Blanchtown and beyond

 23rd July 2025

We plan to arrive in Blanchtown at around lunchtime and have lunch at the local pub, so push off after breakfast to continue our journey down the river. The scenery continues to be a highlight and we are constantly amazed at the number of pelicans on the river.



There are a lot more houses along the river than we expected 







Finally we can see the Blanchtown bridge in the distance.




This little bay before the bridge seems to be a marina for houseboats in amongst the dead trees


The township is just on the other side of the bridge

We arrive at around 11.20 am and there is a dedicated parking area for houseboats just beyond the bridge, where boats waiting to enter Lock 1 wait for clearance to enter the lock. We tie up there and walk about 300 m up to the pub.


Blanchtown weir with the lock in the foreground


Blanchtown Hotel


The pub is rustic and very empty when we arrive. Food service doesn’t commence until 12 noon, so a few of us have a beer whilst others wander down the road to get a coffee.

Once the food was on, we strained the extensive menu on offer. Most of us ordered the special soup of the day, but it turned out they only had 2 serves, so we had to settle for an alternative soup which seemed to have been watered down to have enough to serve everyone who ordered. Anyway, the beer was good.

There were a few other customers, all dressed in hi vis gear who were obviously locals.

After lunch we plan to move on further down the river to Swan Reach. This requires us to phone the lock operator to book a time to go through the lock. They are delighted to get our call and within minutes the lock is open and ready to receive us.


Entering the lock


The level dropped 2.8m before the exit gates opened and a pelican was there to greet us

The lock operators, there were 3 of them,  a cheerful bunch, who were one of the groups in hi vis gear at the pub for lunch. They warned us that there were a lot of sand banks in the stretch of riviera between here and Swan Reach and to be aware.

It turned out they were also a lot of stray snags along the path. We bumped into at least one submerged log and touched the odd sandbank before we finally found a suitable place to tie up for the night.

Finding a place to tie up is quite a challenge, as it needs to be deep enough near the shore to get the bow in close enough to get the gangplank onto dry land and you need trees to tie up to. We tried a couple of different sites before we found one suitable.


One of our mooring trees with the sun shining on the river cliffs 



Looking across the river as the sun goes down 

It is our turn to provide dinner tonight and Carole cooked Osso Bucco which was really nice, perfect for this cold weather.

Tomorrow we will continue on the Swan Reach.













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