It’s was a wet start this morning, leaving Gulls Islands and cruising to Cookham Lock. We availed ourselves of the services and found Penny moored up in Iris around the corner. We decided to travel together with the promise of finer weather. Indeed by the time we reached Marlow the sun was out. Time for a cuppa and decide on a plan of action..

The elephant in the room was HENLEY, specifically Henley Regatta. The heats are running all week, with the finals this weekend. We’d been thru during Regatta week, and swore not to do it again…..But it would waste 2 days if we didn’t go thru now.

The executive decision was made, give it a go unless the weather turned nasty again. We had a couple more locks and potential mooring spots still available.

We started to sense a buzz in the air, more boats, helicopters and lots of notices for approved mooring spots. Sure enough upon exiting Hambleden Lock bedlam broke loose ! Boats everywhere, and none of them obeying the instruction sheet just given to us.

A little boat zipped up inside of us, did a spin and waved some long canes ? Ah, they are the professional geese wranglers, trying to keep the flocks of Canada geese off the course !

Oh yes, let’s add a huge paddle steamer, old fashioned rowing barges, overhead cranes with camera operators and very fashionable things being driven up and down the course whilst scoffing numerous G&T’s and Champers ! Plus the shore party tents, dining tents and pop up pubs ! Talk about crazy ! One sign at a lock said “ Please wait….silly season still loading. It had 6 lockies on duty ! At one stage another boat nipped in and waved, where’s the police when you need them ? It IS the police ! Out on the water having fun with a little boat and large blue beacon !

Thank goodness we got off the course and under the bridge…..more mayhem…everybody on boats trying to wave to friends in the pub onshore or find somewhere to moor. The river rumour was its £600 per mooring spot ! We moved on……

The lock keepers at Marsh Lock congratulated us on getting thru, and normal service was resumed, along with the rain. It started to fall heavily, so we moored up above Sonning Lock. Once we get thru Reading tomorrow it’s onto Pangbourne, Goring and Wallingford. Lovely Thames valley towns fondly remembered from childhood days.

We had a stroll into Windsor this morning, to get some shopping and perhaps look around. Even at 9am train and bus loads of tourists were milling around.

So we headed back to the boat and instead wasted an hour trying to contact Australia. Why do telco’s make it so difficult, connect with this network, validate with that and use this….no signal strength and definitely no joy so let’s go boating. We caught up with Iris at Dorney Reach, site of the old Olympic Rowing Course, in a lovely tranquil spot. Trying telecommunications again we had success this time, and wished Dad a happy birthday. When FaceTime works it can be great, but using it overseas seems so frustrating. I’ve no idea how we eventually connected thru !

As it was a little too early to stop we did 3 more locks, ending up in Cliveden Reach, moored up in the inside passage of a little island. It’s blowing a gale today, and which has called for some tricky manoeuvring, it’s time for a drink and relax.

We didn’t bother to start moving till 9am this morning, when the lockies come on duty. A nice sunny start to the day bode well..

On arriving at the main junction, a confluence of the Rivers Wey and Thames, as well as the Desborough Cut and numerous weirs it’s essential to get the correct landing….but nobody was home ! Oh well, let’s crack on. I opened the lock, then Hazel pushed the buttons and thru we went all by ourselves.

You can see the huge size of these locks….some of them fill or empty in a matter of minutes ! So it’s essential to hang on and not stuff up or there can be serious consequences. Emerging out we used the services, and then headed out into waterside suburbia. Chertsey lock had a single volunteer, unable to give us a license to cruise on the Thames, which is run by the EA, otherwise known as the Environmental Authority.

Penton Hook Lock, nobody home……where is everybody ? Finally at Bell Weir Lock we found a lockie able to write a 2 week EA license for us. Also a whole load of boats, (2 narrowboats, 1 hire boat, 2 wide beams and a Dutch barge), so many in fact they didn’t all fit in. The hire boat was left floundering in their wakes, it’s the quick or the dead unless the lockie takes charge….and she was of course getting me my license 😁

As ever the Thames provides an endless range of scenery, be it boats, houses or islands, called Aits on the Thames. Magna Carta was very different from last year, when I went swimming. The drizzle had set in, but I managed to catch a glimpse of Royal

Having lunch on the go we pushed onto Windsor, first visible by its estates, don’t even think about mooring sir, then the Castle.

Coming thru Romney Lock you emerge into Windsor one side of the River and Eton on the other. Penny had found a free 24hour mooring spot, but around the corner we have stopped at the Brocas, riverside land owned by Eton College, that will be £8 a night please sir. It does have a spectacular view though ! After a drink with Penny we are ready to have dinner and crash…..it’s been a long but rewarding day.

We are gradually getting later in waking up….4am this morning, but managed a couple more hours sleep before breakfasting.

Papercourt Lock was set in our favour, always a good way to start the day. Newark and Pyrford weren’t, which allowed time for photos.

