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From Regents Canal along the Thames


umpire111

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planning to take my 56 ft narrowboat along the Regents Canal, join the Thames and then sail west thru London and then to Reading.. Are there any things I should be doing now such as pre booking mooring spots etc. Are there any streteches where I am going to struggle with mooring and all advice welcomed, new area for me.

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Find a slot when you can go out of Limehouse at 5-6am, you will have a wonderful cruise up through all the best bits without having any large ferry and much other shipping movements happening. 

Book a slot at Rembrandt Gardens(Little Venice) very early in the year , then spend half a day getting to Limehouse and moor up for an overnight ready. Have a look at boats going out and how the lock works.

Lovely experience.

Edited by matty40s
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5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Find a slot when you can go out of Limehouse at 5-6am, you will have a wonderful cruise up through all the best bits without having any large ferry and much other shipping movements happening. 

Book a slot at Rembrandt Gardens(Little Venice) very early in the year , then spend half a day getting to Limehouse and moor up for an overnight ready. Have a look at boats going out and how the lock works.

Lovely experience.

Useful, thanks

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18 hours ago, umpire111 said:

planning to take my 56 ft narrowboat along the Regents Canal, join the Thames and then sail west thru London and then to Reading.. Are there any things I should be doing now such as pre booking mooring spots etc. Are there any streteches where I am going to struggle with mooring and all advice welcomed, new area for me.

You will need a VHF radio and someone licensed to use it on the Limehouse to Brentford tideway section

Worth checking out the St Pancras Cruising Club web site as they often organise tideway cruises around that time of the year

As others have said there are bookable moorings at Little Venice, best book early, there is also bookable overnight moorings at the London Canal Museum at Kings Cross. Otherwise mooring between Little Venice and Limehouse is very much pot luck as is the Lower River Lea.

Limehouse Visitor moorings are 24 hour but BWML are doing there best to reduce the number of them and to make it difficult to moor

If you have the time do the newly reopened Bow Back River loops, the locks at City Mill and Carpenters Road need pre-booking.

Also if you have the time do the Rivers Lea and Stort, the Stort is particularly pretty.

Tim

  • Greenie 1
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Once through Teddington, it isn't too difficult to find overnight moorings all the way to Reading (and Oxford). Like other rivers, most of the banks are private land, but some will let you moor for a fee, and there are plenty which are free for one night. Under the new "Thames Visitor Moorings" scheme, many places now sport one of their signs, full of dire legal warnings about penalties for overstaying, and you are obliged to phone their number to tell them when you arrive, but the first night is free. Fortunately the Thames is generally good for getting a mobile signal.

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3 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

You will need a VHF radio and someone licensed to use it on the Limehouse to Brentford tideway section

Worth checking out the St Pancras Cruising Club web site as they often organise tideway cruises around that time of the year

As others have said there are bookable moorings at Little Venice, best book early, there is also bookable overnight moorings at the London Canal Museum at Kings Cross. Otherwise mooring between Little Venice and Limehouse is very much pot luck as is the Lower River Lea.

Limehouse Visitor moorings are 24 hour but BWML are doing there best to reduce the number of them and to make it difficult to moor

If you have the time do the newly reopened Bow Back River loops, the locks at City Mill and Carpenters Road need pre-booking.

Also if you have the time do the Rivers Lea and Stort, the Stort is particularly pretty.

Tim

Many thanks, more than useful, Pete

Just now, umpire111 said:

Many thanks, more than useful, Pete

I have a vhf radio, but licensed to use it? How do I get such a license?

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The St Pancras organised cruise is on 19-20 May 2018 - subject to formal confirmation etc etc. Limehouse to Teddington, via Margaretness and the Thames Barrier. A few photos here

https://nbsg.wordpress.com/2017/05/15/spcc-tideway-trip-2017/

Useful info here, written by narrowboaters for narrowboaters:  http://www.thamescruising.co.uk/wordpress/

 

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From the RYA site, it states    " if you hold the 'old' VHF licence (pre -1999) or a UK aviation radio licence you need to upgrade your qualification and may skip the course and jump straight to the assessment."

but when I spoke to the licencing authority a nice man told me I should just apply for a new licence, took a few details, but obviously had no  record.

