John mentioned when we moored that there was a naked man sunbathing a few boats back, but I didn't look as ... to be honest.... what's to see? at one point in the afternoon - yes, we'd left really early and moored before lunchtime! - some police turned up and after that naked man and his boat disappeared. John told me all this because I was cooking a roast. Well we hadn't had one yesterday and we do like a roast.
For some reason I didn't take any pictures of the place, no idea why as the little village was rather nice, another time. We'd definitely try to moor there again.
We left after a good nights sleep, rain had been forecast but hadn't come and the day was warm again but a wind had sprung up and the cloud was a bit heavier than lately.
We didn't have far to go as we wanted to get to Kingston because I'd found a Slimming World meeting in Surbiton that I could get to from there. The sky became darker as we travelled on, a real change from the Mediterranean blue that we've got used to.
We went into Molesey lock, which is huge, and we were the only boat in it. I always feel slightly guilty when these huge locks work just for us.
As the lock opened a boat was waiting to come in, poking its bow around the corner.
'Twas the Gloriana, in all her beauty. We saw her last time we were on the Thames, just coming into a lock after us. Not sure which lock, I'd have to look back but she really is a beautiful sight. Not sure what they use her for now but she obviously keeps busy.
We got into a mooring at Kingston, right next to John Lewis, and a nastier, more grubby mooring I wouldn't wish to meet. We wouldn't leave the boat at the same time so I popped out, had my hair cut (good old Toni and Guy's) bought some salad and yogurts and got back. John found that there was a park just down from us so I walked Paddy around it then John went out to stretch his legs. I was told at the hairdressers that I could catch a bus to Surbiton so John researched it for me (what did we do before Google?) and I caught one there and back. Sadly I'd only lost half a pound so still have a pound to go before I hit target, but as John keeps telling me I'm going in the right direction all the time.
We were going to move on when I got home but it was so wet and the kids had dispersed so we stayed. Apart from the strong smell of marijuana coming from the multi-storey car park next to us, it wasn't too bad. There was one round of dog barking and shouting at some point late at night but other than that we survived the experience.
There's the spot, there was takeaway rubbish all over the place and cans and bottles. John Lewis clean the higher section but no-one takes responsibility for this. I swear that if John had his picker and bag from the marina he'd have done it himself!
Today the rain had stopped but it was cold and windy so we travelled quickly down to Teddington Lock to discover that the tide wouldn't be right for us to go through until 5.40 tonight so we won't be moving at all today. It started raining again so all the covers are back up and we're off to explore Teddington shortly. It's just as well that we hadn't planned to be anywhere tonight as Brentford it's going to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment