Tidal Thames, from Putney to Teddington via Richmond weir

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Tidal Thames, from Putney to Teddington via Richmond weir

Friday, 23 September 2011 20:55

We are still going up river, but here is the final instalment of our trip up the Tidal Thames from Limehouse to Teddington.

Putney Bridge behind

We were now into rowing land and had to avoid the eights that emanated from the boat houses along the University Boat Race course .......

We slowed down around here - we had made very good time and John realised that we would be arriving at Richmond too early - you will see why later. The River Thames now commenced a series of large bends, familiar from the Boat Race commentary - the Middlesex and Surrey Bends.

We passed Fulham Football Club (Manchester City scored just as we went by - what a cheer went up!)

We went under Hammersmith Bridge

On the right is the marker for the finish of the Boat Race below Chiswick Bridge

Next we came to Kew - the rail bridge here crosses before Oliver's Ait; keeping the red marker buoys on the port side meant that we did not go aground and went through the "Surrey" arch.

Kew Railway Bridge

We could see the skyline of the Brentford Junction and Kew Bridge

Passing Kew Gardens and Palace on our left, we arrived at the Junction. We had completed the "Thames Loop" - in at Brentford, up the Grand Union to Bull's Bridge, down the Paddington Arm to the Regents Canal and into Limehouse Basin, finally returning up to Brentford. It had taken us a few weeks and a bit of a detour on the Lee and Stort too.

Isleworth and the church on the west bank

Richmond was next and, yes, we were still early, but what for?

At low tide there are closed weirs at Richmond, under a footbridge that spans the river

Richmond Half Tide Lock allows boats to cruise above the weirs, but when the tide is high enough the weirs lift and you would not know they were there. It costs £5 to use the lock, so being spendthrifts (and intentionally too early) we hung around until the weirs lifted. It was a very interesting sight.

"Weirs closed use lock - £5 Charge" sign

Richmond Half Tide Lock (left) and the weirs down

Middle arch with weir down

It was not long before the weirs began to lift, very slowly, until we could see the river below them. They rise and disappear under the weir footbridge.

Weirs lifting

We got dripped on as we went under, but I got this shot looking up

Richmond Riverfront was busy as usual and as we reached Petersham Meadow we realised how low the river was at about two hours before high tide. We could not see the cows on the meadow and River Lane was no longer flooded, as it was on our way down.

Petersham Meadow and Richmond Hill

We reached Teddington and the lights showed us that the middle lock was the one to use - not the Barge Lock. We sat on the lock landing until the lock was free.