Sitting out the strong stream.

Wednesday 4th June.

Last thing during the evening Keith rang the Flood Line and listened to their advice on the answer machine, which told him that all but two of the lock up to Chertsey were on Red Alert and therefore boats should moor up and not move. So not great news for us moving.Rain, rain and more rain fell over night and first thing this morning. Paddy’s walk was even in the rain. What was more worrying was the fact that the Thames was rising and the flow was getting stronger by the minute

The rain did stop and the sun came out, giving us hope that the water levels would drop. But it would not be enough for us to get underway today, because the flow of the water was so fierce, Hadar would hardly be moving. We sat and watch the water rising until it reached the top of the concrete on the mooring. We also watched as a couple of narrowboats which were moving struggle to get up stream. Behind us on the mooring was the owner of NB The Dillen and he said he would not be moving, which the water was moving this fast and we agreed. So we got out our chairs and table and settled in for the day.
The afternoon produced fabulous sunshine, and thankfully the water level did begin to go down, but the flow at this moment in time is still running very fast. We have enjoyed a quiet day chatting to passers-by and enjoying the sunshine, topping up the tan. We will see what the flow is like in the morning, but we hope to be able to get underway as we only have 7 days left on our Thames licence.

Thursday 5th June.

We opened the back cabin doors to wall to wall sunshine, but the flow of the Thames was still pretty fast, although one bit of good news was that the water level had dropped by quite a lot. Keith had again contacted the Flood Line and it was saying that every lock was on Red Alert and still recommending staying put due to a strong stream and they did not expect that to change until possibly Friday or the weekend. So we were looking at another day of sitting still…… it’s a hard life ha ha ha. Keith and I took a walk down to Nauticalia which is a chandlery of sorts. To me it was more like a gift shop for boaters with lots of money. The water level below Shepperton Lock was high and water was actually 3 inches above the pontoon. We enjoyed a nice stroll back to Hadar and then sat out in the sunshine and read. There has been very little moving today.A Thames tug came past us during the afternoon, as did a couple of high powered cruisers. Going down stream we saw a Braunston Hire boat, which was travelling at great speed, I am not sure he would find it so easy to stop at the speed he was travelling. We however are staying put, waiting to see what happens with the flow at the moment. If we tried to head off we would probably end up going backwards. We would need to flog Hadar’s engine at full power to get any headway and we are not prepared to flog her for the sack of waiting a few days.