We'd been looking for a mooring without success and finally saw the last one on the end of a small but decent mooring. John turned in the river and we started to come into it. A guy came out of another narrow boat, obviously to help us and as we got nearer and I was at the front end he pointed out that there were two small fishing rods propped up right in the middle of the mooring. A lady came over and he asked her if they were hers. She said they were her friends. At that point I called that she'd best move them because we'd been looking for a mooring for ages and this was a mooring and we were going to moor there. She walked away. So I called again that she could either move them or we'd squash them. The guy helpfully moved them to the very back of the mooring where we wouldn't be because of the curve. We pulled in and were getting the ropes and pins sorted out when a chap came over to John and told he he wasn't allowed to move the fishing rods and this was a fishing place (he was eastern European judging by the accent) John told him in no uncertain terms that this was a mooring and that he could ring the EA if he liked (Environment Agency). A few minutes later he came over and took a photo of me on the front of the boat tying off the rope! The guy from the other boat said that we ought to have asked to see his fishing licence! I've rarely seen John angry but he was then! The fisher-family have a camp around the corner from here and have their net over there so quite why they needed to use this space as well is beyond us.
Right now that's out of the way! The forecast had said a much cooler day with light cloud. They lied, it's been as hot as ever. I'm turning a nice colour in the bits that get out, but am going to be a strange sight when we go on holiday and I'm in a bikini!
Coming into Marlow. It looks similar in some ways to Henley with a church near the bridge but they are quite different places when you explore.
The Compleat Angler - or the complete rip-off as John calls it. Some of you may remember that we had a drink here on our last visit, because John had heard of it and wanted to try it. A Pimms and a small bottle of cider and not much change from a £20 note.
A very strange think happened in Marlow Lock.... Paddy didn't bark at the lock-keeper who came up to speak to John. He ALWAYS barks at anyone coming near the boat!
We got through Marlow Lock and waved to John and Cathy as we went past. John has worked out how far we need to go and roughly where we need to be each night so we went on quite a bit further.
Just after the lock I popped down to make a drink and apparently there was chaos as there was a school trip (I think) doing some rowing / canoeing activities and there were boats absolutely everywhere, once again John managed to avoid everyone. A bit later on though I heard water noises behind us that didn't sound like us and looked around to find a boat with two rowers almost collide into us. That's the trouble when they are going backwards without a separate skipper boat, they have NO idea what's ahead and assume that it's clear.
Cliveden House peeping just over the top of the trees. We have decided that this will be on the list of things to do next time we're on the Thames. We also sussed out where it might be possible to moor. The lack of moorings is the only thing that spoils the Thames for me.
We have been hearing and seeing red kites all the way along the river, and up the K&A but today we saw at least 14 all flying together, up quite high but clearly visible.
We pulled into Maidenhead to do some basic shopping for fresh fruit, veg, bread and meat. We found some moorings that said £5 a night but weren't brilliant. We had lunch, popped in to do the necessary and got back and decided to move on. It was going to be a noisy mooring with the road right next to us and as we were below pavement level we felt slightly vulnerable from any passing idiots, especially as we have been leaving the houdini open at night.
Here we are leaving it. We had to tie the ropes to the railings above so it wasn't ideal.
We saw some nice moorings the further side of Maidenhead but decided to go on a bit as John had found some on line. Just after the M$ he said. We went under the M4 bridge, unusual in that there was a pavement alongside it, and saw what we assumed were the moorings. Well we tried, but they were AWFUL!! Overgrown, up too high for our fenders, and covered in brambles and nettles. I got on shore but there was just no way we could moor there, definitely for plastic pigs and big fenders only.
This photo hardly does it credit! There is quite a steep bank under all of that to contend with if you get past the undergrowth!
That meant that we were getting hotter and more frustrated as time went on, mitigated somewhat by spotting a kingfisher flitting from branch to bush after diving for a fish.
Paddy was so hot that he allowed me to put a wet cloth over his head. The jacket as well as being useful if he goes in is also thermal, so helps to keep him cool, when I take it off he doesn't feel as hot as you'd expect him to be, just in case anyone worried he was cooking!
We spend most of our time ogling the houses and trying to decide which one we'd like. This isn't one of those houses but you have to admit you don't often get giraffes in your garden do you? Some of the properties are just out of this world. I couldn't begin to put the nice ones on as there would just be hundreds of beautiful homes and nothing else!
This is the place opposite us tonight, quite nice. We are at the south east corner of Dorney Lake, the one used for the olympics, so quite close to Windsor now. The benefit of not finding anywhere to moor is that we've done a good distance today.
and finally ..... the camp of the fisher-folk behind us. Lovely. Quite glad we had to tie the back of the boat to a tree as at least they won't be able to undo that one in the night!
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