Abingdon to Kings lock - Dukes Cut - 11 miles, 5 locks, 5.5 hours

Not much to say today, other than it was very wet!

John, Annita and Sarah left us first thing to head off to Lego Land.

We set off early hoping to get a good start and fill up with water, the best laid plans and all that.

We were held up at the lock as a large Dutch Barge went through and then pulled up to fill up with water - so as we still had about half a tank of water we decided to press on.  The rain kept falling, but as our Thames licence expires on 1 August and Rod is due to work tomorrow and Thursday we needed to press on.

We passed the bottom entry to the Oxford canal.

The Thames becomes very rural beyond this point as the bridge at Osney is very low, so it is now all canal boats or smaller cruisers - no more Gin Palaces as the lock keeper called them.

The rain finally stopped just before we did, and we are moored at Kings lock after which we turn right onto the Oxford canal.

Our beautiful view over the lovely country side.

The cars are for the sea cadets.

Good news to finish the day we have let our house :-) Yippee

Shillingford Bridge to Abingdon 10 miles, 3 locks, 3.5 hours (Monday)

A nice early start again.

The weather was mixed bag, but we made it to Abingdon before the heavens really opened.

Sarah and I completed the first lock, she is becoming a real expert!

Annita and I remained on Kite watch and did catch sight of a couple, but they are very camera shy, or could it just be our poor photography!

John kept Rodney company, until the rain came.

Abingdon was very busy, but we were lucky again and managed to jump on a spot as some one vacated.

Rod and John, sorted out cars and vans, whilst the girls visited Abingdon.

We had a lovely meal at Pizza express.

Pangbourne to Shillingford Bridge, 11 miles, 4 locks, 4 hours

We were all up nice and early so set off at about 7:30.

The first lock we had to operate ourselves but they are really easy on the Thames as they are all electrified.

At the second lock, the lock keeper was really nice and let Sarah press the buttons to operate the lock, she was so good he offered her a job, which included squash and chocolate biscuits!

As we headed on the boat seemed to be zig-zagging quite a bit, it was only on looking back we realised we had a new captain, Annita was at the helm.

Only joking about the zig-zagging she did really well.

You can also just see in top right of the picture a Kite we have seen quite a few of these beautiful birds over the last couple of days, very majestic!

George is loving the extra crew and all the attention that he is getting.

We then passed through Benson and stopped at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel.  

Sarah has been practising her skipping and we are off to play Pooh sticks before we have a lovely evening meal at the Hotel (well we hope it will be lovely!)

Soning to Pangbourne 9 miles, 3 locks, 3 hours (Saturday)

Left Yuri Gellers early to head for Goring.  We needed to get a good spot that was accessible by road as we were expecting visitors.  As we went under Soning bridge we spotted the post box built into the bridge.

Interesting to see the post man empty that!

As we headed towards Goring we spotted a nice mooring at Pangbourne so decided to stop, which turned out to be a really good call, as Pangbourne had some lovely shops, an award winning cheese shop, award winning butchers and an award winning Indian restaurant.

John, Annita and Sarah arrived at about 13:20, slightly late unsurprisingly to those who know them they had got lost!   We then had some lunch on the boat.

John and Rodney then went to get our van which had been at Sunbury for about 10 days.  The girls headed off to the park.

On the way back from dropping of the van John and Rodney were flashed down by a woman, no their luck hadn't changed she had spotted something hanging down from John's car, which resulted in John having to grovel under the car, I should point out it was pouring down with rain by now - which John  proceeded to inform us about on numerous occasions throughout the evening.  

We decided that as the Indian was award winning we should sample a take away it was really good.  So if you are ever in the area Pangbourne is well worth a visit.

Oh yes just one last thing, we all got woken up in the middle of the night as Sarah fell out of bed, luckily just a little scratch.

Hambleden to Soning (Yuri Geller's house) 8.5 miles, 3 locks, 3.5 hours

Set off nice and early again, but was very misty first thing, we were awoken early by a greedy duck eating the algae of the side of the boat beak on steel is a little on the noisy side!

We headed through Henley on Thames, what a place, talk about how the other half live, some amazing places and they were still clearing away from the Regatta, so we got to go past the finishing post!

As you can see as we headed into Henley the weather was still a bit grey but by the time we got to the end the sun had burnt through.

There are some amazing properties, maybe if we win the lottery!  Although I some how don't think we would quite fit in, as my brothers are fond of telling me you can take the girl out of the council house but you can't take the council house out of the girl!

