 hours cruising a day, which for some may seem a lot, now we have achieved a trip to the upper limit of navigation, we can now log places we wish to revisit, and next time we might allow a week.
Very quiet up this end of the river, we are still getting to grips with wild moorings, a bit of mud on the fenders being our only concern lol
To complete the detail, going up river we tried to maintain 3000 rpm on the outboard and this gave us an average speed of around 4 mph.
On the return journey with the flow, 3000 rpm is giving us 5 mph, which at times seems too fast to enjoy the beautiful scenery and wild life, so I think we will drop the revs to 2500 save some fuel too.
I guess I will add to the thread on our return and give a complete fuel usage, which might help others to do a similar cruise.
Best regards,
Richard
 
Last edited:
rustic said:
On the return journey with the flow, 3000 rpm is giving us 5 mph, which at times seems too fast to enjoy the beautiful scenery and wild life, so I think we will drop the revs to 2500 save some fuel too.
I guess I will add to the thread on our return and give a complete fuel usage, which might help others to do a similar cruise.
Best regards,
Richard
Click to expand...

Although there isn't much flow at the moment, you'll need less revs and use less fuel coming back down stream :)
 
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