Rebellious crew, a tranquil river and being cured of punning

In my last post I mentioned that neither Teazle nor Tansy were keen to go on the island. Well they rebelled totally and said that they were not stepping off the boat to visit this p******g sized island and if we thought they were going to do what they should do on it then we had another think coming. They would hold everything until they got back to the mainland. So it was, that early Sunday morning, we unhitched ourselves from the islet and sailed the 50 yards or so across to the river bank and moored exactly opposite the spot we had on the island. They were very relieved in more ways than one!

So we spent the day there, a rather cloudy one but I walked them up to Clivedon House only to find that dogs were not permitted into the grounds but it was a grand walk through the woods anyway.

Monday dawned very dank and dreary and shortly after we had started it began to rain. The plan was to go into Maidenhead and find the laundrette that was listed in the guide book to do the washing. We moored on some free 24hour moorings and I volunteered to walk into town with the girls to locate said launderette before Sarah trundled Miss Biddy (Miss Biddy is the wheeled shopping basket we have on board. It is extremely handy and takes huge amounts of stuff, be it food from the supermarket or laundry to the launderette but it absolutely destroys my street cred - assuming I have any in the first place - as its one of those square ones on four wheels that you see all the old Biddy’s (hence her name) staggering around the town with. If we are taking it shopping I usually walk a few paces behind Sarah to try to avoid being associated with it but I found myself having to wheel it through one town and decided the only way I could do it and not feel a total wally was to power walk the whole way - anyway I digress)… before Sarah trundled Miss Biddy full of washing to said establishment. After about a 20 minute walk I located said premises to find that they no longer offered a launderette service so back to the boat to press on. However by then the rain was coming down in buckets so we travelled only a half mile or less and decided to call it a day and moor up still in Maidenhead.

Tuesday saw us going down through Windsor (you can tell its a tourist trap - dingy hire was £25 for half an hour!) and we moored at Runnymead having stocked up with fuel off a travelling barge at a lot better price that the marinas were quoting.

We visited the Magna Carta memorial which was erected by the American Bar Association and the JFK memorial which is on an acre of land we gave the Americans. Seems they take more interest in Magna Carta than we do!

The following morning did not start as planned. As is our usual practice I got up at about 6.00 to let the dogs out and make a cup of tea. The girls have been exemplary in their behaviour in the mornings and I’m not really awake so perhaps not as switched on as they are but they didn’t miss this cat that was skulking down the towpath. Off like two cruise missiles up the towpath past the boat moored next to us, quick detour on to their stern deck as the cat tried to find an escape route, back on the towpath hurtling past me into the distance disappearing around a corner towards the boatyard which had huge piles of bits and pieces everywhere. So I stormed after them. Picture the scene with me in my PJ’s, dressing gown and derry boots - sexy hey? - running down the towpath hissing their names so as to try not to wake up all the boaters. I got to the boatyard and not a sign of them. Hell, if they have chased the cat into those piles of rubbish - sorry those carefully stored items of historical interest - it could take weeks to dig them out. I decided that I would have to return to the boat get Sarah up and get dressed and hope for the best. Cursing and muttering about B****y terriers I came round the corner to the boat to see a border terrier standing at the side of our boat, surprisingly, it was Teasle as she's usually the one I’m extracting from thorn bushes- “Hi Dad, did you see us chase that cat - hey that was great fun, super way to start the day, What, you not happy? Why’s that? Oh, No Tansy’s here too, she’s already on board recovering from the exertion” 

Mmmm. I did eventually calm down.

And so onto the River Wey. If there was a place that will cure you of wanting to make puns this is it. It is tempting of course but after having seen what seems like dozens of boats called “The only Wey is up” or “This Wey up” or “Hem-in-Wey” or “Wey Hey” or… oh well you get the idea; I’m not going to enter the contest.

The Wey itself is a delight. After the hurley burley of the Thames it is a backwater to savour the slow pace on board. We came on to it on Thursday and moored the first night near West Byfleet which was very quiet except for the continual hum of M25 traffic so moved on to Send and a truly idyllic spot, very quiet and peaceful. Saturday saw us up early and away by 7.15 and what beautiful morning to be up and about on.  A really peaceful journey as we progressed through Guildford and on towards Godalming when we had a complete change of tempo and found ourselves in the middle of everyone and his granny out in rowing boats, punts and day launches, most, obviously, never having been in any sort of boat before. It started to go downhill when we had a narrowboat trying to get into the lock before we had exited it and they ended up totally across the river having been dragged by the weir and wind; we then had a hen party in a day launch broadside on just the other side of a bridge hole with the helmswoman having no idea which way to turn the tiller to straighten things up; I did shout to tell her but I don't think she even knew what a tiller was; we had a sculler who had yet to grasp which oar to pull on to make the boat go a particular way so ended up under our bows, we had rowing boats that as soon as they saw us bolted for the tree line (probably sensible because by that time I was thinking how many skull and crossbones I could draw on the side of the boat to mark the number of enemy sinkings)

Anyway we made Goldalming and whilst Sarah went to Sainburys (the moorings are right outside) I tried to fill up with water to find the tap had been removed so settled just for emptying the cassette toilet. So a short trip then to start our return  journey to moor up near the junction of the defunct Wey and Arun canal and then today on to a different mooring at Send. Again absolute bliss, I’m typing this sitting on the back deck in gorgeous evening sunshine with total silence around me apart from a few boisterous ducks.

We have a couple more days on the this river so will slowly make our wey back to the Thames - Opps sorry couldn’t resist it.

