RETURN TO THE DEBEN - Part 1

I had vaguely thought I might get as far as the Folly Bridge, Oxford where the bridge is too low for Lady Cate to pass. However I was told the water gets too shallow by Abingdon. Then the bad news - no lock keepers. It's a great chore getting through locks on your own, even if they are powered. Then the good news - a fine weather window combined with good tide timing was coming up. So, as they say, no brainer. The main objects of my journey being completed I decided to return.





 So back under the M25.

Passing this lovely little classic near Chertsey Lock - which was not manned but I had caught up with a small convoy who were happy enough doing the work. 

From Chertsey to Shepperton:

 

there are some splendidly eccentric house boats on the Thames.

This is Sunbury Weir where we would play as children, with St Mary's Church in the background.

Between Sunbury amd Molesey Locks is the School's Boathouse together with that of Lady Eleanor School.  

Plenty of activity -

Don't know when the girls started rowing. Sadly, in my day, the girls' school was wholly out of bounds. We even had boys playing the women in plays rather than work on joint productions. Thank goodness that'a all changed. 

Hampton's yellow blades.

Hampton Church where the school started in 1556.

Garrick's Villa. The actor David Garrick was a patron.

Nearby a fantastic old houseboat in fine condition.

Another houseboat with a flower laden floating patio.

Molesey Boat Club which the school shared when I rowed.

And so to Teddington to stay overnight.

And then on ...

Passing The Star and Garter which used to be a home for retired world war vets run by the Poppy Fund people but is now a hotel and apartments ...

and the new residential developments between the river and the town. Prince Charles got quite worked up about the original designs and these are the result of his concerns. Nicely classical.











Through the Victorian Richmond Lock as the sluices were in action. Had to wait an hour here. Half an hour for the water to be enough for us to get out and then half an hour for a late tour boat.

That half hour mattered as you will see.








The river was very busy and full of the usual tourist attractions and then this! An extraordinary contraption straight out of a Bond movie moored alongside HMS Belfast.

I couldn't photo it from the boat as I was too busy so I caught the riverbus to the Tower the next day and took these.

Apparently it belongs to Andrey Melnichenko.

The problem with leaving Richmond Lock half an hour late meant I was 10 minutes late at South Dock. The staff had gone, not willing to wait to open the lock for me. So be it.

So I had to moor on Greenland Pier where the huge riverbus catamarans come in for passengers.














They make a huge swell, especially by the piers as they accelerate away.











 So the mooring was like being on a permanently bouncing trampoline. I put a bow line out to port to hold Lady Cate off the pier and we spent the night sort of suspended off the pier in the bouncy water. I slept in the wheelhouse clothed and lifejacketed!

The photos don't show the waves very well although they are sometimes 3ft high. I've got a .mov file showing Lady Cate bouncing around but it was too much for this bloggging software to take!

I got in to the marina first thing the next morning.

SOUTH DOCK MARINA - ROTHERHITHE

And so to South Dock Marina by mid-morning on the top of the tide. The entrance is easily identified by Greenland Pier.




I called the Lockeeper on Channel 37 and she opened the gates straight away enabling me to glide straight in to the comforting quiet of the lock and then the marina.










A comfortable berth for a day or two after an arduous journey.

The marina has a busy boatyard. You can just see the lift out crane in this pic.








They lifted out a badly damaged rib for repair in the yard.

There are quite a few exciting rib ride businesses which were flourishing over the bank holiday weekend. Looks a bit dangerously dodgy to me. Must be getting old!

One branch of the family came up to see me. Lovely. We had a little birthday party on board and wandered around the marina complex. All kinds of boats from the fabulously glamourous 'Blue Trout' to the usual madhouses. Many birds nests - mallard, coot, moorhen, pochard and grebe. They seem very content in this arificial human world.



  Another branch of the family came the following day. Couldn't come Sunday as Allie was working. (You can see the marina is bang opposite the docklands development Canada Wharf.)

We wandered around and had a birthday lunch in The Mayflower, a riverside pub overlooking the Prospect of Whitby on the opposite bank. The Mayflower had provisioned and sailed from the very hard where this pub was sited.










The industrial archeology of Rotherhithe is fascinating so I decided to stay an extra day and have a look around. I followed the Thames Pathway which follows the riverside like a towpath.

The dock trade was mainly in timber from both East and West, predominantly from Canada and Greenland by the time this map was drawn.












There's a lot of old history left to see. There were more than one of these. What is it?

A left over crane.

This is the entrance to the city farm.

The footpath was plagued with joggers!

Where I had a cup of tea.

Further round I could see across the river to St Paul's Shadwell Church where Allie is Curate.












And then back to Lady Cate through lovely park and woodland created from the filled in Russia Dock, lying down the centre of the peninsula.