Grey & Pizzly

What a distinct contrast to the sunshine of yesterday. I had to break out the wet weather gear, when it started raining at Bray lock. Nearly fell off the layby at Boulters Lock, when I was heaving the boat in with the center line, and it slipped off of the bollard. Thankfully the safety railing stopped me from plunging over the other side into the weirstream. Phew. a little bit hairy there. Still, it is all a part of the singlehanded challenge, I suppose.  I miss having Sheena there at the bow, pulling our nose in, out of harms way. Solo, I have to do quite a bit of heaving on that center line to compensate. Anyway, I will be more careful there next time. And wait for the rush to water from the lock gates to abate, before pulling against it. The lock keepers have all been friendly and helpful. So the cruise of today was plain sailing and enjoyable. Average speed 3.61mph. The river is hardly moving at all on these reaches.

Safely tucked up in the bushes of the Cliveden estate now. A nice comfortable spot for an overnight, and a great place for good dogwalking. Sumo was trying to clamber up the back steps before I'd even got the pins in. He definitely seemed to know where he was.

The starter motor? It only misfired once today. Which was a relief. The engine put out a fair bit of black smoke, when I had to 'floor it' (technical term) because I'd drifted out into the path of an oncoming jollyboat, while chatting to Les & Jaq on Nb Valerie. So it's time for an oil change too.

Mister is hassling me for another walk now. And, sadly, it is still raining out there. Classic British summer time.

Sunburnt & Knackered

Phew, 9 hours at the tiller today. Sunny and hot. The starter motor made me play "third time lucky" a couple of times, but I've made good progress up the river. Sumo wasn't terribly impressed with the amount of sniffs he got, but I will try and make it up to him when we get to Cliveden woods.

Just as I was piling out of Chertsey lock, Lisa & David (on Narrowboat "Water Lark") tried to communicate something to me. But I couldn't hear what they were saying above the engine noise. Sorry about that, folks. I can't hear a thing at max revs. Nice to see you though. At Staines, a canoeist wanted to race me upstream, but was quite dissapointed, when I told him that I was already going flat out (3.16mph).

Near Old Windsor lock, I saw a woman pushing an elderly labrador along the towpath in a wheelbarrow. She'd taken him out for a walk with her other labs. When she lifted him out, the poor thing could hardly stand up. But he was still wagging his tail, and getting the sniffs. I think I would do the same for Sumo, should that sad day ever come. But, thankfully, his hips are fine at the moment.

He's not stopped looking out the back door this evening, presumably waiting for Meg & Penny to turn up. Aww....

Sunset over Sunbury

Alas, all good things must come to an end. This is my last day with Sue, Vic, Meg & Penny. Today, we visited the biggest car boot sale I have ever seen. Vast. Enormous. Just about anything and everything you could ever think of buying was there, and available for purchase. It took us three hours just to walk around it. Did I mention that it was very large? I think I exercised great personal restraint, in not filling the boat up with "more stuff". Vic cooked us a magnificent sunday roast. With strawberries and cream for dessert. Two sundays in a row now! I appreciate that I am one very lucky boater indeed. Thanks Vic! Thanks Sue! I've enjoyed every single moment.

Tomorrow, they're heading down to Kingston, in preparation for their journey through Teddington lock. They very kindly offered to take me and Sumo with them. But, "all there is down there... is London". And Sumo's seen enough of that. :)

I've decided to bale out on the visit to Hampton Court this time. As I want to get our starter motor looked at, before Sheena comes back. It's working, sort of. Intermittently. And anything less than 100% reliable is not good enough. Going to see how far I can get on it, rather than wimping out and calling RCR. Getting it off to examine it, won't be too problematical. But that means the alternator mounting must be slackened off, and the fanbelt removed. Not something I want to get into, on my own, out in the wilds, really.

The river?

Heaving with people, out enjoying themselves, in their boats. A few narrowboats had difficulty waiting for the lock (Sunbury), because of the rapid weirstream. And the fast outpouring from the sluices, sweeping around the other bend. When the layby is full, you just have to wait in midriver, and hope for the best. The eddies on that corner can be tricky sometimes, so I had plenty of sympathy for them. They all made it through safely though.

Hoping it will be a bit quieter tomorrow.

Overnight at the Pub

Near Sunbury Lock.

The remains of Mv "it wasn't me, it was him" at Staines. We saw this boat up at Sonning last summer. The owner was out buffing it, and seemed quite proud and happy. Completely burnt out and melted, almost to the waterline.  Cause unknown.

