Day 9 - Walton on Thames to Chiswick Pier, 16 miles and 4 locks.

Almost there, just one final day to complete our challenge! We stayed in the Weir Hotel, located on the river bank, in Walton on Thames, and arranged for a packed lunch to be ready at 7am, when we absolutely planned to leave, in time to catch the tide when we reached Teddington lock. In the morning no signs of life in the hotel and the stairway, which is locked at night, still locked. We left via the fire escape (pointed out when we checked in). We rowed to the first lock, a few hundred yards away, to see a ‘Lock closed’ notice. Attached to the control panel, which has no power, was a hand written notice “back at 9”.

I thought of the possibility of asking some passing runners if they could help us carry the boat around the lock, then noticed that this lock had a ‘Portage’ to move canoes round the lock.  A canoeist arrived and offered to help us drag our boat down the rollers, which worked.  

Passing Hampton Court palace

We then had to row quite hard to get to the Teddington lock and finally Richmond lock, which got us onto the tidal Thames.

We then rowed hard, helped by the falling tide, to get to Chiswick Pier, our mooring for the night, just before the tide turned.

There are a large number of rowing clubs on this part of the Thames, all out in force on the river.  We had to weave our way through or past lots of them. Expect a lot more tomorrow!

Last day tomorrow and it looks as if we may actually complete our challenge, although at times we really doubted that we would.