Time, tide and the Thames

Unlike Arthur Ransome’s story, Trevor Cherrett really did mean to take his boat to sea but it didn't quite work out that way

- Trevor Cherrett

You know what it's like. You do all the passage planning, line up your crew, check the weather and tides, and still it all goes wrong. Maybe the Greeks were right: there are gods to appease...

For the 2022 season, I planned to take my 22ft traditional new build wooden 'gentleman's' harbour launch Morgana down the Thames to London and the tidal estuary, then eastwards to the Medway.

I hoped it would be the start of a harbour-hopping adventure up the East Coast to the Essex swatchways, the Suffolk rivers, and maybe even the Norfolk Broads. A fitting sequel to past sojourns on the Severn, the Devon and Cornish coasts, and the Solent.

I bought the almanacs, the charts, the guides. I updated my plotter software, prepared the boat, and alerted my assorted crew.

The first stage was an easy run down to Teddington from my base at Stanley & Thomas's boatyard at Windsor. I would make it even easier by stopping over at Chertsey Bridge, right next to the friendly Bridge Hotel for a comfortable first night.

And there are plenty of delightful pubs to stop by for morning coffee and lunch.

After that it gets a bit tricky. My initial plan was to punch the tide up to Limehouse and break my journey there before heading out to the estuary on the tide. I picked a neap tide to make it easier.

But at the last minute, Limehouse informed me that I would need a Canal and River Trust (CRT) licence to stay overnight or incur crippling mooring fees. And my crew had to return home the next day for family reasons, so I might be stuck there for a while.

I aborted the passage and returned to Windsor, stopping at every watering place I could- and fortunately of course there are plenty of them - for some compensatory leisure.

Plan B