Back to Carrier Bags and Weed

After a very short night's sleep, we were all up at 04:30 this morning. After washing, dressing, walking the dogs and a cup of tea, it was time to don life jackets, power up the VHF radio and head for Teddington lock.

Sunrise over Kingston

Swans waking up

We headed through Kingston Bridge and along the deserted river, covering the 2 miles to Teddington without seeing anything else on the move apart from 1 cruiser which pulled out of the moorings behind us and followed us to the lock.

I wonder how many chairs they have inside?

Still waters

As we approached the lock in Teddington at 07:00, the keeper opened the gates and we and the cruiser pulled in, in plenty of time to catch the ebb tide, which would push us down to Brentford.

We don't like this bit

Angela and the lock keeper, as we are about to depart - I'd better get back on!

D&H looking surprisingly fresh for this time of day

The gates opened and we pulled out into a flat calm Thames. The tide had just about reached its highest point and was about to turn. It was a beautiful morning though pretty cold and we all wished we had a few more layers on. We passed some lovely houses again, passing Eel Pie Island and on in to Richmond.

Dan looking cold but cool

An impressive school

Mum on school run

The sun coming up slowly

We passed through the Richmond weir gates which were still open and pressed on to Brentford Creek, arriving there with plenty of water still under us. As we approached the lock, the gates started to open and all worries about confusion between the lock keepers yesterday evaporated.

Thames Lock at Brentford

A heron on the end of Brentford Gauging lock

We obtained an appropriate licence for the trip through London and set off again, passing slowly up the River Brent, under the high street and through the guaging lock, and pulled into the facilities moorings to have a hot cup of tea. Suitably refreshed, we headed north east following the River Brent to the bottom of the Hanwell flight of locks, where the river becomes the Grand Union Canal. Rubbish had started to increase and we were worlds away from the sights of Maidenhead and Windsor! The Hanwell flight consists of 6 closely packed locks and a couple spread out a bit. The locks are deep and the pounds between them shallow and strewn with carrier bags and weed. All in all, quite a challenge.

Foam in a Hanwell lock

Back to windlasses and hard work

Angela and Dan moving between locks on foot

Is it a stick - no, it's a moth rescued from the water by Angela 

A cormorant drying its wings

We made our way up the flight, with A&D developing a system to minimise the time to get through each lock. Before long, we were at the top and onto the start of a long, lock-free section. We had to stop several times to free thr propeller, including two trips down the weed hatch removing bits of bags, tons of weed and some fishing line. We passed several little families of ducks/coots with chicks before arriving at Bulls Bridge, where the canal forks, heading north towards the Chilterns or east into Central London. We stopped at Tesco to get more Pimms and a few other provisions, and then turned under the bridge into the Paddington arm of the canal.

Cute coot and cute coot chicks

After a few miles we arrived at Hillingdon where there is some open land with good moorings. We tied up and settled down for a quiet afternoon, walking the dogs and then enjoying watching the world go by in the hot sunshine.

Tonight's mooring

We re-fuelled from this passing merchant boat

Angela taking a well earned rest after operating 11 locks in record time

We hope to meet up with Tamlyn and Leigh tomorrow, possibly here and then travelling to Little Venice and back - watch this space. Whatever we do, it looks like being a seriously hot day.

A Quieter River

It was windy last night and the willow tree we were moored beneath kept tapping on the windows all night and deposited loads of leaves on the boat - it was like autumn had arrived early on the back deck this morning. We set off, continuing downstream towards Teddington, planning to stop in Kingston for provisions. This section of river isn't as picturesque as is is further upstream, but the banks are still dotted with amazing houses.

A duck's des res

And another beautiful house and grounds

At Sunbury lock we stopped to make use of the facilities and while getting ready to move off, we saw this boat pass by. We had seen it yesterday, and here it was again - does anyone know anything about it?

Mystery boat

Further downstream we passed an area with lots of houseboats, some of which looked as though they wouldn't be afloat for much longer, whilst others look wonderful.

Houseboats

Fabulous houseboat

At Molesey lock we refilled the water tank using the best hose we have found on the Thames, filling the tank so quickly that the front deck became flooded in no time! Before long we were in Hampton, and the previously quiet river became busy with trip boats, ferries and pleasure craft. The reason became clear when we passed Hampton Court where the flower show was in full swing.

Hampton Court

... and the flower show

Then we were in Kingston, and deep joy, we found somewhere to moor on the main drag, near Kingston Bridge. We had some lunch and watched lots of rowing crews, trip boats and swans going about their business.

A Mississippi paddle steamer a bit off course

Dan and Harriet set off to find a supermarket whilst Angela and I sat and read for a bit and fell asleep! We were woken by the sound of a dog fight! Anushka and Lola were defending the boat (verbally) from an equally verbal small brown dog on the bank - a lot of noise but no contact! D&H returned with a stack of food, fruit, lemonade and Pimms. We all sat on deck enjoying Pimms in the late afternoon sunshine which was a great end to the day.

Angela taking a brief break

Swans on the opposite bank

A cute Jackdaw

Pimms o'clock

So, we are staying here in Kingston tonight, planning to head down to Teddington lock for 06:15 tomorrow morning . We have spoken to the lock keepers at Teddington and Brentford, and after a good deal of confusion between them, we believe we are booked in at the allotted times for each lock. Time will tell - if the lock keeper is not at Brentford at 07:15, we will literally be up the creek without a paddle! Brentford Creek which leads to the lock becomes nothing but mud at low water, and we will be stranded, stuck fast in the mud for 12 hours, until the next high tide!

