Thames River Multi-day Cruise

[Gardyloo2]

I may be betraying my newbie-ness about River cruises on this message, but I did a search and couldn't find anything. Hence my question.

 

My husband and I love cruises, and thought we'd enjoy a trip through England on the Thames. It's a little over 200 miles long, and seems that it'd be perfect for small boat/ship cruising. I didn't spot any of the big companies offering these, but I did find a self-hire. Although we used to putt around the Sacramento River Delta in our little motorboat years ago, I don't think my husband would want to do it himself this time around.

 

What am I missing about this? Is there no interest in a multi-day trip on the Thames? And if not, what else is recommended?

 

Thanks so much for your input.

[Kayelache]

My husband and I hired a small cabin cruiser on the Thames some years ago, and spent a delightful week. We started in Henley on Thames and went up river as far as we could in 4 days, we averaged about 30 miles a day, with as many as 8-10 locks. It was a very enjoyable trip, we stopped in all the little towns to shop and visit the pubs for meals, often. We made better time going back downstream (finally learned to handle the locks) and so we went on to about another 20 miles. I would highly recommend doing this. There are numberous private companies that rent boats, quite inexpensively.

[Gardyloo2]

Thanks Kayelache!

 

It sounds fun. Can you point me to a site or a book that might have more information about this type of trip and companies who rent the boats? Did you use a travel agent? May I ask how experienced were you with handling a boat prior to your trip?

[Kayelache]

I just googled "cabin cruiser hire thames" and got pages of responses, so the companies we looked into are still there. The boat we rented had a cabin with a double bed in it, a galley with refrigerator and "cooker" as they call their stove, & sink plus pots and pans, dishes and cupboards. There was a bathroom with shower and plenty of hot water. The main area had a sliding roof that could be opened when the weather was nice, or closed when it rained. The seats there converted to twin beds, which we didn't use, because it was just the two of us. The navigational stuff was there, too.

We had almost no prior boating experience, unless you count some in a canoe! We got the hang of it quickly. Only hard part was maneuvering in and out of the locks.

The advantage of the Thames over the smaller waterways including the canals is that there are "lockkeepers" at each of the locks, who were a tremendous help.

We got a huge kick out of the swans, who would come up to the boat when we were moored for the night and beg for food. The also would swim into the locks with us, ride up or down, and swim away. The lockkeeper said they'd been doing that for as long as he could remember. "Just lazy" he said!

We didn't use a travel agent, we booked it on our own.

It was quite inexpensive, but as I said, this was a few years back and the dollar was a lot stronger. Still, a wonderful way to see England through the back door.