After a few dull, cloudy, and windy days, today we were back to nice weather. It started last night with a red sky and it was beautiful when I took Macc out for his early walk.
Shepperton Lock is one of those that’s supposed to be on drought restrictions, so we weren’t expecting to be able to go down until 9.30. But we set off in good time, with plans to deal with rubbish and recycling while we waited. No sooner had we arrived on the lock landing at 9, than a lock keeper called us forward as the gates opened. We were joined by a little angling boat, and another narrowboat. Below the lock is the complicated junction where the Wey goes off and there are several islands, but we were going straight ahead.
On the way up we went round Desborough Island, but this time we took the more direct route. There were loads of people rowing along Desborough Cut and beyond, some from the Weybridge club (all of whose boats had a name with a Wey pun) and others from Walton. As we approached Sunbury Locks, a couple of boats who’d just come up appeared. As one of them was the rather large charter and hotel boat, Excalibur, I was glad we met them there rather than in the narrow lock cut.
Sunbury Lock was open and the lock keeper waved us in. There was already a neat little boat in there, with the people on board saying it was their first trip (and I think their first lock).
The Astoria floating recording studio is having some work done. It looks as though some of the wooden decking has been replaced, with more being done as we passed.
As we approached Molsey Lock, we could see a lock keeper and as we got closer the gates opened and we and the little bot could go straight in. All these locks are about 6ft deep and pretty big.
Once through the bridge there are views of Hampton Court Palace.
Round the corner towards Kingston, there were people playing stand up paddleboard polo. The ones out in the river appeared to be learning the technique, but there was also a match going on, inside court outlined by a red inflatable border.
A little further on we passed one of the trip boats from Kingston. This one looks like a paddle steamer.
The moorings at the park in Kingston are back in use, with plenty of boats on them but also a few gaps. There are signs, which look new, but are much too small to read from the water. Then we went under Kingston Bridge.
One of the rowing clubs on the way to Teddington was having a race day. There was a line of marker buoys down the middle of the river, with a keep left sign in a canoe. The spectators could see the finish line but now much more because of the bend in the river, and the race under way as we passed looked as though it was between two teams of convicts, with their stripy shirts; but they were probably just club colours.
There was a choice of spaces on the moorings at Teddington, so we were soon tied up. We walked down to the lock to see what was going on, had a chat to the lock keeper about what time we should go through tomorrow, and paid for our mooring. There have been plenty of boats through the lock all afternoon; it certainly doesn’t seem to be limited to one locking every half hour. The big barge lock is still being used, because the middle sized launch lock is still being refurbished. It sounds as though it’s pretty much a complete rebuild, and there are big joists bracing the lock at the moment.
This afternoon Macc has been for a paddle and a lay in the river, and I went up to the Sainsbury’s Local for a top up shop. We’ll be going through Teddington Lock at between 9.30 and 10 tomorrow morning onto the tidal section to Brentford. The lock keeper told us there are four boats heading that way, so she’s hoping to get us all through in one go. We’ve also had another lucky escape, because a notice came through to say that Old Windsor Lock (which we came through yesterday) is broken and won’t be fixed until Monday afternoon.
10 miles, 3 locks, £11.50 mooring fee. (90 miles, 33 locks, £26.50)