21.09.15
Pete dropped me off by Ravens Ait in Kingston so that I could visit Mum and pick up my car to drive to London to look after my grandson for the day on Friday. Pete turned back to Hampton Court to moor for the night.
After dumping a load of washing on mum (so kind of me) I set off at 4.30pm around the north circular to Haringay, a journey that on a good run takes 1hour 20mins, but took 2hrs 15 at this time of day. So good to see Olly Fran and Rowan at the end of it though.
I returned to the boat the next day, Saturday. Pete had pootled down to Kingston once again and moored by the bridge. We took mum for a trip up to the palace, had lunch onboard and sat in the sun in the bow with a glass or two of wine. Lovely weather for a change, but the river was extremely busy with huge paddle steamers, barges, narrowboats, river cruisers, rowing boats (in a race) and canoes! Ani was rocking merrily on her mooring. Charlie the spaniel from the boat ahead of us was so desperate to get a ball from the water that his owner let him jump in from this sheer sided concrete edged bank and swim for it. A little nerve-wracking as he swam around the outside of our boat to get to the lower pathway to be able to climb out. He did it though, only to let the ball slip back in when he was back standing on the bank. Pete fished it out for him twice, to his owners gratitude. I think the shivering Charlie would not have gone in again.
On Monday, we travelled up to Chertsey lock and picked up our friend Sally in pouring rain. We travelled the great distance to Laleham and had lunch in the Three Horseshoes, meeting Stuart there. A bonus to have Stuart with us - he managed to get away from his work commitments for a couple of hours so the four of us had a mirthful get together with some very nice food and a pint. Great to see them both and they are a mine of information about this stretch of the river and it's inhabitants including the signal crayfish which they catch and eat from time to time, these non-native creatures being a pest in our waters, but apparently very tasty. They have to have a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries licence to do so though, which sounds a little over the top!
We moored for the night in Runnymede, the rain still upon us for most of the night and into next morning which decided us to have a second cup of tea in the warm and dry and a slow breakfast before the next leg. It's so nice to not be on a tight schedule.
Pete dropped me off by Ravens Ait in Kingston so that I could visit Mum and pick up my car to drive to London to look after my grandson for the day on Friday. Pete turned back to Hampton Court to moor for the night.
After dumping a load of washing on mum (so kind of me) I set off at 4.30pm around the north circular to Haringay, a journey that on a good run takes 1hour 20mins, but took 2hrs 15 at this time of day. So good to see Olly Fran and Rowan at the end of it though.
I returned to the boat the next day, Saturday. Pete had pootled down to Kingston once again and moored by the bridge. We took mum for a trip up to the palace, had lunch onboard and sat in the sun in the bow with a glass or two of wine. Lovely weather for a change, but the river was extremely busy with huge paddle steamers, barges, narrowboats, river cruisers, rowing boats (in a race) and canoes! Ani was rocking merrily on her mooring. Charlie the spaniel from the boat ahead of us was so desperate to get a ball from the water that his owner let him jump in from this sheer sided concrete edged bank and swim for it. A little nerve-wracking as he swam around the outside of our boat to get to the lower pathway to be able to climb out. He did it though, only to let the ball slip back in when he was back standing on the bank. Pete fished it out for him twice, to his owners gratitude. I think the shivering Charlie would not have gone in again.
On Monday, we travelled up to Chertsey lock and picked up our friend Sally in pouring rain. We travelled the great distance to Laleham and had lunch in the Three Horseshoes, meeting Stuart there. A bonus to have Stuart with us - he managed to get away from his work commitments for a couple of hours so the four of us had a mirthful get together with some very nice food and a pint. Great to see them both and they are a mine of information about this stretch of the river and it's inhabitants including the signal crayfish which they catch and eat from time to time, these non-native creatures being a pest in our waters, but apparently very tasty. They have to have a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries licence to do so though, which sounds a little over the top!
We moored for the night in Runnymede, the rain still upon us for most of the night and into next morning which decided us to have a second cup of tea in the warm and dry and a slow breakfast before the next leg. It's so nice to not be on a tight schedule.
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