Swan Carnage. A very peaceful scene at Walton on Thames. 200 Sleeping swans. Or they were, until Sue & Vic steamed straight through them. I was the next boat through, and had to steer through 200 suddenly quite awake and annoyed hissing things

Walton on Thames. The bridge is nearly finished, and looks quite "nice", I suppose. Though I am never likely to use it, it's nice to cruise underneath. Waved at the busload of old ladies who were enjoying an ice-cream down by the riverbank. Got completely blanked, and looked at like I had just landed. Ahhh.... this must be Surrey. Well known for it's hospitality and cordial welcome to outsiders.

Maffi's "Molly", snoozing.

We had hoped to stop off at Lady Lindsay's lawn. Which would have been very handy for the launderette. But the 2/10ths of it where you can now moor boats, was completely stuffed. Again, not one single local resident out enjoying a riverside picnic. Beyond those 2/10ths... it was completely deserted. The big "No Mooring (beyond the ridiculous amount we've arbitrarily specified)" sign is still there. Sadly.

However, the moorings at the "Weir" pub in Sunbury were empty. And there was space for both of us, so we stopped off for a well deserved pint in the afternoon sunshine. Just as we were talking about Maffi, and his epic journey downstream, we saw large puffs of black smoke billowing over the bushes. Sue said "That must be him!". And it was. Nice to meet you Maffi. Hope to bump into you again sometime.

Meg and Penny, having a doze in the afternoon. How gorgeous is that? Don't know why they chose to do it in the ashes of an old camp fire. Maybe it's an ancient primal doggie thing, to do with being closest to the warmth? Whatever the reason, they both looked very comfortable. Sumo just snuffles around in it, in case there is any discarded food lurking within. Thankfully I was able to remove the packet of sausage rolls a fisherman had left behind, before he got off the boat. He chose to have his afternoon nap upside down in the kingseat, rather than roughing it on the bankside.

This morning something "pinged" down in the engine bay. Thought the fan belt had snapped, So I lifted the boards and discovered a "mystery bolt" (but no nut) hiding down there. Where it had come from I have no idea. The starter motor is a likely candidate, because it was refurbished recently. Temperature gauge seems OK, and the alternator is still pumping out the amps. I guess I will know more when I attempt to start it from cold again in the morning.

Short Hop

Runnymede Pleasure Gardens

We've never actually stopped here before, because it's always been stuffed with boats. Sue says you have to get here at lunchtime, or before. Very pleasant, and it's free for 24 hours.

New sniffs for mister, and some great offlead walks & river dunks. Meg and Penny seem to have accepted him into their pack, and are quite content to whiz around with each other, while Sumo plods about being a Labrador.

Wow! Look at this... What a feast! Kindly cooked by Sue, and hand delivered to the boat by Vic, because I'd fallen asleep listening to the radio again. Supremely tasty, and very much appreciated. Singlehanding doesn't seem too tiring, when I'm doing it. It's all been enjoyable and pretty much stress free, as the river is well behaved. And it hasn't heaved it down with rain on us. But this is the second day I've nodded off while listening to the radio. I'm going to blame it on the heat and humidity, rather than admit to getting old and needing a nap.. :)

Midland Chandlers

I recently ordered a 1600mm piece of black drainpipe to make a new flue. One that will satisfy a boat safety examiner. But, like a pillock, I got it sent to the wrong address.

Thankyou to Arthur (the new occupier) for ringing to let me know what had happened. And a very big thankyou to Katey at Midland Chandlers for arranging that FedEx pick it up, and redeliver it. At no additional cost to my inept self!

Much appreciated.

Downstream with No Problem(s)

Set off in the sunshine, at the crack of 9.30. Did not ram anything, or bounce off any lock walls. Not a puff of wind, and a very still river.

Grooves in the woodwork at Boulters Lock.

Clouds appeared over Maidenhead. Moored up here for 10 minutes, because I got slightly paranoid about an imaginary starboard list. Having another espresso seemed to cure that. A noticably large number of tripboats were steaming up and down the middle of the river. But, also noticable, was the fact that they were not very full.

I was greeted at Windsor by Sue & Vic, and Les & Jaq from Nb 'Valerie' (nice to meet you both). They were all having a picnic in the sunshine. I didn't ram anything mooring up, and I didn't hit my shins with the sledgehammer. Was treated to a nice cup of tea, and a tasty homemade scone/rockcake/jam combination. Thanks Sue.

Windsor castle, viewed from the Eton side. I like the way that zooming in, and the haze of the sunshine, have made the castle look like a cheap 2D matte painting that somebody has plonked behind the trees.