Being a tourist

On Wednesday Karen, Ian and I caught the bus to Piccadilly and bought tickets for Jersey Boys for Karen and I as I’ve been wanting to see it ever since it came to the West End.  We then did the tourist bit and walked to Trafalgar Square

Nelson’s Colum

down the Mall to Buckingham Palace

Queen Victoria Memorial, Buckingham Palace

Changing the guard

and across Green Park back to Piccadilly

Eros, Piccadilly Circus

In the evening we went back to see Jersey Boys, which was fantastic, and on our way back to the bus stop to return to Paddington Basin, were treated to lots of jubilant Spanish football fans enjoying their victory over Germany. They were bullfighting the taxis, and Eros was sporting a Spanish flag at 10.30pm!

Photos courtesy of Serenity’s blog as I didn’t have my camera with me, thinking we were just going for theatre tickets and then coming straight back.

Paddington

On Monday we decided to try again to moor in Paddington Basin.  This time we were lucky and secured two of the six available spaces.

 Elvis has not left the building – he’s on the balcony!

 Mural made from litter

 Paddington Basin – on the right is St Mary’s Hospital

The bad news is that Rog is in hospital!  His infected big toe suddenly became much worse, so when we arrived we went straight to A & E, and after five hours of X rays, blood tests, and scans to check that the circulation to his foot is still ok, the Vascular consultant decided to keep him in.  He is at the moment being pumped full of strong intravenous antibiotics, and painkillers, and tomorrow he is to have a general anaesthetic and they will remove the nail and clean out all the infection.  Lets hope it does the trick, and it will heal quickly.  So I’m stuck in the basin, with a 15min walk to Little Venice to empty the loo cassette,  and no official water tap, although there is one on the corner or one of the office blocks which Ian and I persuaded the security guards to let me use to fill the tank, ‘just this once’, yesterday evening – 4 hoses joined together did the trick .  There may have to be another ‘just this once’ when it runs low again.  There is a park nearby  - the original Paddington Green, to walk Cassie, and shops all around so it could be worse, and it’s only a quick walk across the bridge in the picture to the hospital.

I will keep you all informed as to Rog’s progress.

Teddington to Kensal Green

We got up at 5.15 on Thursday morning and made ready for our trip down the tidal Thames, and had passed through Teddington Lock by 6.15.  It was a lovely morning when we set off but it clouded over by about 6.30.  It is a lovely time of day to be boating, and we made the trip to Brentford in about an hour, along with the outgoing tide.

5.30am – our last mooring on the Thames above Teddington Lock

Richmond Bridge

 Part of Richmond waterfront

Our last view up the Thames as we turned into Brentford Lock cutting

We continued on as far as Hanwell locks and stopped for the night just short of the top lock.  On Friday we continued on our way to Paddington Basin, but it was full so we retraced our steps and moored for the weekend at Kensal Green opposite the Cemetery.

On Saturday we went to have a look around.  There was a ‘Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery’ Open day on, and there were lots and lots of goths and punks all dressed up in Victorian gear and parading around – apparently they always attend!

 

Part of the cemetery, all falling down

We thought we’d stumbled onto a film set at first.  There was even an exhibition of hearses!

  We found Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s family tombstone, disappointingly simple  amongst all the elaborate mausoleums

It was one of the most bizarre things we have ever experienced, and we will never forget it

Hampton Court Palace

On Wednesday we moored outside Hampton Court Palace, and made a brief visit, as we had discovered that we needed to go through Teddington Lock onto the tidal part of the Thames at 6am the next morning so needed to continue on later in the day.

We made it to the centre of the maze

Afterwards we set of again to move to Teddington Lock to be ready for our early start on Thursday, our last few miles on the Thames to Brentford Lock, and so onto the Grand Union.

Runnymede

We moved to Runnymede on Monday and found a lovely mooring,  just a shame it was near a road.

We had another visit from the family in the afternoon, this time to bring us prescriptions which didn’t arrive in time for last Thursdays visit at Marlow.  Ben also very kindly brought us some beer from the Rebellion Brewery in Marlow.

Florence 

 Milly

 Elizabeth – less grumpy this time

 Flo and Milly stirring the water to make ‘soup’

After dinner we walked to the Magna Carta Memorial which was erected by the American Bar Association

 

Perfect end to another lovely day

Today we are moored at Shepperton.  We have had a bit of rain, but not even enough to wash the dust off the boat.  Tomorrow we will move to Hampton Court.

Windsor

On Saturday we travelled to Windsor.  It was already heaving with boats by the time we got there about 10.30, and very hot indeed, but we were lucky and nipped into a space on Bath Island that a narrowboat had just vacated.

We had a visit from friends Sally and Lisa, and Lisa’s fiancé Paul on Saturday afternoon.  Great to see you both again, and nice to meet Paul at long last.

On Sunday morning we went for a wander around Winsor.  Karen and I went on the Big Wheel, Windsor's version of the London Eye, and took loads of photos.  Here are just  few

 Windsong and Serenity

 Eaton side and Windsor side

Winsor Castle

  Karen

 

The Wheel

We had a look around the town, but didn’t bother with the castle as there were so many tourists, and took a few more photos

 The Queen was at home, as the Royal Standard was flying, but she didn’t invite us for tea!

We were treated to a gathering of disappointed England fans on the island on Sunday evening.  They were noisy but not too bad until a fight almost broke out and then they all started to disperse.  They asked us for a black bag and cleared up all their litter and went on their way by about 9 o’clock, so we had a peaceful last hour outside before we went to bed.

Henley to Maidenhead

Having decided to stay in Henley through Tuesday, we took a walk into the town in the morning.  The weather continues to be roasting!

 Henley Market Place

 Friday Street

Having breathed a sigh of relief that we could leave our England flag flying for at least another few days, we left Henley for Marlow on Thursday morning.

 Temple Island

 Medmenham Abbey, with connections to the infamous Hellfire Club in the middle of the 18th Century

 The National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey – daughter Emma used to work here for England Hockey

Emma and the children arrived soon after we moored up in Marlow – we had lunch and set off for a short cruise.  Latest granddaughter Elizabeth is now almost five months old and a real cutie – was a bit grumpy though!

 Elizabeth with her feet up!

This was the only photo I got though as I seemed to spend the rest of the afternoon hanging on for dear life to either Flo or Milly to stop them leaning too far overboard!

I couldn’t sleep last night as it was so hot, so was up at 3.30, and was treated to dawn and sunrise over Marlow.

 Dawn – 4am

 Sunrise 4.52am

Later we headed off intending to stop somewhere around Cliveden Reach, but unfortunately moorings were scarce and those that we found were either too short for us or too shallow, so we continued on

 Cliveden Reach with Cliveden on the hill behind, once a stunning mansion dating back to the 17th century, now owned by the National Trust

 Boulter’s Lock – we came here years ago to watch the boats, never thinking that one day we might be going through in our own boat

We are now moored at Maidenhead, and will probably move on towards Windsor tomorrow.