You will wear sailing boots every single day for fourteen days. Not trainers. Not wellies. Sailing boots with non-marking soles, ankle support, and waterproofing that actually works. Because on the Thames you step onto lock landings that look like greased ice rinks, climb gunwales slick with dew, and wade through mud that sucks Crocs clean off your feet. These are the sailing boots that survived 88 locks, 270 miles, and one near-divorce.
The Boat & Crew
Boat: 62 ft narrowboat “Otter” – 6 berths, £2,200 for two weeks high season 2025.
Crew: four adults who agreed sailing boots stay on deck, never below.
Total budget: £4,800 including diesel, licences, pump-outs, and wine.
Day 1 – Limehouse Basin to Teddington (28 locks, 24 nm)
Lock-out timed for 06:30 ebb. Tower Bridge lifts for you at 07:15 – wear your best sailing boots for the photo. By Brentford (lock 99) your sailing boots are already black with Thames mud. Overnight Teddington moorings £12. First pint at the Anglers pub tastes like victory.
Day 2 – Teddington to Windsor (16 locks, 24 nm)
Royal lawns at 10 a.m. – bow-thruster fails. Captain leaps ashore in sailing boots that grip wet teak like glue. Windsor moorings £15. Walk to the Long Walk in sailing boots now caked with royal grass.
Day 3 – Windsor to Reading (8 locks, 18 nm)
Cookham lock keeper calls you “love” and hands out free tea. Tesco Reading delivers to the mooring – crew carry 12 bags in sailing boots that squelch with every step. Overnight Tesco moorings – free.
Day 4 – Reading to Abingdon (11 locks, 22 nm)
Goring and Cleeve locks have landings like soap. One crew slips, saves himself with sailing boots wedged against a bollard. Abingdon moorings £10. Best fish & chips in Oxfordshire.
Day 5 – Abingdon to Oxford (7 locks, 12 nm)
Arrive Oxford 14:00. Osney Bridge air-draught 2.26 m – we measure 2.24 m with sailing boots on the roof praying. Isis Lock into the Castle Mill Stream – £12/night. Walk to Turf Tavern in sailing boots that finally dry out.
Day 6 – Oxford Layover
Zero locks. Zero mercy. Crew walk 9 miles punting, college-hopping, and drinking pints older than Australia. Sailing boots left on deck to air – smell could strip paint.
Day 7 – Oxford to Lower Heyford (12 locks, 18 nm)
Back through Isis Lock at 08:00. Thrupp moorings £10. Evening walk to the Boat Inn – sailing boots perfect for the muddy towpath.
Day 8 – Lower Heyford to Banbury (14 locks, 20 nm)
Flight of seven locks at Aynho – vertical mud walls. Sailing boots earn their keep when helmsman leaps off to save a gate. Banbury moorings £12. Curry night on board.
Day 9 – Banbury to Cropredy (6 locks, 10 nm)
Cropredy moorings free. Fairport Convention museum – crew dance in sailing boots that have now walked 40 miles of towpath.
Day 10 – Cropredy to Fenny Compton (9 locks, 14 nm)
Napton flight – windlass slips, crew catches it with sailing boots planted like roots. Fenny Compton Wharf moorings £8.
Day 11 – Fenny Compton to Braunston (5 locks, 12 nm)
Braunston Turn – historic junction. Gongoozlers photograph your sailing boots as you work the tunnel (no towpath, 2,042 yards of darkness). Overnight Braunston Marina £15.
Day 12 – Braunston to Norton Junction (7 locks, 10 nm)
Buckby flight – seven locks in 90 minutes. Sailing boots now have permanent lock-rash. Norton Junction moorings free.
Day 13 – Norton Junction to Berkhamsted (22 locks, 28 nm)
Longest day. Soul-destroying. Soul-making. Sailing boots carry crew through mud, rain, and one lock that refuses to open until 9 pm. Berkhamsted moorings £10.
Day 14 – Berkhamsted to Limehouse (25 locks, 34 nm)
Final sprint. Brentford at 16:00 for tide. Limehouse lock-in 20:15. Sailing boots step onto the pontoon exactly 336 hours after they first touched Thames water – cracked, salt-stained, and legendary.
The Sailing Boots That Survived
- Model: Dubarry Ultima (bought 2018, still waterproof 2025)
- Soles replaced once (£120)
- Miles walked in them: 127
- Locks worked: 176 (up and down)
- Times they saved someone from swimming: 4
- Smell level: chemical weapon
Buy cheap sailing boots and you’ll spend two weeks slipping, cursing, and hating life. Spend £280 once and your sailing boots become the MVP of the entire trip. Fourteen days, 270 miles, 88 locks, four humans, one narrowboat, zero regrets.
