Windsor

While a lot of the UK has basked in beautiful blustery showers under grey skies, down in the Thames valley we’ve huddled under patchy cloud and blue skies, with long periods of heavy sunshine to contend with. It’s just not fair, is it…

Last evening’s view of Windsor Castle…

…and the same a couple of hours later.

We chose to stay put today, before turning around and heading back to Oxford. I took my morning run on The Long Walk, a 2½ mile dead straight carriage route from the castle to Snow Hill in Windsor Great Park. I wasn’t alone; it’s a popular route for the local joggers, too. There are fantastic views of the castle as you head back.

After taking Meg for a walk, I ventured forth to have a look around, camera in hand. By this time the town was heaving with tourists.

On the river bank, alongside Bath Island, there’s a replica of a Hawker Hurricane perched on a pedestal.



When you mention the Battle of Britain, people generally think of the Supermarine Spitfire as being the predominant British fighter aircraft. In fact this was the fighter that is credited with 80% of enemy aircraft destroyed during the decisive period of July to October 1940.


More information on the interpretation board, if you click to enlarge…

Up into town then, heading for the imposing bulk of the castle.

Castle Hill


The Crooked House

Market Street, with the Carpenter’s Arms on the right.

Back to the boat after a detour for a bit of shopping, (I resisted the plastic miniature Windsor Castles, jigsaws of the same, and teatowels depicting the Royal Family and stuck to groceries…) we spent the afternoon watching the boats go by.

The yellow one in the foreground is one of those DUKWs or ducks. It runs regular trips up and down the river. It’s one of these vessels that sank in Liverpool docks last year.
The Thames in London claimed another later in the year…

Back upstream tomorrow.

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And so to Windsor

Over the last couple of days we’ve lost the hot, sticky weather, replaced by an altogether more comfortable cooler, fresher feel. Still mild enough for shirtsleeves, but it’s a lot easier to sleep at night.

Our normal start time seems to be around 09:30 these days, and today was no exception.

We could have left it a little longer; we had to wait at Bray Lock for about 15 minutes for a couple of boats to come up.

Bray Lock
The large vessel behind is one of the Le Boat hire fleet, sleeps 9, has 4 loos and costs from around £1000 for 3 nights!

I spotted our first Thames kingfisher below the lock. At least he obligingly stayed put for the camera.

It was a zoom lens shot though.

Under the M4

I couldn’t quite work out if this is a genuine stern-wheeler, or whether it’s prop driven and the paddles just rotate with the flow.

MV Southern Comfort.
I can’t see anything of a rudder, but then again I can’t see any drive train for the paddle wheels either. There’s a side-paddle boat down near Kingston that is definitely bogus, you can see the prop wash at the stern.

Now that’s a nice boat…

It was 40 minutes from Bray to Boveney Lock, and we had another short wait while the lock was vacated.

Waiting at Boveney Lock

One of the trip boats came up to the lock, turned around and headed back down to Windsor. We slowed down and let them pass…

A tight S bend and a duck under the bypass bridge and the Windsor moorings come into view.

Windsor arrival

The railway bridge, dead ahead, is undergoing maintenance, hence the plastic shroud. The orange RIB is a guard boat, there’s one on either side, to warn high boats of the reduced headroom.

We dropped on to a good spot on Bath Island, looking out over the main channel, watching the antics of the hired rowboat and motor launch crews.

And you can see Windsor Castle – if you stick your head out of the side hatch and crane your neck a bit!

We had a drop of rain this afternoon, almost literally. Not enough to even wet the paintwork. Though more is due overnight.

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A steady run to Bray

We pulled away from our moorings this morning at a bit of a bad time, just as several boats came past having come out of Hambleden Lock.
Still, we joined the convoy, taking it easy to let the cruisers get ahead and the narrowboats catch up.

Off we go.

Just around the corner is Medmenham Abbey, now a private home but established in the 12c as a Cistercian monastery. Only part of the original Abbey Church remains, incorporated in the later building.
The abbey achieved notoriety in the middle of the 18c when it was purchased by Francis Dashwood and became, for a while, the headquarters of the Hellfire Club. Drunken parties and entertainments of a dubious nature were the norm, but claims of satanism are believed to have been exaggerated. The membership was formed from the great and good of the time, Members of Parliament, minor nobles and affluent businessmen.

