After a day of washing and recharging batteries we sallied forth to RHS Wisley Gardens, where I used to work. I’m glad we’ve only got a small hire car, the lanes were narrow with a few passing places, similar to the Oxford Canal but at a much higher speed !

As I gave a comprehensive walk thru last year I’ll document some of the changes we saw. After queuing for 10 minutes we made straight to the new Orchid house, located within the main glasshouse.

Most of the plants are growing in situ, with lots of ground cover and plunge pots obviously rotated thru them. A pleasing display but lacking in numbers somewhat. Bunnings sometimes have a lot more on show, even if they aren’t so well arranged !

Overall a good display, but I like to think my 3 orchid houses looked pretty good when I was running them ! The rest of the glasshouse is divided up into the traditional stove, temperate and cool sections with a cacti house as well.

After the glasshouses we wandered towards the fruit area via the recently planted Oudolf area. You could either take the straight path to the lavender hill, or meander around. Either way the beds in pastel shades provided a delightful scene to the eye, he obviously knows his stuff !

At the top of the rise was a small hill with a narrow spiral path to the top. As it was entirely planted out with various types of lavender the scent and hum of bees was overwhelming.

Overall a fantastic addition to Wisley. Next up was Hilltop, a quick bite to eat, and a wander around the ponds. The water lilies were fully out in the warmth, and surrounding beds provided strong colours after all the pastel shades of the previous section.

We headed up towards Battlestone Hill now, looking for a little shade and somewhere to sit.

One stop I always make is to visit “my” group of gumtrees. As a teenager my first summer holiday job was working at Battlestone Hill. I was allowed to plant a few Eucalyptus saplings, and after some 45+ years they are looking pretty good ! I don’t know if I’m aging as well….

We finally walked down the main herbaceous borders to our exit thru the shop, always good for a few presents to take home !

I always get nostalgic at these gardens, they are a very special place to my parents and I, thankfully most of the changes have been for the better and it copes well with the hordes of visitors. Time for a real shower, drink and watch the opening Olympics.

Yesterday Penny treated us to a delicious BBQ prepared at Dapdune Wharf. The weather Gods tried to thwart her but eventually the sun shined, the empty gas bottle was replaced and we sat outside till 10. It was great Penny’s Mark joined us as well, and we really appreciated all her effort.

Today we have spent the whole day travelling over half the distance we did yesterday. A lovely chilled day sparked by intense flora and fauna moments. Sadly the fauna ones happed so quickly I was unable to catch them with a camera.

A lovely Red Kite wheeling overhead at Dapdune signalled this mornings start of fauna, with a 3’ adder slithering past in the water as I washing the boat whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. Shock saw me jump a couple of feet backwards, and by the time I got the camera it had swam away in the riverside vegetation. In an effort to outdo her Captain the deck hand positioned her stool on top of an ants nest. Ants swarmed up the foot and leg, but fortunately didn’t get in the pants. On a roll now the fauna encounters continued with a cow standing in the river as we came around a bend, there was no moooving him so we went around.

Preparing to cast off from lunch a herd of deer jumped out of long grass in a paddock, and finally we saw an OTTER, yes the animal kind ! A beautiful sleek specimen emerging from the riverbank, our first spotting of one in the wild.

The flora had been no less spectacular, and a lot easier to photograph ! Though the flowers aboard Iris have now been identified as PLASTICUS Iris…and I’ve been thinking they were real !

We are moored just upstream of Cartbridge Basin, where we will spend the next couple of days enjoying a real shower, washing machines and flushing toilets ! But who knows what fauna will turn up tonight !

The River Wey has some of the hardest locks on the whole system, with New Haw featuring up near the top. The lock arms are low, short and canted 45 degrees, whilst the gates rub at the bottom and are incredibly heavy as the spindles aren’t vertical.

and that’s New Haw done ! Weybridge town lock is much easier, but has an obscured entrance, check nobody’s coming first.

Penny and Iris joined us last night at Worsfold Gates. Today we’ve gone past the Marina, with hot showers and flushing toilets, to Dapdune Wharf. We must be committed narrowboaters !

I spent yesterday afternoon tidying the exterior of Prime Thyme, it’s amazing how much mud the fenders can transfer. I was ably assisted by Mr Swan and family, 2 white adults, 5 grey cygnets and an adolescent black swan ! Bit of a mixed bag, must have some Aussie blood in the parents.

We snuck thru the stop gate at Thames Lock, with 24” of water over the sill and our draught of 18” we didn’t need to fill the second pound, saving time and water.

Suffice to say New Haw Lock provided Hazel with a challenge as usual. I took lots of pics as she wrestled with gates and paddles, but as the internet is slow uploading tonight I’ll save them for another time.

We are meeting Penny and Iris tonight at Walsham Gates, but had a loiter around TLC who supplied us with a fender whilst hovering mid stream, and then stopped outside the Anchor Pub at Pyrford. Time for a celebratory drink and lunch for fulfilling our goal of getting on a canal, and returning home unscathed.

We will meander upstream to Guildford and beyond over the next couple of days. Still plenty to see and do, but we are both looking forward to our upcoming cruise around Ireland.

