An Old Girl Goes to London

Classic boats, traditional pubs, mysterious bones and a very special surprise at St Katharine Docks.

September saw us setting off down the Thames once again, this time heading for St Katharine Docks in London and the Classic Boat Festival. It would be our second time attending the festival aboard Deux Poissons, and we were really looking forward to returning.

But, as always, getting there was going to be part of the fun. We'd allowed ourselves plenty of time for the journey, with no need to rush past all those lovely places along the river. After all, one of the joys of having a boat is being able to take your home with you, stopping wherever takes your fancy.

Old Haunts and Happy Memories

As we travelled downriver, we passed Shiplake Lock, which brought back memories of a glorious afternoon we'd spent there earlier in the summer. We'd tucked ourselves away behind the lock, anchored just in front of the weir, and settled down to do absolutely nothing. The big umbrella went up, cushions came out, and with backgammon, books and the birds to entertain us, we spent a wonderfully lazy afternoon reading, playing games and occasionally dozing in the sunshine.

It was absolute bliss. We'll certainly be back next summer, even if it's only for another few hours of doing absolutely nothing.

On Tuesday 1 September, we arrived in Henley-on-Thames. Henley is one of those places we never tire of visiting. We've moored there many times over the years, often in slightly different spots along the same stretch of riverbank, and it always brings back happy memories. We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday, enjoying walks into town and the quieter atmosphere now that the summer holidays were coming to an end.

Thursday took us to Windsor, where we decided to revisit a couple of pubs we'd spotted on a side road during a cycling trip on a previous visit. We love finding proper old English pubs. Not necessarily the polished, chain-run establishments where every menu looks suspiciously familiar, but those wonderful local places with a bit of character.

Our first stop wasn't quite what we'd hoped for. It felt rather more like a chain pub than the traditional watering hole we'd imagined, but we were thirsty, the garden was pleasant and the drinks were cold, so we weren't complaining too much!

Then we moved on to the Bexley Arms. Now this was more like it!

Behind the bar was the landlady, who seemed to know everyone coming through the door. Local builders, plumbers and other tradespeople were arriving after work, greeting one another and settling in for a drink. Having spent plenty of time in London pubs after work during our careers, particularly around the financial district, it was lovely to experience something quite different. Here was a real sense of community.

The landlady somehow managed to serve everyone at the bar, take our food order, bring our meals to the table and still find time to chat. The food was home-cooked, served on well-used plates with mismatched cutlery, and absolutely delicious. By the time we left, she even remembered our names! It was exactly the sort of pub we'd been hoping to find.

Continuing downriver, we passed through Maidenhead and Boulters Lock, with its interesting old stonework and reminders of the Thames' long history.

Some locks we had entirely to ourselves. At others, we found ourselves sharing the chamber with boats so enormous that Deux Poissons looked positively tiny.

We eventually reached Staines, where we spent the night enjoying another lovely sunset. The days were noticeably getting shorter now. Summer was beginning to slip away, although fortunately the weather hadn't entirely given up on us. We also had friends joining us for the final leg of the journey into London.

An Unexpected Flotilla

At Sunbury Lock, the next day, we found ourselves in the company of several beautiful classic boats, including some of the famous Dunkirk Little Ships. Among the people we met was the owner of Dennett's Boatyard, who had previously repaired Deux Poissons' handrail. It was lovely to catch up and admire the boats, many of which were also heading for the Classic Boat Festival.

Our original plan had been to stop overnight at Teddington before continuing into London and arrive there on Sunday morning. But as we chatted with the other owners, we discovered they were all planning to head straight to St Katharine Docks that day. The tides were right and a quick call to St Katherine Docks confirmed a space in the lock - well, it seemed a shame to miss the opportunity!

So we changed our plans and said we would join them. Just one quick stop... a little preventative maintenance. It had been a while since we'd changed the fuel filters, and we'd filled up with diesel several times since. Although we always treat our fuel, Patrick wanted to be absolutely sure we weren't risking blocked filters or fuel starvation on the busy tidal Thames. So out came the tools, and we changed the filters.
And thank goodness we did! They were filthy. It's one of those jobs that's easy to postpone, especially when you're enjoying the journey, but we were very glad we'd taken the time. Losing engine power among the commercial traffic on the tidal Thames was an adventure we had absolutely no desire to experience! Just another little reminder that boating isn't always about beautiful scenery and leisurely afternoons. Sometimes it's about changing fuel filters with Hampton Court Palace as your backdrop !