I had to admit defeat here: https://ofcom.force.com/LicensingComSelfReg

Ofcom hadn't been invented when I got my radio licences.

It recognised me, but refused to let me in, story of my life ;)

 

 

Edited by LadyG
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4 minutes ago, LadyG said:

From the RYA site, it states    " if you hold the 'old' VHF licence (pre -1999) or a UK aviation radio licence you need to upgrade your qualification and may skip the course and jump straight to the assessment."

but when I spoke to the licencing authority a nice man told me I should just apply for a new licence.

I had to admit defeat here: https://ofcom.force.com/LicensingComSelfReg

Ofcom hadn't been invented when I did my tests.

 

I don't know how it works, but that initial statement suggests the you just need to take the test and not do the course.  But as much ofthe test will be about DSC and EPERB's (not relevant in inland use) I suspect you would not have that knowledge anyway.  I know the format of the course has changed a bit since I did mine a few years ago, but it was an interesting day, with a group of yachties, but they went easy on me!

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30 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I don't know how it works, but that initial statement suggests the you just need to take the test and not do the course.  But as much ofthe test will be about DSC and EPERB's (not relevant in inland use) I suspect you would not have that knowledge anyway.  I know the format of the course has changed a bit since I did mine a few years ago, but it was an interesting day, with a group of yachties, but they went easy on me!

Oh yes, but I only need the Ship's Portable Radio Licence, I quote

 

<As discussed, in order to obtain a Ship Portable Radio Licence, please register at our online licensing service: https://ofcom.force.com/LicensingComSelfReg - you will then be able to apply for the licence online and the documentation is issued immediately on completion. The MMSI is produced at the same time. >

 

Edited by LadyG
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DSC and EPIRB's are part of the test so it's no good going in for it if you don't have the knowledge.

I've got a VHF Short Range Certificate for trips over the Ribble Link using an Icom IC-M91D hand-held radio.

Edited by Aguila
Typo !
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1 hour ago, john6767 said:

That is the licence for the radio not for the operator.  You need both that and the operators licence to be legal.

OK, never thought about that.way.  I had a VHF licence, PPL and maritime, I can  therefore legally broadcast.

1 hour ago, Aguila said:

You don't need both for a hand-portable radio, only one permanently fixed on a boat.

Not sure about that.

Edited by LadyG
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To be brutally frank and with disregard for 'the letter of the  law' -

  • You don't need a licence to listen to London VTS. The requirement for VHF on the tidal Thames is principally so that you can hear emergency and regular bulletins from VTS. In an emergency I guess most folks use a mobile phone
  • You're not going to be prosecuted for issuing a genuine Mayday call
  • It's years since I used my VHF on the Thames - but VTS don't ask for your registered call sign anyway - they seem to be happy with the boat's name. IIRC you're not required to report when you leave the tidal bit - jus as well as VTS have difficulty receiving calls from small boats above Brentford anyway. That's probably why Brentford to Teddington don't require VHF; they can't hear you...

The really important issue is that you can summon help when needed - mobile phones are the modern way of doing that.

  

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BUT:-

If you make an emergency call on a mobile phone, only the recipient hears it.

If you make a 'Mayday' call on VHF CH 16, everyone in range hears it, and if you make the 'Mayday' call via DCS on CH 70, your GPS lat/long location is also transmitted. My DCS radio makes a hell of a racket if it picks up a DCS 'Mayday' call.

I know which one I would use.

 

 

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13 hours ago, Aguila said:

I am.  

I can use my hand-held radio on ANY vessel as my callsign is personal to me (Txxxxxx) and not a boat's name. 

 

Yes but you still need an operators licence even for a handheld, so I would assert that my comment is correct.

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