Chris Fink at the helm on the Tidal Thames
At the Teddington we got a green light for the Barge Lock. Some narrow boats were already waiting and as more arrived there were narrow boats three abreast in front of us. Steve thought that we were likely to lock through using the middle gates of the lock, but a group of large cruisers coming up from London arrived behind us and before long the whole 650ft length of the lock was fully utilised. The scene was somewhat reminiscent of the classic Edwardian painting of Boulter’s Lock.
Crowded Teddington Barge Lock
We then realised that the 177ft Launch Lock was also in use. This created some difficulties leaving the lock since most of the narrowboats, like us, had to stop immediately after leaving the lock to get visitor licences and the cruisers behind them had to overtake and cross the traffic entering the Launch Lock. What fun!
On the new visitor moorings at Teddington Lock
We moored up temporarily just outside the lock (literally) and then moved onto the smart new visitor moorings as they became available. Whisky and Dundee cake was the order of the day. It went down well! That evening we enjoyed a good meal at Lucy & Chris’s favourite Indian restaurant in Teddington, Prem.
