T42 at rest….till next year !

Bluebelle, 31′ Sea Otter

RHS Wisley

Well we are starting our long journey home. The last couple of days have been very pleasant, slowly cruising back to Pyrford and visits to RHS Wisley. We have met a number of fellow Sea Otter Owners, and spent a good evening with Clive and Maxine onboard Bluebelle. This is the boat I partly copied the colour scheme of when we had T42 repainted last year. After packing yesterday we squeezed in a quick cruise down to the Basingstoke junction but came undone when mooring back up on our unpowered site, the heavens opened and we got drenched whilst reversing in. We are both sad to be leaving the Wey, each time we are on it we seem to enjoy it more. I am amazed at the number of people who read this blog, thanks for all your comments. M&H

A great afternoon yesterday and this morning was spent exploring the surrounding area. Gunpowder storage, Pill boxes and Shalford Water Mill were all enjoyed. In particular the mill, a fine example of an early 18th century watermill. It’s early history, and donation to the National Trust by the Ferguson Gang, together with an excellent one on one guide proved fascinating. It resonated with the waterways in how some passionate people preserved a piece of old England before it disappeared forever before the Second World War. We have cruised down to Send this afternoon and are busily re varnishing some timber onboard. Penny and Iris showed us up yesterday, I want to show her a mans boat ! Not all this girly roses and castles……I’m sure we can get a bit more tech equipment installed !

Shalford Mill

The Ferguson Gang’s room at Shalford Mill

Gunpowder Store at Gunns Mouth

Pill Box from WW2

T42 at St Catherine’s Lock

Inside Shalford Mill

We have managed to squeeze in a quick trip up the Wey before flying home, and had the pleasure of catching up with fellow SO owner Penny in Iris. The pics say it all….

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Well we’ve made it ! I feel a great deal of accomplishment in what we’ve done, so congratulations to Hazel and T42 on a job well done. In the end we have done 191 miles and 95 locks, all on 10 gals of diesel ! Total engine hours for the trip was 66.8.

The trip to Hampton Court was interesting, with boats getting even bigger and the islands covered in an amazing range of housing. Some of the houseboats wer staggering, in fact most were barges with a timber house built on top. Parts of Hampton Court were as I remembered as a child, but I was disappointed not to get into the gardens due to rock concert ! especially when I’d paid to….. The return journey today was warm and sultry, with rain starting on the final pound to Pyrford. Still the lock keeper at Thames Lock made us feel very welcome to come back to the Wey. Along with a stop lock at this lock we can add a paired lock to things we havenow done canal / river wise.

A celebratory Cider at the Anchor tonight I think. Tomorrow Wisley, and Polesdon Lacey on Sunday. Then a final cruise up the Wey to say goodbye to Penny and finally get to see Iris. Till next time, Cheers !

Hampton Court and the amazing wine fountain

Thames Lock, where you join the River Wey

Entrance to the Wey Navigations

Hazel and T42 made it back !

500 years of Kitchen fire

Beautiful red rose in Hampton Courts Paace rose garden

Amazing roof line

Houseboats ?

Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd floating recording studio

Hampton Court Palace

At 4pm today T42 passed the mouth of the River Wey, in effect the end of our journey. However as we missed out on the Upper Thames due to dental problems, we are sailing on to Hamton Court Palace. This is only a couple of hours but will finish off our waterways holiday in right royal style. We both enjoyed Windsor Castle yesterday, and the superb Racecourse Marina facilities. We also caught up with Paul, T42’s previous owner, and had an enjoyable evening in Jo Jo’s pub. It was another quiet day on the river boatwise, but the strong wind made docking interesting at Walton marina, however Sues warm welcome made us feel right at home. Being an annual berth holder at Tingdenes Pyrford marina means we can use any of their other marinas for free, 3 so far this trip ! I shall wind up the blog in the next couple of days with some pics of all of us back at Pyrford, but in the meantime can I thank everyone who has taken an interest in our trip through the blog. I can certainly recommend this mode of transport. Cheers M and H

Pharaoh’s Island near the junction of the Thames and Wey rivers.

Windsor Castle by land.

Hazel and Windsor Castle by water.

Mark at Windsor Castle on T42.

Poor reception meant no blog yesterday but we’ve just had 2 great days. The run into Henley was quiet until the last lock, then a boat every minute or so. Today’s run, 6 hours, was most pleasant. Again hardly any other craft once out of Henley. The lock keepers are all most helpful, and everybody is intrigued with T42. We haven’t seen many other Sea Otters, they are mostly large cruisers, however everybody waves and we’ve seen none of the supposed narrowboat / gin palace rivalry.

100′ ferry in a 120′ lock with 1′ side clearance.

Cliveden Reach, beautiful treed valley.

Bisham Abbey

Marlow lock landing stage just above weirs
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Copper Beech trees.

Typical Thames valley

Well an early blog today. We set off first thing in glorious sunshine to get to Henley, before the hordes come out as its Sunday. I’m glad we did, because at the moment there is a boat passing every 45 seconds ! We shall stay here regardless of the mooring fees and tackle the locks to Windsor tomorrow. Yesterday was another sunny day the run into Reading was difficult with the amount of wind. This was compensated by travelling with Rob and Margaret aboard Venetia, a super little Piper boat. We had spent the previous evening having coffee and talking canals. If you thought we were doing a long trip they had come down from Chester and are aiming for Bath, with a return trip before Autumns end ! It was good to talk to like minded people and we hope to travel “Up North” with them one day.

Margaret and Rob aboard Venetia

Escaping the fierce English sun !

Large Dutch barge

Houses in Shiplake

The Angel pub at Henley

I’ve been accused of not being Australian enough when touring ! So G’day Mate…today was another great day touring. What we thought was going to be a long day, Abingdon to Wallingford, wasn’t too long. By 1.30 we were tied up at Wallingford, an old town haunt of mine from when I worked at Ratcliffe Orchids, and lived at North Moreton. Indeed the Roman/Iron Age hill fort, I could see from my bedroom, was just beside one of the 4 manned locks done today. Tomorrow, being Saturday, could be busy so we will have an early start to get to a Tingdene Marina near Reading.

What a boat shed !

Some amazing properties !

Another 27′ Sea Otter “Camval” 

Whats T42 got to do with MG’s …..well we are moored at Abingdon, where MG’s were made. Our day in Oxford ended in a highlight when, post blog, a family arrived and jumped in to go swimming ! Talk about keen. Today would have been much better, it’s quite hot and we have survived our first 4 Thames locks, 3 manned 1 not. The Captain in the giant Salters ferry behind us showed us what to do, He was a lot bigger than me though. The Thames is different, like a giant River Wey. It was deserted this morning but this afternoon there are lots of boats coming through. We will push on to Wallingford tomorrow and then have another day off. Hazel has some washing and I’ve got some more brass grilles to polish with my super duper kit from Crick boat show.

Swimming at Oxford !

Folly Bridge, Oxford.

He’s a bit bigger than me….

Abingdon mooring

A day spent sightseeing around Oxford. Being keen Inspector Morse fans we keep on looking in the canals for any bodies, none yet and no Lewis for Hazel either !

Carfax Tower Oxford

Our mooring at Osney Island

Likely lad being called in for questioning….

Which ones mine ?