When we lost the boat

August 2012 - March 2013

We left Bristol to head back east along the length of the Kennet & Avon canal to Reading (87 miles and 107 locks).  The 29 locks on the Caen Hill flight at Devizes is about half way back; it takes a whole day so we set out early when the summer morning mist hadn't burnt off.

Traveling only at weekends or every other weekend we arrived at Woolhampton (between Newbury and Reading) at the end of October. Here are a few snaps of the journey back.

As everyone probably remembers, the summer of 2012 was extremely wet hence our inability to get up the River Severn. Just below Woolhampton lock was one of the many places where the River Kennet joins the canal.  The river was running so fast that boats were not being allowed through the lock as they would be swept away after coming through.  Here are a couple of flooded locks that we just managed to get through near Newbury:

We had to leave the boat above Woolhampton lock until the middle of December when the stream decreased enough.  Fortunately it was right next to the Barge pub which gave us something to do at the weekends.  We had been for a drink at this pub a year earlier, on my birthday, and we were drinking at the bar when I noticed two girls looking at us - it took me a while to realise it was my daughter Lauren and her good friend Emily.  They had arranged with Karen to turn up and surprise me.

We were allowed to move again on 15th December and we got as far as Burghfield.  The next safe place to leave the boat after Burghfield was on the Thames.  The Thames was still closed so we had to leave the boat at Burghfield (outside the Cunning Man pub of course) until the water levels went down in the Thames.  We left the boat at the end of a long line of moored boats on the outside of a bend - we were at the rear of the line heading downstream - it looked innocuous enough as can be seen here:

We went back on 21 December for Christmas and couldn't find the boat.  It transpired that it had loosened its moorings and traveled 1/4 mile downstream, through a narrow bridge and past many moored boats on a marina, finally getting wedged up against a large sluice.
Unfortunately we have no pictures of this but we learnt the story from the marina owner who was on his boat by the bridge when ours went through.  Apparently he was shouting that we were mad to be traveling and that it was too dangerous.  He realised that there was no one on board and was able to confirm that it only grazed one boat on its travels downstream.
He rallied together other people living on the marina and they roped her up and manged to drag her off the sluice and tie her to a boat opposite.  We were very lucky and handed round a few bottles of scotch on Christmas Eve!

We moved the boat to Southcote lock where we had Christmas and New Year.  

We were stuck there until 8 March 2013 before the levels receded and the canal was reopened allowing us to continue down to Reading.  Which is yet another story...

Added 6/10/14.  Just found a picture of the aftermath of the floodded canal.

The bridge the boat went through on its own:

 

And the sluice it was washed up against:

The Thames in flood

After three months of being stuck just outside Reading because of high water levels on the Kennet, we were finally allowed to continue our travels on 8th March 2013.  Here we are setting off through the first lock on that morning:

We were going to be the first boat through Reading town centre for three months and were a bit nervous.  After going through the first lock we were back on the river Kennet and it still had a strong flow.  We rounded one corner and there was a tree across our path.  The current was so strong that we couldn’t stop and slewed sideways into it.  It didn’t budge and in the end we managed to straighten up and get it shifted by attacking it head on at the crown.  This worried us even more as it seemed clear that the current was still too strong and there was nowhere to moor between here and the river Thames the other side of Reading. 

The final lock before Reading town centre is County lock; here it is a week previously with water still flowing right over it:

A sharp right hand turn has to be made to get into this lock to avoid a weir.  The current was so strong it took our back around and we were wedged half in the lock entrance and half across the end of the weir.  We could not shift it.  Fortunately there was a team of firemen on diving practice and it took about 10 of them pulling our lines to swing us round to get fully into the lock.  Their instructor thought it was mad that the canal was open as it was flowing fiercely through the town centre but we had no choice but to continue.  We must have been scared as we didn’t take any pictures. You can see how rough the river is the other side of the lock here:

It was hair raising going through the Oracle shopping centre in the middle of Reading but we made it and finally got onto the Thames and immediately moored on the Tesco moorings.  We were the only boat around so had our own private entrance to Tesco:

Each lock on the Thames has boards indicating rising or falling water levels.  Red boards mean no travelling and you would be daft to as your insurance would not be valid and it is very difficult navigating a narrow boat in strong streams.  After visiting Tesco we walked up to Caversham lock and it had red boards displayed.  More rain was forecast so we didn’t really want to stay moored where we were.  We phoned a marina the other side of the lock and they had a space for us.  It took ages battling against the current but we finally made it through the lock into Caversham. 

The marina was on Frys island so we had to get a little ferry boat across.  We ended up being stuck there for four weeks before the red boards went down in April.  Chris and Lauren both visited us during that time and poor old Diesel was on his last legs so was wearing a coat all the time:

Lauren lives in Caversham and could check the boat as she walked past it on her way to the station each day.  Here is a picture she took one morning near the end of our stay when the water was calmer:

And as a reminder to us this is how the Thames at Wallingford looked that winter: