Evening all - and I can't tell you how encouraging it is to start tomorrow's tidal leg just £13 short of £6,500 for the Treehouse Project (including the £100 given by friends who preferred not to use the online system). I'm also still feeling warm and cosy because of my reception at Richmond; I hope the waterfront crew who helped me there will take it as a compliment when I say that they reminded me of Philip Pullman's Gyptians on the Oxford canal or the water-travellers in Joanne Harris's Chocolat.

One of them, known as Boaty Jo, kindly made this YouTube film, if you would like a reminder of this old dear:

Meanwhile, the indomitable Commander of the Land Forces and I have an early start tomorrow to get Clemmy and myself through Richmond half-lock before they raise the sluice gates two hours after high tide. Here's a diagram showing the complexity of this wondrous Victorian device:

After passing that, I have shortish spell of hugging the starboard bank in my usual fashion before entering what amounts to a contraflow which allows racing boats to do what they call 'Working the Slack', which means using the quietest water when they are rowing against the tide. Here are a couple of maps and a diagram which will be vital for me tomorrow, from The Port of London's Rowing Code.

This one shows the principle of Working the Slack, with the orange arrows the strongest area of tide and the pink dotted line showing the racing boats' route. The one below shows where it applies:

And finally, here are the lanes. Mine is the green one second from the bottom; or as the PLA well puts it, the starboard side of what amounts to a river within a river. Please wish me luck, and patience from all other boats.