A quick update on our days progress. We’ve made it to behind Desborough Cut, just downstream of the River Wey and Thames junction. 2 of the locks we went thru have had problems, one took a day to fix so it was great to get thru despite waiting awhile at Penton Hook Lock.

After getting water, and using the services we are ready to get back on the Wey. Manual locks going upstream will be a shock ! We have 2 weeks left before flying to Dublin and going on a cruise with something bigger than a broom closet for a bathroom, and a proper made up bed….luxury 😁

The signals a bit better this morning…

Once thru Boulters the houses of Bray are pretty spectacular, as are some of the boats. The three below are in a row

Boveney Lock is the last before entering Windsor, first around the racecourse, then the meadows as the Castle looms straight ahead.

We thought we’d try for Iris’s special mooring, a tiny free spot in the middle of town. Some days your luck is in ! It’s a short walk for shopping, thru lots of people and a queue all the way down the high street to visit the castle.

Today we will head back to Shepperton, and the mouth of the Wey.

What a contrast…yesterday we ended up having a cold tea sitting under some shady trees as it was 32 degrees in the boat ! Everything was left open when we tried to sleep, hatches/doors/windows in an effort to get a bit of draught thru the boat to cool it, and us. I got up at 5:30 to close everything as a light shower fell

This morning was cool and cloudy, what a relief, and much nicer to travel in. At the end of Cliveden Reach the houses start again, gradually increasing in size, and no doubt value. But exiting Boulters Lock you enter Bray, home of the Fat Duck, et al. It seems de le rigour to have a wooden slipper launch at the end of your garden.

We are safely in Windsor, at some special moorings, so special the internet signal is too weak to upload photos. I’ll try again tomorrow or later on tonight.

With good weather forecast we thought we’d push onto Windsor today. Even going thru Marlow Lock at 8:30 it felt rather warm. We shared the lock with another Sea Otter, Locks Ride

Prime Thyme with Locks Ride in the background

Locks Ride were heading to their home mooring at Penton Hook, a long day with numerous locks so I waved him on. On both days our alternator has failed we’d put in 6 hours in hot weather. By now it felt in the high 20’s and I could feel my feet burning on the hot engine deckboards…….time for a re think. After utilising the services at Cookham the allure of a shady stop in Cliveden Reach could not be thwarted.

Rather than be marooned on Gulls Island as usual we elected for a shore bank one. This allowed us to walk up to Cliveden House and Gardens. It was considerably longer and steeper than expected, so a cool drink and early lunch was first. With the temperature in the low 30’s now we had a short stroll around before the long walk back, at least this time it was downhill.

We’ve pulled our chairs out to sit on the shady riverbank, it’s still over 30 in the boat ! Tomorrow we will try for Windsor again, the forecast is for much cooler weather.

Sorry about the lack of blog yesterday, Henley’s wifi signal was practically non existent. We are now in Marlow, but first a word about yesterday……

We are moored up in Henley, it’s not Regatta week, but it’s still extremely busy and we were lucky to get a berth.

We had an interesting companion for one lock, a Fisheries vessel complete with electrical stunning device, so the fish can be counted before resuming a normal fishy life.

The run into Reading via Caversham is always attractive, houses one side, park the other.

We topped up with diesel at Caversham Boat Services, and got a 1 week extension to our EA licence. Lunch was on the run as we knew Henley moorings would fill up, the last couple of locks being shared with a Yorkshire couple in a hire boat, with their dog Jigsaw. As we moored close together boats were compared, Lady Sophie had a spacious interior, but still only suitable for a couple. At £1500 per week it’s not a cheap holiday…

Onto Marlow….

A fairly uneventful run apart from the weather, ITS warm !

Henley was still taking down from Regatta week, we actually went down on the course this time, with a lot less boats.

Mooring was at a premium in Marlow, and a fellow Sea Otter joined us for a while. Its new owners were re locating Dovetail to the K and A, and we were able to help with the numerous questions its owners had. It’s always interesting looking at different layouts, they also enjoyed a tour around Prime Thyme.

The main reason for the Marlow stop is Lady Sew and Sew, a great craft shop we’ve visited many times before. With a commission in hand, and met Mum, they didn’t disappoint.

Today we headed to Pangbourne, a favourite town of ours for numerous reasons. But first we stopped at Sheridan Marina, an excellent place to purchase those odd items…including a new shower head, diesel fuel tank gauge stick, dish rack and gaffer tape ! All essential in running a narrowboat 😁

Then onto Goring, by now we were a group of 3 boats doing the locks together, especially useful for the single handed narrowboat.

Then into Pangbourne, and a great mooring on the meadows. Now the main event, laundry, bit boring Tasotter….not so much!

You see it’s next to an Aston Martin and Lamborghini dealership ! “Would you mind if I took some pictures for my blog ?”…. certainly not sir, would you like a coffee ?

I must thank Sam for her hospitality at Reading Aston Martin, a great dealership with a wide range of new and pre loved cars for sale. The Zagato was divine…..but anyone would have sufficed ! There were plenty driving around the town as well, bliss 😁

We also discovered Nino’s Italian Cafe, with the best coffee yet ! as well as the cheese shop, and butcher with superb pies……you see Pangbourne has really got all that matters.