Macc’s seven month birthday today, which we noted rather than celebrated! We’d already decided that we did it want to go back out onto the Thames at the weekend, so we’d stay put today. Our journey up from Teddington was on a sunny Sunday and there were no moorings anywhere on the river, but by tomorrow all the weekend boats won’t be out any more. It’s also quite nice here, fairly quiet, a wide towpath, and cool in the morning but getting solar in the afternoon. I took Macc for a walk north along the towpath, which has the downside of having to cross the road to get there, but then it seems less busy than the stretch south. There are back gardens on the other side, one of which seems to belong to a pirate who owns a shark.
It actually felt quite chilly this morning, certainly nothing like as warm as it has been. Before the temperature rose too much, Adrian took a walk to M&S, which is next to the big Tesco I went to yesterday. It’s about the same distance from here as it is from the Byfleet moorings. After lunch, a familiar boat went by, Albert Ross, on which I did a boat test a couple of years ago. I was just taking Macc out again so had a chat to the owner while they went down the lock, and then followed them north a little way.
Later in the afternoon I got the paint and the rollers out and did the black gunwales on the towpath side, as the towpath was a reasonable height. It’s really just covering up the scrapes and scratches, but definitely looks better.
Tomorrow will be our last day on the Wey. Apparently, to conserve water Thames Lock is only operating where there are two boats to go up or down, so it’ll be interesting to see how long we have to wait to leave the river.
0 miles, 0 locks. (72 miles, 39 locks)