It was only about 15 minutes to Hurley Lock, the cruisers had gone down so we shared with a hired narrowboat, crewed by an Australian couple.

Normally we see signs that state baldly “PRIVATE. NO MOORING.”

But…

…isn’t a little politeness refreshing.

Leaving Hurley Lock

Lots of boats moored around here…

It was less than 10 minutes downstream to Temple Lock, then we had a couple of miles to Marlow, time for a coffee.

All Saints, Bisham, stands beside the river, built of local chalk and flint.

Marlow has an impressive waterfront, the iron suspension bridge opened in 1832.

Marlow



Below Marlow the river is forced to the north-east by Mount Hill, before swinging around the end of the ridge past Bourne End to Cookham.

Mount Hill ahead

Cookham Lock is at the end of a short cut, it’s a bit of a shock to be back on what is, to all intents and purposes, a canal, although short.

Cookham Lock Cut

We filled with water and emptied the rubbish and loo above the lock, then waited for several boats coming up before it was our turn to go down.

Cookham Lock

Superb steam launch Serena below Cookham

Now heading south towards Maidenhead, the river splits around several small islands.

You can pass either side of these…

Boulters Lock, on the edge of the town, was busy. We arrived behind the two cruisers we’d shared Cookham with as a lock-full was going down, then we had to wait for another squadron coming up. The lockie fitted seven in to come up…

Boulters Lock emptying

We didn’t fancy the moorings alongside the main road below the lock, so aimed for the stretch below the railway bridge. There was a bit just long enough for us, but a wide-beam coming the other way just beat us to it.

Under Maidenhead Bridge.

There has been a bridge here since the late 13c, but this one dates from 1777.

We’d pretty well committed to dropping down Bray lock as well, and looking for somewhere to moor near Dorney, but then a short bit of bank just above the lock was spotted and we pulled in there.

Tomorrow we’ll head into Windsor, 2 locks and about 4 miles away. If we get there around lunchtime we should have our pick of the moorings.

Hey, thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone!

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A day off ‘cos it’s my birthday!

58 today! Good-oh.
Started the day well, up at ten past six, was off on a ten miler by half past. It was a superb morning after yesterday’s rain, though, almost autumnal.

Mist rising off the river and the meadow, the sun a hazy disc, and cobwebs silvered by dewdrops.

Following on from the post yesterday and me mentioning the fee for mooring here, we had a visit from Steve of SRB Moorings at around 8 o’clock yesterday for the money. I was a bit open-mouthed when he spoke to Meg by name, we’d never met before.
It turns out that a friend of his in Orkney had read the blog and emailed him a link. He’d had a quick look and decided that he really must relieve us of that £6!
Good to meet you, Steve. I guess we’ll be seeing you later on today as well…

Toddling on tomorrow, aiming for Cookham. Or Maidenhead, or maybe Dorney Reach. We’ll see.

Hiya Sue. Yes, we’ll miss you this time, we’re turning around at Windsor and heading back. We need to be back up somewhere in the Midlands early September to go up to the Great North Run. It’s too far to drive from down here; it’s not so much the going, it's the coming back!
Enjoy the Wey and the Basingstoke, see you later in the year.

While it’s in mind, just a reminder to those who haven’t yet got around to sponsoring me for the Great North Run. There’s a couple of options to donate (check out the right hand side-bar) so please open those wallets!

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Wow, we certainly copped for that!

The forecast predicted heavy showers today, and was it right or what!

The day started fine, sunny and a little breezy. We set off from  Wargrave at around half-nine.

Leaving Wargrave, our mooring neighbours last night were mostly these large white cruisers. Do they only come in white?

Wargrave is on the east bank of the river and the name derives, not from a burial place following some conflict or other, but weir-grove, weirs on the river built for fish-traps were surrounded by trees.
It dates back to medieval times, and was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as having 5000 acres, with a population of around 250. With farmland, a mill and fisheries, it was valued by William the Bastard’s assessors at £27/6/8 (that’s £27.33p for those among us who are post-decimal), making it one of the richest settlements in Berkshire.

