We had a very peaceful night on the Teddington Lock moorings. Macc needed to go out about 6am but went back to bed when he came back in. By the time I took him out for a proper walk all the boats which were heading down the lock to Brentford had gone. We slipped away at about 9.30, past some big boats moored further along.
We needed to stop at Kingston as Adrian had an order to collect from John Lewis. The moorings right outside were full, but there were gaps on the Town End Pier moorings, so we pulled in and got tied up, albeit rather unsatisfactorily. Although JL opens at 10.30 for browsing, you can’t even pick up pre-ordered and paid for things until 11. With that done, we set off again. A little further on a sailing club had some very big boats with tall masts out on the water. I was particularly concerned when one of them cut right across the bows of a narrowboat coming the other way.
On the permanent moorings, a bright yellow and blue boat rather took Adrian’s fancy. It’s certainly a bit different. Then at the end of one of the islands in the river, there was a really lovely house right on the end which must have amazing views.
On the approach to Hampton Court, half the river was set aside for the Sea Scouts regatta. Coming the other way was a big trip boat we’d seen earlier at Kingston.
The moorings at Hampton Court are theoretically closed for work, but four of five big plastic boats were moored there. We went through the bridge and waited on the lock landing for a few boats to come down. The pub opposite looks very jolly.
Above Molsey Lock there are a load of house boats, and then there’s Astoria, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd’s floating recording studio, looking as resplendent as ever.
We passed more nice houses all along the river. Many of them are on islands, which sounds like a nice idea but we’re not convinced about the practicalities.
We were also looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, but all the moorings (usually 24 hour ones) were full of boats which looked pretty permanent. We went up Sunbury Lock, and then in an attempt to find somewhere to go for lunch we went round Desborough Island rather than taking the shorter cut. Again, lots of nice houses (this one very distinctive) but still no gaps on the moorings.
We ended up on the main river again and then taking a left towards the River Wey. The entrance looks very unpromising, although at least the sign is less overgrown than the last time we came this way.
Below Thames Lock is a holding pen, which needs to have water added so there’s enough depth to get over the cill. The gate was open, and there in front of us was Dona Ferens, who’d gone past us at Kingston.
They’d been waiting a while as the lock keeper has a lunch break between 1 and 2. After a while, the lock was ready and we went up together.
The lock is very pretty, but everything takes a while with the lock keeper making sure everything is just so. Both boats moored shortly afterwards on a pretty high bank, just along from the lock.
I walked back to buy a licence, which also took ages as the lock keeper was seeing a couple of boats down — although to be honest we weren’t in any rush by now. It had gone 3 and we hadn’t had lunch, so we decided to put a quiche in the oven and have a late lunch or early dinner instead. Later on I took Macc for a walk and found a lovely fenced park at Whittets Ait Island, where he really enjoyed running about with sticks.
This evening, Dale and Dawn came round for a drink which explains why this blog is later than usual. The whole day has been a bit odd timewise! It’s been really nice getting to know them, and this evening particularly hearing about their foster caring for more than fifty children.
11 miles, 3 locks. (36 miles, 16 locks)