After having an amazing time together in London and on the canal, the boys unfortunately had to return to Canada, Cohen to sail on a tall ship, Ayden to return to work. They were missed as we continued without them, but there was a bit more room on board!

Once Rianne and I left Little Venice in the centre of London, we spent a day cruising toward Lime Street Basin, our gateway to the Thames.

Once we reached Limehouse Basin, we contacted Simon Judge. He takes flotillas of narrowboats up the Thames and is a wealth of knowledge. He didn’t have any groups going but had offered to go with us to help out. He also suggested we visit a local pub on the side of the river, called The Grapes. It was really close to the basin so we walked over. It’s a tiny place, narrow and crowded, but we found a barrel and stools so had a great pub dinner. We offered our ‘table’ to another couple but stopped at the bar for a drink on the way out. As we sat there, Rianne suddenly asked the bartender “What’s with the staff behind the bar?” She looked funny at us and answered “You don’t know where you are?”. I knew immediately. Some weeks before I had read that Sir Ian McKellen owned a bar in London and had the staff of Gandalf displayed. I thought at the time that it would be fun to look it up, but never got around to it. Suddenly here we were!

The next morning we were joined by Simon and Heath, a very close family friend of Rianne’s from northern Alberta who was now living in London, and we were ready to be off. The gates onto the river were huge, they had to hold back the tidal Thames, after all. The gates swung open for us once the volunteers arrived and the ‘allowed’ time arrived (close enough to high tide to minimize the current).

Out on the mighty Thames at last. Turning right, upstream we went. Very quickly we approached one of the highlights of the trip, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London…

From there it was one sight after another. There was so much to see (as well as drive the boat and avoid the traffic!). Traitors Gate at the Tower, the London Eye, the Palace of Westminster (Parliament), the Elizabeth Tower (housing the bell Big Ben), MI6 British Intelligence Headquarters (no, it didn’t really get blown up), Waterloo, Chelsea, and Lambeth bridges, Battersea Power Station, and so many others.

After a few hours of peaceful cruising, winding our way upstream, we arrived at Teddington Lock where the river ceases to be tidal. To celebrate our safe arrival, Heath treated us to a pub dinner before he had to catch a train back to London and home.

The next few days were lovely, threading our way between large cruisers, small speedboats, and innumerable rowboats, canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards. Unlike the canals further north, the biggest problem on the river was the availability of moorings. The maps showed spots that were supposedly adequate but they were invariably occupied, often by boats that obviously hadn’t moved in weeks or longer. It’s a well-known problem on the Thames, the Environment Agency is beginning to remove boats illegally moored but it’s a big job.

Several weeks previous I had been moored near Watford, north of London where I met some lovely people moored next to me. We had a pleasant afternoon chatting (and drinking wine). I mentioned I would be going up the Thames toward Oxford but was concerned with the mooring situation. They very kindly offered their garden-front mooring in Old Windsor, as they were going to be out cruising for a while yet. As luck would have it, we arrived at their home just at the end of a long cruising day so a safe and easy spot was very welcome!

As they had been cruising for some weeks, Rianne instantly noticed that their lawn needed a trim. As I was texting to say we were there and thank them, she asked if she could cut the lawn! (she loves yard work and making things look purty). As luck would have it, their son and family arrived just then and got us the key for the shed and Rianne had a blast fixing up their yard!

The cruise up the Thames was lovely. Our good luck continued every day, including finding non-existent moorings. Near the end of the next day, we were getting a bit desperate to stop but there didn’t seem to be any spots. I asked a lock keeper and he pointed across the canal and said “You can stay there, 12 quid”. Turns out it was a government spot for a patrol boat but I guess he knew it wouldn’t be back that night… Talk about perfect, on an island with only boat access, as quiet and peaceful as you can find.

The next day found us cruising past Henley, the site of famous boat races (sculls, etc). I guess it was lucky that the races were over, I can’t imagine the congestion!

The homes along this part of the river were mostly very upscale, to say the least…

Since the timing worked out, and we needed fuel anyway, we stopped at the marina where I had originally purchased the boat, in Reading. It was surreal being back there after so many miles and adventures.

We were getting close to Rianne having to fly home, there were only a couple of days left. I had hoped/planned to get to a town called Wallingford, the map showed good moorings there. But late in the afternoon, we were approaching the lock at Goring-on-Thames and Rianne spotted a vacant spot along a sort of seawall. As we were both ready to call it a day, we moored up and headed to the pub. Well, it turned out that we fell in love with this little village. It had three churches, two pubs, a grocery store, hardware/general store, and not too much else. Just the cutest, friendliest little place we’d been to. We will be going back!

During the couple of days we spent in Goring, we kept noticing pictures and album covers of George Micheal (the singer). Turns out he lived and died here, his house is a bit of a shrine. It causes a sort of population explosion on his birthday.

All good things must end I suppose. Rianne had to return to Canada for family and work so we jumped on a train (and bus) to Heathrow. I couldn’t have imagined a summer on the boat going so well, with such good luck, and it was a sad moment when she had to leave.

I’ll have another catch-up blog showing my last week as I zoomed (hahaha) to Debdale Marina for Cool Change‘s winter mooring. Stay tuned!