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What better way to spend the record-breakingly hot summer of 2022 than to take our cruiser on the 115-mile, 41-lock voyage from Shepperton Marina to the source of the River Thames and back, or at least as far as we could go?
Our beloved powerboat is just 22ft long and the journey would take 22 days, although we didn’t know that when we started. What we did know, since we are both in our seventies and I am disabled, was that I was not planning to disembark until we were home. Our goal was Lechlade in Gloucestershire. The bubble of spring water generally considered to be the actual source of the Thames is further on in a field 12 miles past Cricklade, but unless you’re in a canoe, even Cricklade is impossible. So for most boaters, the aim is to reach Ha’penny Bridge, beyond which the river is too shallow for navigation.
Fully loaded
We cast off by mid-afternoon on 5 July, with a hold full of bottled water, every cupboard crammed with food in packets, jars and tins, a small fridge for dairy stuff and boating essentials like sausages and bacon, and alcoholic refreshments.
Of course, we planned to buy fish and chips and other effortless suppers on the way, and we hoped that a riverside hostelry or twooff . But you can’t rely on getting an available mooring for pub-grub, so we had victuals aplenty and enough petrol to get us to Reading.
