A fabulous mooring on the River Thames

You are here: \ Our Boat \ Epiphany Blog \ A fabulous mooring on the River Thames

A fabulous mooring on the River Thames

Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:13

But it will not be available for much longer

Passepartout passing at Dorney

Once again the Olympics are getting in the way of boaters ......

John mentioned in his blog about Dorney Lake that the towpath is closed from St Mary's Church upstream to the end of the rowing lake. This morning we heard that the moorings along here will also be suspended over the next few months, on and off. Boaters are also warned of dredging and works in the river as they prepare to build the bridge across for access from the race course.

It was a gorgeous day - Oaklea Court is a health spa and looks very attractive (and expensive!)

Oaklea Court

Below Summer Leaze Footbridge they are working on the towpath - presumably with the Olympics in mind again.

Towpath works

It was lovely whilst it lasted, but we have moved on. There was a queue at Bray Lock - we were the second lot in. It seems that the sunshine has brought everyone out onto the river.

Boats in Bray Lock

We noticed that the weir at the lock was closed and only the salmon leap was "running". Is this a sign that the river Thames is low on water? We think so, as we have noticed a drop and the marks on piling show a drop.

Bray Weir

Of course it is not a problem for us as there is plenty of water underneath us, except when we "rough moor" in a place that is not an accepted mooring. It will be interesting to see if the moorings we had on the way down are more difficult now.

On the way up to Maidenhead I was busy taking photos of all the lovely houses that line the river. There are a number of "villa" types with lovely water frontage and Rolf Harris' crocodile has not deserted its post.

This is one of my favourites, mock Tudor with a strategically placed tree

We called in at Maidenhead as I needed to see a GP - diagnosis, a slight tongue infection, so antibiotics and antihistamines for a week . What a brilliant GP practice, the details are on our medical tips under blood tests.

Would you pay £8/24hours for these moorings?

There are rings missing, it is right by a main road and there is hardly any room beside the boat. No wonder there were no boats moored - come on Maidenhead you can do better. We moved on!

Boulters Lock was busy - the Lock Keeper was very helpful though despite our wait below

After the lock, it was not long before we came to glorious Cliveden Reach with its islands and "pot luck" moorings. Cliveden House looked amazing in the sunshine and many of the moorings were already taken.

Cliveden Reach and House

We found an ideal mooring on one of the islands and we have an angle to the TV satellite, so John can watch his "beloved"(? ed.) Spurs this evening. It is very quiet apart form Canada Geese and a party boat that has just gone by!