as High Water at Limehouse, and well before Teddington or Brentford.) The passage from Limehouse to Teddington takes around 3½ hours, which means leaving Limehouse 3½ hours before High Water. Limehouse to Brentford takes 2½ hours, so leave Limehouse 2½ hours before High Water. (For the short Brentford-Teddington transit, leave two hours before High Water at Brentford, which is when Thames Lock at Brentford opens anyway. Setting off downstream from Teddington, whether for Brentford or Limehouse, the Teddington lock-keepers recommend that you enter the lock 30 minutes before High Water at Teddington). A tide times leaflet is available from CRT, and the lock-keepers can advise on the conditions on the day. There is a school of thought that says you should try for an early-morning passage if tides permit, before the trip-boats start running.
Leaving Limehouse Limehouse Basin is a pleasant place to stay, so plan your Regent’s Canal trip to arrive here in good time (there are 24-hour moorings), and take the opportunity to ask the lock-keeper about your upcoming passage. When the time comes, you’ll find that Limehouse Lock is a typical deep river lock in that there are poles set in the walls for you to loop your ropes around - much like the Severn or Trent. It’s less typical, though, in that there
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are no paddles! Rather, the rotating gates are opened to let the water out. This does mean that there’s quite a ‘pull’ on the ropes, so take the loose ends around a cleat on the boat. Before you leave the lock, remember to call London VTS (on VHF or, for boats under 45ft, mobile phone) to announce your departure.
River traffic As you nudge your boat into the Tideway, sounding your horn to announce your entrance, you’ll soon notice that the tidal flow is not the only force that you and your engine need to consider over the next 20 miles – and probably not even the major one. This is the busiest waterway in Britain. The other traffic is bigger, faster, and makes more wash than you. You’ll encounter the high-speed catamarans, on their way to Docklands, as soon as you leave Limehouse. However, the busiest section is either side of Tower Bridge, between Rotherhithe and London Bridge, known as the ‘Pool of London’. The trip-boats create a lot of wash and slow down for no-one. Keep well clear of them, both when they’re underway in midchannel and when they’re setting off from the public piers. It sounds obvious, but other traffic will approach from behind as well as ahead, so you’ll need to keep looking behind you and adjusting your course to avoid being thrown off-course by their wake. As a general rule, you want to hit the waves at 90°, so that they
The half-tide lock at Richmond. RIGHT: Passing the O2 Arena.
TOP: Teston Bridge on the Medway. (BRIAN FULLER 6385 at flicker.com CC-BY-SA)
ABOVE: Trip boat on the Wey & Arun Canal. (HUGH POTTER)
| IWA waterways - Summer 2013
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