Friday 3 February 2017

Red Boards

Due to the persistent heavy rain over the last few days 29 locks on the River Thames 7 are on yellow boards 'Stream Increasing', 21 are on red boards ' No Navigation' and just 1 is on 'No Stream Warning' (above Blakes Lock which is the entry to the Kennet and Avon Canal).  

We're quite safe on the rising pontoons in the Mill Stream that is part of the Hambleden Marina site.
The piece of wood that you can see fixed to the pontoon is about 18" (approx 46cm) long below the bottom edge of the pontoon side.  It's been put there to prevent moored boats' gunwales from slipping beneath the pontoon during low water.  As you can see the river must have risen at least 26" (66cm) and so the pontoon has started to rise.
We can now seeThe Mill Stream rising up the grass bank and have to step up from the pontoon onto Still Rockin's deck instead of stepping down onto her! The incoming water is murky as it lifts, pushes and moves the silt along with the increased flow.
This stream runs from under the main road and enters the Thames just to the stern of SR and on Wednesday it was empty except for the last few yards at this end.  The forecast is mostly rain in the Henley area until the early hours of next Wednesday morning ... should be interesting!

9 comments:

Sal said...

Hello Carol, thank you for sharing your blog. We are in the planning stages of a life on the water and have decided we would like a wide beam instead of a narrow boat. I have been trawling the blogs and yours is the only wide beam blog I have found so far. I will be reading your past blogs and look forward to future posts with much interest. Kindest regards, Sal.

KevinTOO said...

I'm surprised that the wet weather has not broad the red boards out sooner to be honest ;)

Carol said...

They were up about 10 days ago too and then reduced about a week ago until yesterday Kevin. I think they'll be up for a bit longer now.

Carol said...

Hello Syd and Sal, welcome to my blog, please feel free to read the blog from the reason we went for a wide beam, the build and our travels over the past 2 years.
Another wb build link for you - http://www.oleanna.co.uk/
Good luck with your new adventure on the water and hope to meet up with you there sometime.

Vallypee said...

I suppose this means you just stay put until you have the all clear? I'm glad you are on a mooring with good rising pontoons!

Carol said...

That's right Val. Having said that we are quite happy not moving this winter, I think the break from cc'ing is doing us good. We're on a great bus service, brilliant walking and the marina is very friendly and quite too. Just the job for the moment!

Carol said...

Oops sorry Oleander is a narrowboat build! I can't think of anyone doing a wb just now.

Paul said...

Don't forget No Problem XL 😀😀

Carole

Carol said...

Thanks Carole, and it's right under my nose too! x