Friday 9th October

A late start today and rather misty. The stern had gone aground during the night and we were leaning a bit – fortunately not to the right otherwise we would have fallen out of bed! Romney Lock was our first lock and was still a riot of colour from the flowers. Most of the locks have now taken out all their plants and are rather dull and dismal. The next lock was Old Windsor Lock and on past Runnymede. Between Bell Weir Lock and Staines Bridge we found a mooring place alongside a park in the sunshine and had lunch. In the park is the London Stone which was put there in 1285 to mark the upstream limit of the City of London’s jurisdiction on the Thames until the establishment of the Thames Conservancy in 1857. Needless to say the stone is a replica and the original is in the Spelthorne Museum in Staines. From Staines there are two more locks before Shepperton - Penton Hook and Chertsey. When we arrived at Manor Park we tied up and enjoyed the last of the sunshine.