Category: Cruising

Moored up in Christchurch Meadows where a footbridge takes you over the river and the leads you up to the station & town. we paid for our mooring at the Swimming Baths and went on to have tea in John Lewis where I bought a TomTom fitness band as my pedometer (third or fourth) all became unreliable.

Sold to me by the charming Harry

It took me about two hours of struggling to set it up!!

Reading is like many other large towns – unremarkable! It does have a Waitrose but on the other side of town.

Wednesday was a wet day and we took the train to Poole to visit Tony’s Father. We are rather enjoying train travel! Note the arrival times!

This house appealed to Tony

We saw a most intriguing sight on Thursday morning. We were approaching Mapledurham lock and as there was a queue of three large cruisers on the lock mooring the cruiser in front of us and Matilda had to sit mid channel, which was quite difficult as the weir and wind was pushing the boats around. When the lock gates opened several cars yes cars emerged followed by an assortment of amphibious craft. They drove past the weir and up onto land! This happened a second time. Apparently a “duck club” meets annually to drive the Thames!

 

 

We found no mooring at Pangbourne so we moored up at Beale Wildlife Park in the early afternoon.

We cut through to reach the main road and walked up to Basildon House NT. It has some charming rooms and has been used for the likes of Downton Abbey.

 

NOW it’s quiz time.   Why did we take this photo?   A prize for the person who answers correctly. Hilary, as you are a volunteer for the NT you cannot take part.!

We took a slightly longer hike to return to Matilda!  Having been advised to retrace our steps to the main entrance we found them closed! Fortunately not yet padlocked!

And then we had a problem with the intruder alarm. It would not switch off!!!  Tony found a temporary solution but it was not until we reached Goring the following day that we could ring the company (based in Ireland) to resolve the matter.

Hard at work tree cutting

A different summer house

Goring is a delightfully quaint village. Too small to have a Waitrose although a Tesco Metro is about to open above the station. This is Midsomer Murders Country.  It has a superb butcher.  His ‘Directors’ sausages are delicious

A fantastic grocers/delicatessen with a small bakery, a very well stocked ironmongers,a station and several hotels/pubs. It also has interior design and beauty therapy and hairdressers. What more could you want? I suppose the only odd note is along the lane where the late George Michael lived. Fans have attached flags, flowers and all sorts of messages to the fence and greenery. Beautiful frontage to the house.

 

Goring Lock

 

 

Beautiful leather on Goring Church Doors

Streatley, on the opposite bank

This made us smile

We meet so many lovely people and yesterday being Sunday everyone wanted to stop to talk and come aboard. We met up with Jane on ‘Olivella’ for the third time. We met her on the River Lee and on the River Wey. Nice to compare notes.  ‘Following On’ from Devizes moored up in front of us and we shall be seeing them again at Caen Hill Marina.

 

 

 

We left Marlow the following morning and had to do a very quick reverse and turn as the sign indicating the channel at Poison Island was not very large or obvious!

The Regatta course

Riverside boathouses

Rain began just before 11 o’clock so we were pleased to moor up by the park in Henley. Mooring here requires you to use the parking meter in the car park. Quite novel!

We had a wander around the town and had tea at the Chantry House of the church

 

 

High Street

On Monday morning we went to the Rowing and River Museum. For those fans of The Wind in the Willows then the WITW exhibition in the museum is a must see. The models are exquisite and the audio guide tells you the story as you progress.  I was impressed.

 

 

 

 

Such a sad ending…

The upstairs galleries were quite interesting with a part model of a trireme, info about the Olympics etc We spent the whole morning there fortified by tea and cake in the cafe.

Then it was off to the cinema to join all the other over 60’s to watch Dunkirk. I didn’t find the film all that entertaining. I just thought of Lewis Bramley (younger brother of my Great Grandfather) who having survived the First World War, died at Ypres holding the line so the evacuation of Dunkirk could go ahead. A much more interesting story. I have to say that Mark Rylance takes a good role as the little ship skipper.

 

I liked Henley. It has many independent shops and some fine old buildings. It also has a Waitrose!

We moored up at Bells Rope Meadow in Cookham. This is a very small village with many, many eating places, three garages, 2 bridal shops, 1 ladies dress shop, 1 tea shop but no food shops! It does have the Stanley Spencer gallery. He was a local man who was said to be one of the best painters of his day. Hmmm! His work would not be on my wall!

The following day was bright and sunny and we arrived at Marlow and took the last available 24 hour mooring on the towpath.  We moored in front of Stoney Broke from Foxhangers but never saw anyone aboard.

Mooring by the park was £12 per night! Here are the rules!

As usual we visited the Tourist Information (in the Library) and we set out to follow the town trail. Quite a nice little (Waitrose) town.

Notice the Premier Inn sign just to the left of the war memorial

And remembering

An unusual sundial

 

The High Street

Steve Redgrave won 5 Olympic medals. Sadly the year he entered the Devizes to Westminster race he had to retire.

You might be interested in the park maintenance schedule

Also in the Park a small but fascinating local museum

The Shelleys lived here

The Pub owned by Tom Kerridge. Note the price of fish & chips £17.50!

 

Now the Penguin Fish Bar!

TS Eliot lived in Marlow too

And guess who owned Marlow? Yes, Matilda wife of William the Conqueror.

