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@MotoriseIt-p8m The closer to high tide the easier it will be, around 2hrs either side you will still be able to get out but it may be tricky. The hard stand at Gillingham is fine, we had aimed to launch from there but a sailing race prevented it. Good luck 👍

Interested to hear how you've motorised your kayak?

@nickcowley nice one thank you! I'll probably get there for about 3 hours pre high tide and if we have to wait it's no drama. Where was it you launched from instead? Looks like it's next to a boat yard?

@@MotoriseIt-p8m We launched near the Hoo Sailing Barge graveyard on the other side to Gillingham, there is a bit of public land. (not an official launch point tho)

@Jason-ke2nj not been in one myself, starting to see the appeal tho, can fit so much more stuff in!

@@nickcowley can sleep on it too...and cook..like a mobile tinyhome

@jamescreech9987 😂 sorry to disappoint with the tramp, I'll try harder for the next one

I do a talk about the islands of the Medway which includes info on the forts. Check out some highlights on my channel

@AdamDTaylor Great presentation! I forgot how much you had to displace the water to get under the front door. Your descriptions of paddling around the lower level were spot on, I'm glad I wasn't the only one that was a little freaked out 😅

Thank you Nick 😃

Thank you ​@nickcowley come and see the whole version at the Medway Local History Society in January? It would be good to share some estuary knowledge with you

@transsimracer5003 one of the few benefits of lots of rain fall earlier on in the year!

@teuluPaul it was close to the limit with the tide timings and a little tricky! Ideally you'd want to get there closer to high tide.

Thanks Chris. The 'faff' levels have gone up! You'll have to join us on the next one

I had a years experience prior to this trip. When we did our length of the Thames trip a year before this I had only been in a kayak a handful of times too. Just need a healthy respect for the water and build as you go!

A friend and I just did Whitney on Wye to Hereford over two days in my inflatable boat. We had only been on the water once previously and we made it! The little rapids come thick and fast in low water levels so you quickly learn how to pick the best route through them.

Thank you, glad you found it useful. I'm not sure about the pamphlet, the link was directly from the Go Paddling website which didn't show anything about a physical one!

@@nickcowley oh I could have sworn I saw one in the video - perhaps you printed it out. Thank you

@simondjangothe4349 Thank you for the support 👍

@@RealBesty It's not the first and certainly won't be the last time I mispronounce something! Thank you for the correction

@@nickcowley Sorry for being that guy..! 🙄

@@oldgreg1 I wouldn't choose to go through London again...

@@nickcowley Why is that? Where would you cut it?

​@@jonathanmaher6663 I would keep it to the non-tidal part of the Thames, so end in Teddington. London was an experience but not the nicest part of the river to be on in a kayak!

I'm glad people are finding this useful for planning their own trips! Because we went with Kenny's taxi, we launched a bit further upstream where he has an agreement. I believe the Glas-y-Bont Common launch area is controlled by the council, which allows launching between 1000 and 1600. But I don't know if this has changed, sorry, would be interested to find out!

Thank you for the support!

Those are both really nice sections of the river you did! Kemble to Oxford, yeah i'd say 3-4 days. If you look in the description we listed our mileage, we took 3 days to do Kemble to Sandford lock, which is just past Oxford. The upper Thames is great, enjoy!

Thank you. Amazing what you can do with a bit of foam!

Thank you, glad people are finding it useful! Get out there 👍

We preloaded a car up with the kayaks, and then were met at the launch point, bikes went into the car

Thanks for sharing the correct pronunciations to my butchered attempts. We didn't know much about the area prior to going, but definitely left wanting to see more!

@@nickcowley Hey, that's alright. Yeah, takes a while to get used to the place names in Wales. See you back out there.

It did, as did Chris driving it! Maybe pushing its limit of comfort over that distance though.

Those untrained legs 👀

Hi Dan. I’ve added the miles for each day in the description. 19 miles was our longest and 11 miles was our shortest. We roughly had an average moving speed of 3 mph for the non tidal part. We did around 9 to 12 hours a day but that is including breaks and getting around/through the locks - these really do slow you down, even carrying around some locks could take nearly 15 mins. I’d recommend getting up and on the water early, that helps with chipping away at the milage. The kids, its hard to tell really, there is quite an accumulation on the body, and it takes a while to loosen up in the mornings, but then again they may be better off in that regard. Generally I would say its more of a resilience thing as opposed to fitness. The beauty of the Thames is it’s so accessible, so even if you do have to cut the trip short there’s plenty of options. Good luck!

We did put a lot of planning in, particularly as we were both novice kayakers, so we were a little unsure what to expect. We had rough mileage and areas we wanted to get to each day, wild camping along the route. We pre booked into one campsite roughly half way anticipating we may be in need of a shower, which was definitely a moral booster! The London end probably had the most planning as there isn't really anywhere to camp downstream of Chertsey, for those nights fortunately we had some friends and family we could stay with, we left some inflatable roof racks with them before setting off so we could transport the boats. In London there was the tide times to consider, we had to make sure that we caught the outgoing tide from Putney. Also we had pre planned where we would get out at that end (Greenwich Yacht Club), there really isn't anywhere to stop and get out of the river downstream from Putney. Having said all this, the plan wasn't rigid and we weren't concerned about completely sticking to it, apart from the London end. There were a few days where we did less mileage and others where we did more. We were restricted to doing it in 12 days, so the hardest part was not stopping at every pub on the river!

Where abouts does the river become navigable by kayaks , and would you recommend any good launch point’s ?

It can depend on water levels, Cricklade is probably the first area where it becomes navigable, when we did it this wasn't possible. Lechlade you're pretty much guaranteed. We launched from The Red lion Castle Eaton, they charged a small launch fee, although I have a feeling they were going to stop allowing people doing this. 'Paddle points' is an excellent website to check out.