Canal Boat Journey (Day 1): Setting out (Weybridge to Windsor)

We picked up a canal boat at Weybridge. Our goal was to take it 63 miles up the Thames, all the way to Abingdon, but given we only had four days (and two of them half-days), it was looking like realistically we’d only make it to Reading.

Leaving Thames Lock at 13:09, where the River Wey joins the River Thames, we navigated to what would be the first of 26 locks: (L01) Shepperton Lock. The lock was manned and, surprisingly, completely empty. We went straight on in and the lock keeper kindly showed us the ropes, then we pulled the slack in as our little vessle bobbed upwards for the first time.

Not long later we reached the second lock, (L02) Chertsey Lock. I watched heron while we waited for the lock to open, which didn’t take long.

After Cheryset Lock we carried on our way, and made fairly good progress through (L03) Penton Hook Lock, (L04) Bell Weir Lock, and (L05) Old Windsor Lock, where we were the last boat to make it through before the lock keeper signed off for the day.

As it approached 7pm we began looking for somewhere to moor for the night.

Unfortunately it turned out that both sides of the bank were owned by The Crown Estate, and were explicitly NO LANDING OR MOORING. So we carried on, hoping to make it to Windsor before nightfall.

Before reaching Eton and Windsor, we had one last lock to pass through: (L06) Romney Lock. The lock keepers seem to typically finish by 5:30/6pm, so had to operate this one ourselves. Fortunately they provide a lot of written instructions, and it just consists of pressing the right buttons in the right order. The large wheel is not used in normal operation.

It was 8pm by the time we reached Windsor, and while the mooring spots were very busy, we were fortunate to find a space adjacent to Brocas Park. Mooring there required a fee, which an attendant came around to collect the next morning. The location was excellent, being just a five minute walk from the town center with plenty of restaurants to choose from.