September 2024 - A day off and sunshine at last

Windsor (River Thames) – Wednesday 11th September

We had a day off today though we did move a short way from the Eton side of the River to the Windsor side.  The bank on the Eton side is very high and we were all experiencing difficulties climbing the plank!

We walked into town.  Steve and Tracey hadn’t been before so we wanted to show them around a bit. 

First stop was for a coffee.  We went to the Windsor Royal Shopping mall which was once a part of the Windsor Central station.  Here a significant portion of the station has been converted into a shopping complex.  There is still a ticket office and truncated platform for services on the Slough – Windsor line.  There are two stations in Windsor, Windsor Riverside and Windsor Central.  The reason for this was that two rival railway companies that reached the town vied for the patronage of Queen Victoria – building two overly-specified stations to win her over. 

By the time we had finished coffee, Richard’s stomach was telling him it was nearly lunchtime!  We remembered going to a quirky old pub once before so headed off in its direction, passing The Shambles Bar on our way.  This old building was built in 1687 and Grade II listed. 

We found the Two Brewers which is situated right by a gate onto the Long Walk.  It was originally built as an annex to a pub called the Black Horse and was opened as the Two Brewers in 1792.  In September 1869 it was reported in the local press that the Black Horse Inn had been run in ‘THE MOST DISGRACEFUL MANNER‘.  It was frequented by prostitutes and the public house was thought to be run as a brothel. The licence was revoked and the Black Horse closed down for good, ending 160 years of a public house on that site.  This left the Two Brewers on its own.  It is a tiny place with only 9 tables and a few seats round the two bars.  Three of us had lovely ciabattas with strips of beef, red onion and a fried egg on the top.  An unusual combination but it worked really well. 

From lunch we walked down Peascod Street, the main shopping street.  We frequented a few shops and I bought a blouse and a pair of jeans for Richard.

On our way back to the boats we walked through Alexandra Gardens.  Plans to create a riverside garden in this area date from 1893 and by 1902 the gardens were sufficiently complete to permit the planting of this London Plane tree in August 1902 to celebrate the Coronation of Edward VII and his Queen, Alexandra.

As we got back to the boats the rain came down and it continued to rain on and off for the rest of the day.

 

Cookham - Bell Rope Meadow (River Thames) – Thursday 12th September

We awoke to a lovely day though the forecast was for rain later and it was pretty chilly. 

Up through Boveney and Bray locks which were manned and then we came to Boulters which is pretty deep and there was no lockie!  I did my bit but it was less easy for the people on the boats.

During Victorian times, Boulter's Lock won fame - and notoriety - across the country as thousands of people flocked to the river here to mess about and watch the wealthier classes indulge themselves.  This was especially so on warm summer weekends, and particularly on the Sunday of Ascot Week, when there were pageants, carnivals and regattas. Holidays were spent on houseboats and the favourite pastime of the wealthy was to enjoy a leisurely punt along the meandering and slow-moving river. Boulter's Lock was formerly called Ray Mill Lock, after the adjacent mill owned by the Ray family who produced flour. The first-ever lock keeper was the miller's son, John. The mills became Boulter's Inn in 1950. The word 'bolter' is an old English word for miller, hence the name Boulter's Lock.

We went up Cliveden Reach in the glorious sunshine.  It has to be one of the prettiest stretches of the River.  

In front of us was Cliveden.  There have been three houses on this site: the first, built in 1666, burned down in 1795 and the second house (1824) was also destroyed by fire, in 1849. The present Grade I listed house was built in 1851.  Cliveden has been the home to a Prince of Wales, two Dukes, an Earl, and finally the Viscounts Astor. As the home of Nancy Astor, wife of the 2nd Viscount Astor, Cliveden was the meeting place of the Cliveden Set of the 1920s and 1930s - a group of political intellectuals. Later, during the early 1960s, when it was the home of the 3rd Viscount Astor, it became the setting for key events of the notorious Profumo affair. After the Astor family stopped living there, by the 1970s, it was leased to Stanford University.  Today it is Cliveden Hotel and I was lucky enough to have stayed there once many years ago with work. 

Cookham lock was manned and then we were in Cookham itself.  We found a space on Bell Rope Meadow where we breasted up and settled down for the afternoon.  Richard took Rio for a walk and came back saying there was now a gap further up for two boats, so we both moved.

During the afternoon we had some really heavy showers, one of which was making the boat rock - I thought I was going to be sea sick!  The rain cleared up later so we sat out but then suddenly the wind got up and the rain came down so we fled back to our boats.

10 miles
4 locks


Remenham Farm Moorings (River Thames) – Friday 13th September

A beautiful morning.  Sunshine and blue skies though it was chilly.  The forecast is looking good now for next ten days 😎

As we left our mooring we found Alaska tied up and obviously getting ready for something - a wedding maybe?  Alaska was built in1883 as a hire boat to take parties on day trips.  She was subsequently purchased by Salter Brothers of Oxford in 1886.  In 1887 Salters used Alaska to inaugurate their famous Oxford to Kingston service. This trip took 2 days going down to Kingston and 3 days for the return leg to Oxford.  Passengers stayed in boarding houses and hotels along the route and the fare for the trip, excluding accommodation, was one pound ten shillings (£1.50).  She then had two more owners, Jackson Brothers of Putney and then Mears of Twickenham.  She was later sold to Putney Sea Scouts, who took out the steam plant and used her as their headquarters, but the enterprising Boy Scouts chopped up the wooden superstructure and sold it as fire wood in order to raise funds for a new hut.  Around 1948, she was sold as a hulk and was used as a hire boat pontoon at Medley Boat Station in Oxford.  When she was rediscovered there in 1974, she was sat on the bottom, decked over with plywood being used as a boarding pontoon for hire boats.  Alaska was brought down river wrapped in plastic sheeting with an outboard motor attached and then spent 12 years in Peter Freebody's boatyard at Hurley, being restored to her former glory.  She was reunited with her original engine and fitted with a new boiler and finally relaunched in 1987. She is now based at Marlow and is operated by Thames Steamers. 

Marlow lock was on self service.  It is quite a violent lock! 

Leaving Marlow lock I took a few photos of Marlow below the bridge.  It really is a beautiful place. 

Marlow's original prosperity was brought about by the Knights Templar who had a house at nearby Bisham and built the first bridge over the River Thames here in 1832.  Marlow Lock itself was built as a timber (fir wood) pound lock in 1773 and reconstructed in stone in 1825. In that same year, a new lock was built alongside the old one which was filled in. The new lock was rebuilt by the Thames Conservancy in 1927.  The weir at Marlow Lock is recorded in Domesday book.  The name, Marlow, is recorded in 1015 as Mere lafan, meaning "Land left after the draining of a pond" in Old English!

We stopped at Hurley lock to fill up and empty.  We hadn’t filled our water tanks up for 6 days and were both pretty low.

Hambledon lock was our last one for the day as we moored up at Medmenham.  It was a lovely afternoon and early evening, but when the sun went down it was pretty chilly. 

7 miles
3 locks