 

 

 

 

 

Moored in Windsor

Met some lovely people including the charming mooring warden who came along by boat to collect the mooring fees

And a brilliant sunset

London prices for diesel too. £1.21 per litre ( but only £0.80 on River Lee!)

The exclusive hotel on Monkey Island has deck chairs on the lawn,(tasteful cream and brown stripes) and its own trip boat.

We have noticed that deck chairs are the latest fashion statement for your garden!

Some even smarter homes on this section of the river

 

Some house details if you are thinking of moving this way…….Compare this with Devizes and Nottingham.

  

Moored in Maidenhead outside a house for sale at £1.5 million but with I K Brunel’s rail bridge in sight. No riverside garden and train noise!

]  

The echo works (Bonjour Matelot!) and the bridge is still in use!

The town bridge

High Street

The Library was impressive It opens every day and offers a range of services. The lady on the information desk was very helpful, and armed with our tourist information we went and had a coffee in the library cafe. Delicious carrot cake too!

 

Then off to the delightful town museum. Upstairs was entirely devoted to the Air Transport Auxiliary service. These were the men and a surprising number of women, who flew the planes from the factory hangars to the air force bases.

Below a painting of Langley.near Iver.

And now test your aircraft recognition skills

Someone could not resist……..

Take off from Southampton and lining up with the runway at Hurn (Bournemouth)

 

The landing was based on the Ryanair style but he still got his certificate!

 

 

 

 

 

Another lovely day cruising. Spotted some very smart homes.

and very smart prices!

Datchet a very desirable place to live. The visitor moorings even have fountains alongside!

The Magna Carta cottage by the lock

Paddle Steamer cruise at Runnymede

 

No mooring at Windsor Park

The castle

Windsor bridge

To the right Windsor and to the left Eton.  Mooring £8 per night

 

 

 

 

 

The River Wey is owned and operated by the National Trust and as you would expect of the NT all the locks are tidy and well maintained.

Newark Priory and beautiful countryside

Steam boat

Below is Dapdune Wharf.

As we had been told it was not possible to book a mooring here only later to find it was, we were a little unhappy. Needless to say, we took the matter up verbally and subsequently by email!

Here we met James Gates sailor, rope maker extraoardinaire, writer and family historian. We enjoyed our conversation with him and can only say what a great asset the NT has with volunteers like him!

An old Wey barge and below a rhyme!

Opposite our mooring was the  very busy Sea Scout Operation

Guildford itself is a very pleasant town The High Street runs up from the river and has some fine old buildings and the remains of a castle. Fantastic bedding out in the Castle grounds.

An this is what pleased us

Abbots hospital

Old coaching inn

The clock and looking down the High Street from the Guildhall

Mill Meadows Lovely mooring just five minutes from the town centre.

 

Early in the morning we caught a glimpse of the Queens Barge from the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Setting off at Midday we aimed for Hampton Court but there was no space for us to moor. Boats had left a lot of spaces but none were of sufficient length for us so we continued up river, Some beautiful houseboats…..

 

Caught in the act! Picking blackberries from the work boat!

We turned into the River Wey, through the unusual Thames Lock, and we moored up on the towpath within a short walk of Weybridge.  My favourite poster!

Now what to make of this?

Whilst moored at Teddington we took a quick day trip to Windsor the collect our post from a mailbox at a petrol station there. It was conveniently near the river so we were able to check out the mooring situation

 

Along the river was a plaque commemorating the hurricane aircraft.

 

Astounding house rental prices!

The old station well worth a  visit

A tired soldier ? and changing the guard

 

The castle. Spectacular State Apartments but no cameras allowed.

 

 

 

 

The chapel.

A gift aided ticket enables you to make a return visit so we shall do that next week.

 

The photos to prove it!

Entering the Thames from Limehouse lock at 5.45 am on the rising tide.

looking back at the lock

Tower bridge

 

Trying to capture Traitors Gate opposite HMS Belfast

The Monument – site of Great Fire of London 1666

 

 

 

A glimpse of St Pauls, under The Millenium Bridge:

  

The Eye

 

 

 

 

 

Skyline looking back into the sunrise

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament, too far to see Claire Perry MP waving.

  

Harrods

Nice view leaving the high rise behind

Teddington Lock with its plaque marking the “little ships” that evacuated Dunkirk in 1940

 

And its well tended gardens with (you will like this Vanessa) dahlias

Riverboat in the lock

Matilda moored up in the excellent moorings just above the lock and opposite the weir

The journey took just over 4 hours and there was very little traffic at that time on Tuesday morning. The PLA charts were a great help, guiding through the correct bridge arches and sides of islands. Also good to have VHF contact and hearing of other boat movements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again met up with Gary who travelled with us from Roydon to his home in Cheshunt.

We travelled in style to M & S Thank you Gary

Abandoned golf buggy!

Couldn’t resist another visit to Lee Valley Water Park

Sunset alongside the Water Park

The following day Deb and Nick came to visit to discuss the finer points of boating

And Gary at the wheel yesterday morning. We said goodbye at Tottenham and look forward to meeting up again in the not too distant future.

I had never seen a weed catching machine before. Weed was quite a problem.

Still scruffy around the Olympic Park

Then the very smart Limehouse Basin, at last!