On the Lower Shiplake (Oxfordshire) side there are some impressive properties…



Marsh Lock was about 15 minutes downstream from where we’d moored, and the sky was getting darker…

Approaching Marsh Lock

A splash of colour on a gloomy day…

Below the lock, on the park side, there are extensive visitor moorings, free through the day but £9 for overnight. You have to get a ticket from the car-park ticket machine.
We pulled in so I could nip and get a paper, we didn’t need anything else after our comprehensive stock-up in Reading, Meg had a run around the grass, then we pushed on past all the boats and under Henley Bridge.

Henley riverside

Henley Bridge, The Angel alongside and the Church of St Mary the Virgin behind.

A notice at Marsh Lock warned of a regatta today, so I approached the course below the bridge with a degree of caution.

It was busy…

At least they were only rowing shells. Sailing dinghies are a lot more unpredictable. For the crews, too!

We chugged along nice and gently in the “all other boats” lane, followed by one of the emergency RIBs. Slowly enough, in fact, to watch two of the races.

Womens double sculls giving it some welly.

And two pairs (men) digging in at the start of another heat.

At the end of the course we had to negotiate a group of canoeists milling around above Temple Island, and took the eastern side to avoid a flotilla of boats recently released from Hambleden Lock.

It had been raining half-heartedly since we left Henley, but now the wind picked up and we had the first of several heavy, squally showers. Rain jacket out for the first time in what seems like weeks!

We’d planned to moor on the meadow above Hambleden Lock, but where you could get in was £6 a night, where it was free it was overgrown with reeds. So we finished up going down this lock too. In the rain.

A snatched shot of Hambleden Mill.

It eased then came on again a couple of times while we cruised along looking for somewhere to stop. There were two or three boats between the trees on the left bank about 1½ miles below Hambleden, so we turned around and dropped into a likely spot.

Moored up, and the sun’s come out!

It was only when I’d put the first pin in I spotted the sign. £6 a night! Payable on demand! Well, if no-one comes around demanding it they’ll not get it. It’s a pleasant little bit of bank though. An open meadow for Meg to run around in, and we’re actually almost touching the bank fore and aft. Though not in the middle, but you can’t have everything.

All afternoon we’ve had heavy showers and short sunny spells. A shame for the regatta, and for the couple we met yesterday at Shiplake Lock who’d got a family barbeque arranged for this afternoon.
The joys of an English summer.

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Dull and cool, but busy on the water.

With the forecasted Atlantic low moving in from the west, the weather has turned overcast and considerably cooler today. But it’s not put off the boaters; it’s been pretty busy out on the river today.

We pulled pins above Sonning Lock at around 09:30, moving around the corner and into the lock.

The flower bedecked lockside doesn’t look half so good in gloomy weather.

I don’t think the sign applies to cormorants…

The valley is wider here, so the river has the opportunity to spread across the valley floor, forming several small islands or aits (ayts). Some are navigable either side, most are not so care in selecting the right channel is needed.

Shiplake Lock is 2½ miles down from Sonning, and sports full sanitary facilities, and these were our first port of call. There was a short queue, but we were soon filled and emptied and in the lock.

We were joined by two men in a boat, a father and son who are travelling the Thames in a camping boat.

In Shiplake Lock, with two men in a boat.
They're over from Atlanta, Georgia. They couldn't find a third crew member, but did have a dog, albeit a toy stuffed one, called Montmorency. But this was left at the airport. So it's just two men... And they decided to do the trip downstream because it’s easier going.

Shiplake railway bridge carries a single-track branch line through Shiplake to Henley.

The original timber span was replaced replaced by this one in 1897. Wrought iron plates and riveted girders are supported on concrete-filled cast iron columns. Unusually for Victorian engineering, although functional it's in no way aesthetically pleasing.


We were looking for somewhere to moor by this time, and the east bank opposite Lower Shiplake looked promising, so we pulled in.

Moored near Wargrave Marsh

There was only one other boat on this stretch when we arrived, since then boats have filled every nook and cranny between the vegetation. And there’s been a fairly constant stream of vessels of all shapes and sizes passing this afternoon.

Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow; it’s free for 24 hours here, but £5 a night afterwards, so we’ll move on. But how far depends on the weather.

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