Where can I moor up for the night?

sunquest

sunquest

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Looking to cruise the lower parts of the Thames this year. With an air draft of 13' I can make it up to but not under the Windsor/Eton Bridge. As swmbo wants to take in the castle, what options do I have mooring close by. Cheers Geoff
 
There's an Environment Agency 24 hour mooring just downstream of the bridge on the Eton side but it will only take one or two boats and is more often than not occupied.

I would give the lockie a ring at Romney Lock and ask his advice. 01826 621650
 
You used to be able to moor up at the pub (Donkey House) just downstream of the bridge. I guess if you have a word with the guv'nor and maybe dine there he'll let you stay overnight.
The boatyard just down from Romney Lock (Jones ?) may be able to help, but at 13 ft airdraught your probably a bit larger than they usually accommodate.
 
Watch out for the depth of water outside the Donkey House , it's pretty shallow IIRC ...

Used to be pretty rowdy that place , not sure what it's like now ....

Are you exactly 13 feet , the bridge is listed as 13'2 , but that is taken from the headwater point, Romney IIRC runs usually at about 4 or 6 inches above headwater.

I've seen quite large boats go under there , Broom Sedans and Europeans , and a fair number of Princesses ...

When i was very young and we had a boat at PHYC , there was a legend about a chap there who used to approach the bridge with the engines quite hard astern and when halfway under , would give them a blast forward ... with the effect that the boat dipped under the bridge .... had it down to a tee ... couldn't tell you his name though .... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

It would be very close but probably worth a try , fill your tanks up , line yourself up nice and central and tiptoe through the daisies it's quite a flat wide arch .... might be surprised ....

If you make it through , the world is your oyster for mooring , Bath Island , the Eton fields .... just pray it doesn't rain and the river comes up though , or you may be stuck !

We had a trawler yacht many moons ago , and regularly used to take her to Henley , never a problem with Windsor bridge .... Cookham was a different story though ...

Here's our very own Richard Shead driving , i'm the good looking blonde one on the right !!

clipper.jpg
 
Heavens to Murgatroyd, that looks a challenge, scaled down that situation could be transposed to the Botley Road bridge.

Do you still have the pony tail??
<ul type="square">
Don't recall any Lockies today with strings in their hair??
Some without much,
some with upside down hair,
some (many) a bit grey round the gills,
Some with hats,
Some with glasses,
some (very few) ladies,
Some (many) nice
some (two) a bit grumpy,
Some with a sort of bio: - see VisitThames.co.Uk
some Sargent Majors - STAND STILL YOU 'orrible Man
Some ex-copper - Allo, 'Allo
Some with boats,
Most without (shame)
Some have kept their No. 1's,
Some have a house to live in......
[/list]


Which one are you, go on post a recent pic:
Time we knew who you are, after all you have probably guessed me...

While we're at it what about that nice
Boss lady,
Tania at ..
Bob at...
Steve at...
Nigel at...
AngelaQ - where she?

Rise to the challenge, I dare you. You can bubble out the faces if you must...
 
Ha Ha !!

The ponytail has long gone sadly .... hair is still a bit shaggy though...

Trouble is, if i show you what i look like, you'll all come looking for me when something terrible happens !

Oh , OK .... this is at last years river festival ( I'm the one on the left /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif ) ... put on a few pounds since the first photo was taken !

duck-1.jpg
 
The Donkey house was the best pub in Windsor untill they turned it into a poxy wine bar like the rest of them /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif The fort n ferkin was also good but again its a wine bar /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I notice that some of the larger boats moor just after the cut / donkey house where the ferry boats land so i assume they are rented out while the working boats are out for the day . This is just before the bridge and i recall £7 for the day but i could be wrong as i had just left the donkey house /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif You can see the castle well before windsor and there are public moorings next to the hire boat place just before you hit the Queens land . If you stop on the queens land a black range rover pulls up and lots of big men stare at you /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I ran out of fuel ! Re fueled and left pretty dammmmmm quick !
Anyway , lovely part of the river just before Windsor , better than Windsor itself i think .
 
[ QUOTE ]
The Donkey house was the best pub in Windsor untill they turned it into a poxy wine bar

[/ QUOTE ]
That was when Max had it, he was an ex-boxer with a playful dig that would knock out Tyson. He had those beautiful Great Danes that had to be kept behind the bar because they would eat small dogs... literally.
 
We took a Fairline Brava under the bridge last summer.Our rough and ready airdraft calculator(two pieces of batten and string)gave us 13ft 4 inches to top of radar arch and we did get under.River level looked normalish with regards to "tide mark" on bridge stonework.Worth a try if not much traffic to creep up and have a look see,becomes fairly obvious very soon if you are going to get under,we did remove radar dome in order to get through.
 
Thanks for all your comments guys, looks like we will get somewhere close but no way am I going to try to power up, stern down and go for it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
The way it was done , was full astern , digs the back right in , then as you come under the bridge , just a blip of full ahead , dips the arch under .....

Apparently /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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