And then we were off, a leisurely journey into London became an impromptu flotilla of beautiful old boats. What a sight!

One of the more entertaining moments of the journey came at Richmond. For anyone unfamiliar with this stretch of the Thames, Richmond has a tidal half-lock, and passing through it can involve paying a charge.

Nothing particularly unusual about that. Except for the method of payment! As the water level dropped, the lock keeper lowered a fishing net containing a card machine down towards us. Patrick retrieved the machine, tapped our card and placed it back into the net to be hauled up again.

Modern technology meets traditional boating!

With that little transaction completed, we continued down the tidal Thames towards central London.

And what a journey it was. Passing the familiar London landmarks from the water is always special. Buildings we'd seen countless times from roads, trains or pavements suddenly looked completely different. Then came Tower Bridge, and before long we were making our way into St Katharine Docks.

We'd arrived!

Back at St Kats

We were a day earlier than originally planned, which meant we had some extra time to explore London with our friends.

First, though, we had to get ourselves settled. Arriving somewhere by boat involves rather more than simply parking and getting out! There are ropes to secure, mooring arrangements and paperwork to sort out, and then the small matter of putting our home back together.

Travelling on the non-tidal Thames is one thing. Travelling on the tidal Thames is quite another. Having spent years boating on the Solent, we were back in familiar territory. Everything that can move, slide, fall over or break needs to be securely stowed away. The kitchen sink becomes a temporary storage facility for anything that might otherwise go flying. The lounge table has to lie flat, and lockers are packed with all the bits and pieces that normally make Deux Poissons feel like home. It doesn't take particularly long to prepare her for the journey. Putting everything back afterwards is another matter entirely!

By the time we'd tied up, completed the formalities and restored the boat to something resembling normality, it was getting late. None of us had the slightest inclination to cook. Fortunately, we remembered a pizza restaurant we'd enjoyed on our previous visit. And happily, our memories hadn't exaggerated how good the pizzas were!

We were starving, the food was delicious and the wine went down a treat. Then it was back aboard and an early night.

The following morning, we made full use of the marina's shower facilities. And what a luxury! Endless hot water. No worrying about how much was left in the tank. No switching the shower off while soaping up, then switching it back on to rinse. Just standing under lovely hot running water for as long as we wanted.

It's the little things!

Feeling thoroughly refreshed, the four of us set off to explore a little of London. We wandered around the Tower of London, chatting as we went, before noticing that the tide was out and one of the little Thames beaches was exposed. Naturally, we went down to investigate. We picked up stones and various interesting bits and pieces, including several objects that looked suspiciously like bones.

Well, that got our imaginations going! What were they? How long had they been in the river? And, more importantly, who or what had they belonged to? Before long, we were discussing centuries-old stories of people falling into the Thames, prisoners meeting unfortunate ends and all sorts of other rather gruesome possibilities.

Eventually, we settled on a slightly less dramatic explanation. Perhaps a butcher had simply disposed of some unwanted animal remains, probably pig. Still gruesome, but considerably less exciting!

By now the sun had made an appearance and it was becoming rather warm, so we decided refreshments were in order. Naturally, that meant ice-cold beer. And when we spotted a Sunday roast on offer, well, it would have been rude not to! Suitably fed and watered, we made our way back to Deux Poissons for a lazy afternoon in the marina.

The men talked boats, my friend settled down with her book, and I dozed in the sunshine. It was rather surreal. There we were, stretched out in the warmth, enjoying the peace and quiet aboard our little floating home, almost forgetting that we were right in the centre of London. Only a week earlier, we'd been tied up against a peaceful riverbank.

That's one of the things I love most about boating. The scenery changes, but home comes with us.

Getting Ready for the Show

Monday morning arrived and it was time to say goodbye to our friends, who headed home while Patrick and I returned to the rather less exciting business of work. Unfortunately, even when your home is moored in the middle of London, real life doesn't disappear entirely!

But with the festival still several days away, we had plenty of opportunities to enjoy the marina, watch the other classic boats arrive and get Deux Poissons looking her best.

.Before we knew it, the weekend was upon us. We'd spent the preceding days polishing chrome, cleaning windows, washing decks and casting suspicious glances at every threatening rain cloud. There's nothing quite like polishing a boat in preparation for a show to make you suddenly very interested in the weather forecast! Fortunately, the rain stayed away.

