Salters Steamers

Salters Steamers founded in 1858 runs boat services on the Thames from a range of locations as well as hiring & building boats and related equipment.

I went to Oxford to visit my son on Sunday 20th June, and planned to take the 12.00 cruise from Folly Bridge to Iffley Lock. The A Board was out and we walked down the steps from Folly Bridge into the Companys premises, a rather nice warren of historic buildings.

The earlier cruise came in, a small modern boat and rather tongue in cheek, I asked if they could take the Reading, built in 1901 out for our trip.

'Well, if we can get enough people, yes' was the gist of the reply.



Picture from the Salters Website, not mine.

With the weather getting less worse a few more passengers appeared, the skipper of the earlier cruise & the gentlemen who was selling the tickets set to work starting the engine on the Reading, oldest ship in the fleet, a former steamer built in 1901 and drying off the seats.

Not only does Reading, and the other historic steamers have tram style 'reversible' seats but they are not fixed giving some flexibility - in this case to get us out of the drizzle.

We sailed downstream, passing University Boathouses, Salters own boatyard and down to Iffley Lock where we turned and headed back to Folly Bridge.

Thank you Gentlemen for getting The Reading out.

Sadly services are much reduced this year but the equally vintage 'Goring' moored on the opposite bank and normally runs between Oxford and Abingdon, sadly though not in 2021 and this year there are services from Marlow.

So if you are looking for something vintage, even if these days diesel rather than steam, its a nice trip and perhaps next year there is the possibility of longer sailings.

Details are at

https://salterssteamers.co.uk/