Were settled at Hennef Way, and the rain is still not going away completely. But that doesn’t matter to anything but the wet washing.. a hire car is arranged, the fire will be lit soon (after a quick re-organisation from summer to winter storage modes within the boat) and the weir here is flowing very hard – harder than I have ever seen it, with the little stream that runs past here more like a strong river at the moment – but at least it’s keeping the water level on the canal under control.
And yes, after several days of very heavy rain – I feel slightly justified about my decision to not stay on the Thames for very long. I’m not happy that the rain has proven that decision correct though – as there are those who are stuck on the Thames like we were last year, but.. I’m glad we got of the Thames when we did, as today, whilst checking on the status’ of the rivers, I can safely say that it was the right call – for us anyway.
Having looked on the Thames conditions web site.. er.. yea.. slightly red!
And the Cherwell passing under Nell bridge where we got stuck last Christmas.. similar story.. and for us un-passable, so I’m also thankful we got past that hurdle whilst we could as well!
Just to highlight how bad the Thames is currently.. We were at Goring lock a few days ago – there is a post for this which included this photo..
Note the water level, and how far the boat is down from the area with the white capped bollards were tied up to..
Now.. this is a photo from someone else, who uploaded this to a facebook group today..
Notice those same white capped bollards.. now submerged.. and the water level is STILL rising..
Hmm.. I am thankful we are no longer on the Thames.
There are a few locations around us where CRT has planned some winter maintenance, so there are stoppages north and south of us – so we may not be moving far until December.. but – for the next few weeks, were staying at Hennef Way, Banbury.