Weybridge (River Thames) – Saturday 5th July

The long awaited rain came just before we went to bed but it wasn’t heavy and when I went to bed there was just a gentle pitter patter on the roof.  Once again as I was reading there was a commotion outside – this time it actually woke Richard up but then it was right beside him.  It would appear that a duck must have got stuck between the boat and the bank and was making a heck of a noise!  It all went quiet so I guess it got itself out!  At 4am I was woken up by a duck pecking at the boat – I wondered if it was the same one!

A shrink wrapped railway bridge

A very sad pleasure boat

  

The obligatory photos of Windsor Castle

We were away at 9.15am and Romney Lock was busy, fortunately it’s a big one and we got 3 narrowboats and 4 motor cruisers in.

 

There are quite a few boats still up on the banks after the floods

It was a pretty uneventful trip down through Old Windsor and Bell Weir and as we got to Staines (oh sorry it’s Staines-on-Thames these days!) we moored up just under the bridge and walked into town to frequent Waitrose.  It started to drizzle as we got back to the boat though it didn’t come to much.  We had lunch and then pressed on downstream.  As we came out of Penton Hook Lock we were hailed by a boat waiting to go in – it was Keith and (oh dear I can’t remember her name) who had moored next to us in Bugbrooke when we first bought the boat.  Keith has finally finished painting the boat so we didn’t recognise it!  At Chertsey Lock we stopped for water and then pushed on to Shepperton Lock in the rain.  Through the lock and there was space on the Weybridge so we tied up.

 

An office boat

We were joined for tea by my cousin, Simon, and his wife, Kate and their two children Joe and Ruby.  They live in Weybridge so it wasn’t far for them to come.  We had a lovely catch-up then Simon joined Richard and I in taking Muffin for a walk on Desborough Island.

In the evening I went out to take this photo as I was lusting over the boat

  

Our neighbours behind also came out to look and we ended up sitting on the wall chatting until almost 9pm – we hadn’t eaten and I was enjoying a bottle of sparkling wine which Simon and Kate had brought, it went straight to my head but I did manage to cook!

13.74 miles

6 locks