We had planned to stop at a place called Soning and found a beautiful spot when we got here, £10 a night but worth it.  Only later did we discover that we were moored outside Yuri Gellers house and that was who we had paid our mooring fees to - he apparently gives the money to charity.

L

Hope he didn't mind our gypsy washing on the back of the boat :-))

We were really surprised when he walked past this evening, wished us a good evening and admired the boat.

George obviously let meeting a celeb go to his head as very unusually for him he ventured into the Thames for a paddle when we took him for his evening walk.

 I must just share one last thing - Rodney being the good captain that he is got on his bike and cycled to Tesco in Reading, but as we have left all of the locks in the van he had to fold the bike up and put it in the shopping trolley!! Sorry I have no photos of this but you can use your imagination :-)

Marlow to Hambleden 4 miles 2 locks 1 hour 45 mins

Work day today and we had already stayed two days on the one day morning at Marlow so just a short trip to Westfield farm near Hambleden. 

To a very nice mooring, which cost us £6 but well worth it.

View from By The Way.

The farmer duly came round for his £6 at around 8pm.

Look a lesser spotted Tracy on the Helm.

 

Windsor Castle

It was a work day for Rod today, so I took myself off to Windsor Caste for the day.

Whilst only about 10 miles away, it required 3 trains.  Marlow to Maidenhead, Maidenhead to Slough and Slough to Windsor - still I wasn't in a rush :-). Not like getting the 6:32 from Rugby to Euston!!!  The train line ends at Marlow and only goes to Maidenhead - quite quaint.

Windsor was fantastic, although would recommend buying a ticket in advance if anyone is planning to go as the queue to buy tickets was quite long.  Whilst waiting changing of the guard took place.

Amazing to think how old this place is.

The Round Tower

Unfortunately you can't take pictures in the state rooms or St George's chapel.  The work that has been done to restore the great hall following the fire is really impressive, you wouldn't know it's not the original.

St George's Chapel

Got back to Marlow at just after 4:00.

I have decided that this is the labradoodle capital of the country I have never seen so many.

Oh well must be time for a glass of vino - another hard day tomorrow :-)

Eton Dorney to Marlow 4 locks 11.5 miles 4 hours

Left Eton Dorney at 8.00 with a little rain in the air passed through the lovely village of Bray lots of really nice houses, this one caught our eye because of the large inflatable swan in the garden.

Then on passed Maidenhead down one of the prettiest parts of the Thames we have seen so far, four small islands are in this stretch of the Thames one of which we have marked in our map book for future reference has the most perfect secluded mooring on. 

You also catch a wonderful view of Cliveden Hotel in the distance on top of the hill.

Then on to Marlow where we stocked up on food and have moored for the night.

The first picture shows our view across the river from By The Way and you can just see By The Way in the second picture ( last boat on the right ).

And this is the view down stream, showing the pretty Marlow suspension bridge.

Laleham to Eton Dorney 11 miles 5 locks 4 hours

Had a very relaxing weekend in Laleham had a visit from Carol & George on Sunday, Tracy and Carol visited Hampton court whilst George and I watched the cricket and the golf.

When the girls returned it was off to the Three Horse Shoes in Laleham for a lovely meal, a big thank you to George & Carol for coming to see us.

Left Laleham at 8.00 into the first lock at Penton Hook back gates wouldn't shut so a bit of a delay then we decided to start to open the slackers on the other end and the water pressure was enough to shut the gates.

On through Windsor passed the Castle and the race course and to our mooring just opposite the 6 furlong start position of the race course and by the side of Eton Dorney rowing course.

You can just about see the castle in the background, Tracy is off to visit on Wednesday so will get a much better picture then!

Later that evening we all took a walk to the rowing course.

 

Saturday 20/07/2013 Kingston to Laleham 10 mile 4 locks 3.5 hours

Left Kingston around 8.00 thinking that you could only go through the locks on the Thames when they are maned, knowing that the first lock of the day at Molesey is maned from 9am.

On arrival at 8.45 we then learnt you can self operate the lock out of hours, so through we went.

On route passing Hampton Court Palace.

Saturday must be regatta day as we passed two one at Sunbury and one at Walton, at the second one they had arranged a very special boat to row the course.

One of the royal barges no less..

 

 On to Shepperton lock and a beautiful lock side garden greeted us.

