Weybridge
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 09:07PM As those in the UK will know, its been a very wet winter. It rained heavily over the christmas period with the result that the Thames flooded again. Indeed, for the week that we were barge-sitting 'Rival' we had to wade through ankle deep water carrying Nate just to get to her.
The net result of all this was that Misterton stayed safely moored at Teddington. We went down to visit on christmas day, but it was too cold to do much.
Finally on the 12th January, almost a month after arriving at Teddington, the river levels dropped enough for us to make a move. This was critical, as the first lock above Teddington was due to shut on the 14th of January for two months, meaning we'd be stuck downstream of it.
It was a slow journey, even by our standards, but we made it as far as Weybridge, where we knew we could go no further - the river on the stretch beyond was still running too fast.
Mary made a short video (6 minutes) of our trip here.
Unfortunately, we've been unable to move ever since due to, you guessed it, more rain. Who would've thought that too much water would be a liabilty for living on a boat.
It also snowed, which was a nice change from the rain.
Then of course it rained again, melting the snow, causing the river to flood. Not quite as bad as last time, but there was over a foot of water (30cm for colonial readers) flowing fast over the dock.
There is a lot of strain on that front rope, but the local Environment Agency office is on the other side of the river, and they kept an eye on her, even phoning up to check I'd used mooring rings rather than bollards. I think they were a bit worried about a 70 ton boat getting carried downstream on the current, but either way, its good customer service. I must say on the whole the Environment Agency people on the river are very good.
So, I'm writing this from yet another hotel, dreaming of the day when we can get back on board. It has to be soon, doesn't it?
Reader Comments (1)
We could see both of you two on the movie, so it must have been Nate who was filming.
When we googled Weybridge to see how far you had to go, Google recommended 5 hotels in Weybridge, so at least you get a choice of where to stay until your home arrives at its home.