The weekend was warm and clear, and the marina soon filled with visitors. As one of the participating show boats, we have the option of welcoming people aboard. And we absolutely love doing that. People are fascinated by what it might be like to live on a boat, particularly one as old as Deux Poissons. They want to know how we manage everyday life, where we've travelled, what it's like spending so much time afloat and how we turned a rather tired old boat into our comfortable home.

They're especially interested in her restoration. We have plenty of before-and-after photographs to show them, and our website tells much of the story, but we prefer to make people feel at home. We invite them to sit down, get comfortable and have a chat. And before long, we're sharing little snippets of our lives, stories of our adventures and the work that has gone into keeping this beautiful old girl afloat.

After all, Deux Poissons isn't simply a classic boat on display. She's our home.

A Very Special Surprise

And just when we thought the weekend couldn't get any better, we had a rather wonderful surprise. The secretary of the Thames Vintage Boat Club, accompanied by two other members, popped their heads into Deux Poissons to see if we were around. Deux Poissons has a long association with the club, registered as member number 087. Her previous owner had been a member for many years, and several longstanding members remembered her well. They'd been delighted when Patrick and I joined the club and brought her back into the fold. They also remembered her as an increasingly tired old lady, so they'd taken a particular interest in her restoration.

What we hadn't realised was quite how impressed they were! At the club's previous AGM, which we'd unfortunately missed because we were away, Deux Poissons had been awarded the John Mauger Trophy for Amateur Restoration 2025.

And there, at the Classic Boat Festival in St Katharine Docks, we were finally presented with our award. We were absolutely thrilled, and genuinely humbled.

The Thames Vintage Boat Club has so many beautiful boats among its members, many lovingly maintained and restored by their owners. Having spent years working on Deux Poissons ourselves, we have some understanding of just how much that takes.
And not only financially. There's the time, the determination and, perhaps most importantly, the motivation to keep going when the results seem painfully slow.

Restoring an old boat is rarely a matter of starting one project, finishing it and moving neatly on to the next. There's often more than one thing happening at once. Electrics alongside varnishing. The shower room while sections of the galley are being rebuilt. One job uncovering another, and another, until you begin to wonder whether you'll ever reach the end. Even now, there's always something else to do!

And when you're living among all those unfinished jobs, it's sometimes difficult to stand back and see just how far you've come. You can't see the wood for the trees, as the saying goes. So having someone else look at Deux Poissons as a whole, rather than as a collection of ongoing projects, and recognise the transformation with an award was incredibly special. It reminded us just how much we'd actually achieved.

And to think that most of it had been done by the two of us, whose professional backgrounds were in IT and psychology! Hardly the most obvious qualifications for restoring a vintage motor boat!

Needless to say, we celebrated. And we felt rather proud of our beautiful old girl.

Homeward Bound

Monday morning seemed to arrive far too quickly. The festival was over, the visitors had gone, and the colourful dress flags that had decorated the boats all weekend were coming down. The marina was slowly returning to normal as the participating boats prepared to leave.

We joined the first group heading through the lock out of St Katharine Docks, once again finding ourselves in the company of other beautiful old boats as we made our way home. As we continued upriver, we travelled alongside several of our fellow classic boat owners.

The journey upriver was a little more hurried than our leisurely trip down to London. With the Thames locks closing at 6 pm, we were conscious of the time. Fortunately, Teddington stayed open for us, and we managed to get through Shepperton too. But Sunbury was just a lock too far!

By the time we arrived, the locks had closed for the evening, so we tied up at the lock lay-by alongside several of the other classic boats, all waiting for the locks to reopen the following morning. It was quite a sight. A beautiful row of old boats moored together, their crews exhausted after a long day's travelling and mostly hidden away below decks.

The following morning, we continued our journey upriver. One by one, the other boats peeled away towards their own home moorings, with waves and promises that we'd see one another again next year.

Eventually, Deux Poissons was the last of the group still heading upriver. Our home mooring was considerably farther away than most of theirs, so we had plenty of time to chat about everything we'd seen and all the ideas we'd picked up from other boat owners. Because, as anyone who owns an old boat will tell you, there's always another project waiting!

But after a week like that, we couldn't help feeling rather proud of our old girl. Built in 1959, still travelling, still turning heads and now with an award to add to her story.

Not bad for a lady of 67!