Brentford to Kingston Upon Thames, 8 miles, 3 locks, 3 hours 30 mins

Today we set off to get on the Thames, have to confess that we were a little apprehensive as the first part was tidal.  The lock keeper had advised that the lock would be open between 10:00 & 14:00, so to arrive at the lock for about 9:30, which we dutifully did, there were already 3 boats waiting, plus us and the boat that we had travelled through the gauging lock with. 

At 3 mins to 10:00 the lock keeper arrived, and we were able to enter the lock.  We were very naughty you are supposed to have an anchor in case you get into trouble, but we risked it without, wouldn't do that again, as if anything had happened to the engine we would have been in serious trouble.

The Thames is just around the bend!

We headed out of the lock, and made the sharp right hand bend that would take us upstream on the Thames.

Wow incredible, it is so big especially when you are on a canal boat, we felt like a cork bobbing on the wake of the boats heading in the opposite direction.

We carried on towards Teddington lock, which would be the point at which we would leave the tide behind.

For the girls in Swinford this is where I chose to launch the watch.

No more clock watching for me!

We arrived safely at the very large lock at Teddington.

We have moored up tonight at Kingston Upon Thames very handy for the shops, especially the large John Lewis (heaven!)

Sorry lots of photos today but so much to share. 

P.S this is for the Rectory close boys a picture of a Fairline Mirage like we use to have.

And for Michael & Tania a picture of a Pedro we saw.

Copper Mill Lock To Brentford, 14 miles, 16 locks, 9.5 hours

I don,t really know where to start with today!!

I guess sooner or later we were going to have, not such a great day - and this was it!!  On the positive side we are a day ahead of where we planned to be:-) Which means we should get onto the Thames on Friday now instead of Saturday (Rod has to work tomorrow and Thursday), I sure hope it is going to live up to all the positives we have heard about it and today will soon seem like a distant memory.

The morale of today's story is know when you are well off!!  And the story goes something like this.........

We had a plan to get from Copper Mill Lock to just before the Slough arm, and we duly stopped at said spot, but....... We didn't really like it that much we were right under a strongly scented tree, and a kid on a small motor bike came flying down the towpath so we had a sandwich, had a dither and decided to move on...... 5 hours and 9 locks later we arrived at Brentford, you can go no further without getting onto the tidal section of the Thames...... The visitors moorings were all full, there would have been space if some plonker hadn't moored right in the middle of a gap and then cleared off, so we are now shoe horned in between a couple of boats just a bit further back.  

This now means Rodney is going to have to reverse back to the moorings, should a boat move tomorrow morning.  So as I said the morale of the story is know when you are well off and stay there:-)

On top of all of that George fell off the back of the boat at Uxbridge while we were waiting to go into the lock, lucky he had his harness on,  so he has been a bit of a stress head all day as well.

Think we just chalk this one down to experience, tomorrow is another day!!

Kings Langley to Copper Mill Lock near Harefield, 7.5 miles, 15 locks, 6 hours 20 mins

Sunday was indeed a day of rest, well no locks lets put it that way.

We ventured back to civilisation with a trip to B & Q and Pets at Home - we know how to live!!  

We were lucky enough to have a visit from John (Blanchfield) which was really lovely, hopefully next time we will have enough time for a beer:-)  I did also finally get that Sunday lunch albeit it was too hot to eat a roast, still nice, especially with the two glasses of Pimms.

This morning we set off nice and early again 7:30 (Mike I bet you can't believe all these early starts!)

The first lock we did on our own and I thought it was going to be one of those days again, but we were lucky enough to be joined by another boat Jacqueline - a boat very familiar to George, as it was one that he had decided to hop on board and have a look around last week, he is very partial to inviting himself onto other peoples boats!  The couple on board were on their way to Cassiobury just outside Watford for the IWA festival this coming weekend.  Peterhad a bucket of Crayfish (yes you read that right Crayfish) that he had caught in the canal, not sure I would want to eat anything that had been swimming in the Grand Union canal though!

It's quite a sight, watching the world charge a long while you travel gently along the canal, we are now inside the M25.

We parted company at the site for the festival and carried on a bit further.  

You certainly see some sights on the canal - take a look at this.

Yes that is the back end of a VW car on a canal boat, definitely different.

We then had what could only be described as a period of indecisiveness, as we tried to moor up attempt number 1 - too close to a lock the boat was moving too much,  attempt number 2 - too close to a sewerage works (very fresh!) 3rd time lucky a nice spot just before Copper Mill Lock, near Harefield.  

The boat has just had a wash, courtesy of Mr Brown she looks beautiful, first job tomorrow to fill up with water.