PLANS FOR OUR 2004 BIG SUMMER CRUISE


We shall set off some time in late March, and head down the Grand Union towards London.
Our route will take us through Braunston Tunnel--2960 yards long--Stoke Bruerne,
Milton Keynes, Rickmansworth, Berkhampstead, and in to London.
We hope to moor in Little Venice, near Lord's cricket ground,
and stay in the city for a week or two.

Then we shall go on to the Lea and Stort rivers,
which will take us to Bishop's Stortford and Hertford.
This is quite a pretty back water, I beleive.

Then comes the white knuckle bit!
We shall go out on to The Thames at Limehouse and travel upstream,
under Tower Bridge and past The Houses of Parliament.
We have to go out on to the Thames about an hour after low tide,
so that we travel up on the incoming tide.
It will take about three and a half hours to get through the lock at Teddington
and on to the non-tidal Thames.

I must confess to being very apprenhensive about this part of the trip.
The Thames through London is very different to the canal,
as I'm sure you will know!
It's very wide, the current is strong and it's pretty deep!
Add to that the considerable amount of commercial traffic on it,
some of which is pretty big, and you will see why I don't fancy
travelling in a bath tub on the busiest river in the country!

I'm keeping my options open as to whether I do it,
or just meet Trev at the other end.
I expect I shall do it in the end,
but I need to look at it and see how terrifying it all looks!

When we get on to the non-tidal Thames, we shall pass through such places as
Pangbourne, Maidenhead, Goring-on-Thames and Windsor.
We have been told by those who have done it that this is a delightful waterway to do.
We have to buy a special licence to cruise the Thames.

We shall follow The Thames northwards, and where we go next
depends on how our time scale is going.
I can't remember if I told you that this year
we're not taking a full year's mooring at Braunston Marina?
Last year was our first year of living on a boat,
and we weren't sure how it would all work out, so we paid for a year.
But we were only there for about half of that time.
So we've decided to take a winter mooring,
which runs from November 1st to March 31st.

So, if we have time, we might go to the end of the navigable Thames at Lechlade,
and we might do The Kennet and Avon canal which goes out to Bath and Bristol.

In any event, we shall eventually join the Oxford Canal, at, of all places, Oxford,
and make our way back to Braunston for the winter.

So I hope you will find time to come and read of our doings,
and see if we survive The Thames, and if I actually do the exciting bit!
Also, do email me if you have time. I love to hear from you all.

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