Moored in the shadow of another Brunnel masterpiece - the largest single span brick bridge in the world at Maidenhead

Well decorated lock keepers cottage

Tranquil mooring on the River Wey

Masses of room to spare

Steam boat rally at Guildford

Send Church

Peace! River Wey at Send

Goodbye K & A - Hello Swallows and Amazons

So after 2 months and 5 days we eventually left the K and A and got back on to the Thames. Its been interesting and a trip we are glad we did. On the positive side we have met some super people, found some great pubs, thoroughly enjoyed exploring the variety of towns (with Bradford on Avon probably topping our favourites list) and loved the countryside especially towards the western end. Experiencing the Floating harbour at Bristol was also a highlight and something we are pleased to have accomplished.

On the downside it’s been hardwork with the double locks and multiple swing bridges and (dare I mention for the last time) the lack of mooring.

Are we glad we did it? An emphatic yes, will we do it again? Highly unlikely; which seems to be the reaction of all the other boaters we have met.

So onwards on the Thames - chalk and cheese. The last but one lock we did on the K and A in Reading we had to step over a comatose druggie on the lock side. Within a couple of hours and only a few miles distant we were moored up at Sonning a village with a variety of Ferraris and Porsches outside the houses.

The following day saw us just drop down to Henley and we went into town in the afternoon for some shopping.  A very pleasant town, not too touristy but we were glad that we avoided the Regatta week as it was crowded enough as it was.

This morning the plan was to sail on for a few hours enjoying the sunshine and find a mooring where we could stay tomorrow avoiding the forecast rain. Unfortunately that didn’t work. Given that we are now in the height of summer, it was a gorgeous sunny day and it was a Saturday, spaces proved to be at a premium. We tried a couple of places but couldn’t get in due to the water level being low and at the last of those attempts it was like having to take my advanced boat handling test. The space I judged was likely to be tight bounded by a £50,000 glass fibre job at either end, it was at the edge of a sailing regatta course which had an Optimist race in full swing and the wind had got up. Oh, and there were loads of people sitting on the bank enjoying the spectacle - not sure whether me or the regatta - Anyway having turned the boat round so that I at least had a bit of control by heading upstream we attempted to get in but found the space was about 2ft short. So we made our excuses and left. Actually without touching anything.

Anyway onward, through Cookham lock and then a  quick circuit of Bavins Gulls islands and we eventually spotted an unoccupied space which we managed to get into (see below). It really does feel that we should be playing Swallows and Amazons although Tansy is refusing to walk the plank and has to be carried. Her sister is fine about it but probably doesn’t realise the risk! I think we are on the smallest of the islets, probably about 20 metres by 3 metres so walking the dogs should not take too long.

We are near Cliveden (famous for, amongst other things, being the home of the Astors and the centre of the Christine Keeler/Profumo affair and want to explore the woods and grounds so hopefully tomorrow we will be able to find a spot on the opposite bank and spend a day or two moored there.

A sign of the times No fishing sign in 4 languages!

From our mooring in Henley

Henley on Thames

The Temple at Henley

Swallows and Amazons mooring

A quiet time

Some while since my last blog but its been a relatively quite period for us and I’ve had nothing really to report that was likely to get you all excited.

From Crofton we moved up to Gt Bedwyn for a couple of days and enjoyed the walking there but were disappointed to find that the village bakery which did superb bread and cakes was closing down that week as they were being required to update their ovens which was not practical from a cost point of view. Another victory for good old health and safety and loss for common sense.

From there another short hop to Froxfield where we found for the first time on this canal a good unrestricted mooring in a pleasant setting so we spent 5 nights there. It had the advantage of a good pub only a 15 minute walk away and plenty of footpaths for walking. We took the opportunity of cleaning and polishing the boat too as we were near a winding hole so could turn it round and do both sides at the same time, a rare luxury.

From there it was on to Hungerford and back to the mooring nightmare. We did just manage to moor up although the first night entailed being “in the rough” and just managing to get the nose in to disembark. The following morning however some boats did move which enabled us to get on a proper mooring and we had a further couple of nights there.

Then on to Avington Manor, another unrestricted mooring which we had spotted on our way out which looked as though it would be beautifully quiet as it only had an estate road passing it. Unfortunately British Rail or Network Rail or whatever they call themselves these days were repairing a bridge over the canal a few hundred yards away which seemed to involve various vehicles including tracked diggers and fork lift trucks driven by Lewis Hamilton wannabes passing the boat every half an hour or so. So after a day of that  we moved on to Kintbury for a couple of nights and then on to Newbury where we actually booked into a marina for 2 nights. 

We had met a boater at Devizes who had had his (and 2 other boats) ropes cut one night moored at Victoria Park, Newbury and then met another boater who had heard about boats having paint thrown over them at Westfields, Newbury so we decided that a few pounds for a marina berth would be worth it for peace of mind. From there with an early 7am start on to our current location at Woolhampton which we managed to arrive at before the rush at 11.30am so secured a good mooring and will be here a couple of days. 

The last few days I’ve started using our bike to cycle between locks and swing bridges leaving Sarah to do the steering and its working very well. We reckon that it saved something in the order of an hour on todays journey as I could get the locks set and bridges open for Sarah to be able to sail straight in every time. I cant see it working on every canal but certainly if you are doing the K & A its worth thinking about.

Little Bedwyn

Gt Bedwyn

Avington Manor churchyard

Misty morning leaving Kintford

View from Lock 79