We Say Goodbye to the Queen

When we walked the dogs before going to bed last night, there were a few people about and there was a bit of shouting which soon stopped, and we thought nothing of it. We took the dogs out for a walk this morning after an undisturbed night, and came across a crime scene. A policeman was patrolling an area in the park where we were moored, which was cordoned off. All we could see was some rubbish on the ground next to a picnic table. After breakfast and defrosting the fridge, we took the dogs out again and found that a forensics person had turned up and the scene had been marked out with yellow markers with numbers on. No idea what had happened, but whatever it was it was a bit too close for comfort!

What happened here?

We called a taxi to take us the couple of miles to the nearest big supermarket, and armed with our shopping bag on wheels, we set off in search of provisions and a chair to replace the one which had collapsed the other day. By the time we called the taxi to take us back again, we had amassed quite a lot of provisions (but no chair) and started to wonder where on earth we would put it all on the boat. The taxi had dropped us off, and we dragged everything back to the boat and then filled every available bit of storage space. We then went into Windsor to look for a chair and then to meet Dan and Harriet who were on their way from Ramsgate. We found another Monsoon - great joy for Angela and slightly less so for me! While Angela rummaged through the sale items, I failed to find a chair in the neighbouring department store. After re-uniting with Angela (and a Monsoon carrier bag!), we walked further down the street and found a shop with a chair - another quest completed.

Angela about to tip off the Queen about the Monsoon sale

We met Dan and Harriet off the train and walked back along the river to the boat, passing masses of swans along the way.

Two swans with their cute ugly ducklings

Once we were all on board we set off again past the well known "No motor boats beyond this point" sign and back onto the Thames, heading downstream. We had an uneventful but very pleasant trip past the castle grounds, Runnymede, and Stains, finally mooring a little downstream of Penton Hook Lock.

Today's fine property

Dan, Harriet and Lola en-route

Tonight's mooring beneath a willow

D&H enjoying a cup of tea in the late afternoon sunshine

We have called the lock keeper to check the tides out of Teddington on Friday - it looks like we will depart at 06:15 - gulp. So, tomorrow we will set off early, heading for Kingston and then on to Teddington for an early night!

Windsor - Again!

We had an undisturbed night after the nocturnal swimmers left and it finally went quiet. We woke early to the sound of some enthusiastic (and very fit) people exercising on the bank beside the boat and decided to get up and enjoy the early morning sunshine.

Swans waking up in the sunshine

Marlow Bridge

We walked the dogs around the park which was full of runners, power walkers and other dog walkers. Then we saw it! A distant figure which turned out to be a statue of Sir Steve Redgrave, but with an addition the artist had never envisaged - a pair of underpants, presumably discarded by one of the late night swimmers....

Sir Steve looking bashful!

After breakfast we went into Marlow to explore and to check the status of the Monsoon sale, which Angela has been eagerly anticipating. As we walked along the line of boats, past Mr Unhelpful, we spotted a boat which had been extended - must be interesting to manoeuvre in tight spaces!

Extended boat

Marlow is a nice little town, and it has charity shops and a Monsoon shop, so Angela was pretty much in heaven. We wandered up and down the high street and Angela made a couple of acquisitions, after which we enjoyed a coffee in a cafe which specialised in fabulous chocolate creations. I surprised myself because we just had coffee!

Marlow High Street from the coffee shop

We returned to the boat and made ready for departure. Before we left, we noticed that the boat had again been covered in what look like discarded skins of mosquitoes. We have seen this before, and assume that larvae crawl up the side of the boat and transform into mosquitoes, but that could be a load of bunkum!

Mosquito leftovers?

So, we set off, turning round and returning in the direction from whence we came. Now heading downstream, we made faster progress since the current was now helping rather than hindering progress. We passed through Marlow lock and then out into the country again, spotting a number of red kites soaring around above the trees.

A red kite

Back in Maidenhead we stopped to let the dogs off and to eat the rolls we had brought from the coffee shop this morning. Passing through Maidenhead you see some amazing houses.

Quite nice

Quite nice two!

And another

Even the pets are special

Moving downstream from Maidenhead, we spotted a tree with three Shags (or are they Cormorants?) sitting at the top:

Can you spot all 3?

No, neither could we! There were three, but only two made it into the photo, the other one being obscured by the branch in the foreground! A little further on, Angela was sitting up at the front of the boat, when I spotted a boat we had seen in a magazine article. As I attempted to capture it on film, Angela, unaware of what I was doing saw that we were apparently heading for the bank and assumed I had fallen asleep!

Not one boat, but two

The thing that makes this boat interesting is that it is in two parts - a conventional narrow boat and an extension which has a bow shaped indentation which slots around the front of the main boat. The two are then clamped together and behave as one bigger boat. There, that was interesting wasn't it! As we neared Windsor yet again, we were approached by Somali pirates, but after a brief exchange, they capitulated.

We came into Windsor and after a brief exploration of mooring options, we have moored up again in exactly the same place again, but with different neighbours. As I write this, we are wondering who will turn up later to entertain us into the night......