Nigel, I also have memories of Sandford lock. I was coming downstream from Oxford and as it was a hot day, decided I could do with a pint from the pub there. I'd just missed a lock and was tied up on the wooden piling and beam style layby, so I grabbed my tankard and started walking along the beam to get my beer. I was facing downstream, so I didn't see a large vessel coming down much too fast. It swerved to miss the last moored boat and hit the far end of the beam with a huge crash. The resulting shockwave threw me off the beam into the water on the inshore side. As the water was shallow I got badly bruised and knocked about - but at least I didn't lose my tankard.

Sheila Finn, the current editor of Folk London has done the "Human Mooring Warp" trick in Molesey lock, but she ended up in the water !