It felt strange going past Pyrford Marina, we’ve berthed there for many years, but Cartbridge is much pleasanter, and cleaner.

Next up was New Haw, probably the hardest on the river. It has short metal lock arms, cranked at 45 degrees right beside a bridge. The lock gates “stick” to the wall and are a 2 person job to shift ! However our luck was in, with a boat waiting for us to join them. Great for Hazel, we breezed thru and joined them again at Coxes Lock, one of the prettiest with it’s converted granary.

We caught up with another boat at Town Lock, Weybridge and had the lock gates closed on us. Mortified our new companions realised we could have all fitted. No worries we said , and helped them thru. With the clouds getting blacker we decided to stop downstream a bit, in front of some grand designs…for lunch, and the first proper bit of rain.

Thames Lock is the only manned one on the Wey, but the Lockie was happy to put us thru by ourselves. Of course just as she closed the gates another boat appeared, so opened up again to let them in. Because it’s a semi staircase lock it has to be at just the right level to go thru 2 sets of gates. But just as we were ready to go, all systems STOP. Another boater coming the opposite way had presumed to let our water out of the second lock so he could get in. He was duly educated by the lockie, and we started the procedure again. By now it was raining but she grinned at us as we thanked her, the other boat did apologise to us. Lesson learnt !

It was then only a short run to one of our favourite spots on the Thames, Lady Lindsay’s Lawn. We even had a squirrel run past for Hazel. Tomorrow we’ll heading upstream, slowly, to avoid the Henley Rowing Regatta and its finals next weekend.

After a reasonable nights sleep we are both feeling better, but I’m totally deaf in one ear from sinus congestion. So we stopped at Guildford again, for more pharmaceuticals, and another camera…well actually it’s a little single handed, power zoom LUMIX GM1. Ideal for snapping shots off the back of the boat, and not as drastic as dropping a Leica in the drink.

CS Lewis of “Alice in Wonderland” fame lived in Guildford, and there is a delightful statue just alongside our mooring point.

Hazel had a very productive shop, getting all those items we couldn’t find yesterday. It’s amazing how Jet lag befuddles the brain. Guildford isn’t quite as smart as it used to be, though there is a Jaeger outlet in Marks and Spencer’s now Mum 😁

We decided to return to Cartbridge rather than press on, first exchanging some books at Dapdune Wharf, using their services and then heading back downstream. The river splits off and one almost does go down a rabbit hole, or rather under a bridge into the countryside.

It’s all very quiet at Cartbridge now. I’ve given PT a quick wash and we’re charging everything up whilst connected to shore power. If I’m feeling better tomorrow we’re head downstream to Weybridge and the Thames.

As the title suggests, today has been a success despite a poor start. First up a picture of Prime Thyme and Iris at their respective berths yesterday. We caught up with Penny, Iris’s owner in the afternoon, a lovely bunch of flowers and a bottle of bubbly from her were much appreciated. It was a rather warm day so by 5pm we wilted, had tea and went to bed !

I awoke at midnight, then 3am when we both had a hot chocolate, which must have worked as I awoke again at 6.30. You would have thought all that sleep would have left us refreshed, but no the cold/flu was in full force and i doubted if I’d be capable to cruise. It took a hot shower to start me, we decided to try for Guildford, any problems and it’s an easy return to the Marina.

My happy place, at the back of a narrowboat, was the best medicine ! The locks were negotiated with no problems and PT behaved herself along the flower filled river banks.

On the final run into Guildford we were warned there was a kayak race ahead…….but around the corner 100 plus kayaks jockeyed for position and filled the river !

We hugged the right hand bank and crept thru, and of course promptly met boats coming the other way. No accidents to report, and an organiser thanked us for our patience, remarking it was like “herding kittens” to organise the start.

Luckily we managed to moor up below Guildford High Street before they had all turned around and did a few more laps. Our shopping was successful with the 3 shop setting us up with the dongle, medicine from Boots and M&S providing provisions.

We are moored upstream in the meadows now, waiting for the afternoon jet lag and flu to hit us….hopefully they can both be eliminated in a few days time.

A very quick blog tonight to just say we’ve arrived and have set up Prime Thyme for cruising tomorrow. Our flight was as comfortable as a 15 hour non stop flight can be be, but suffering from a cold didn’t help and I’m feeling a little jaded at present. We have a Suzuki Ignis hire car from Kendall this year, the NICEST people drive them, which we have utilised for a shopping run to Send. The Marina is lovely and quiet, with the bathrooms being a step up from Pyrford, and Iris is moored close by. We will cruise with her in a couple of days time. We should be able to sort out the dongle tomorrow with a data card from Guildford but in the meantime, sleep……

Tasotter and H are on their way to the UK again for the annual narrowboat cruise and more. We had a slightly delayed flight and overnight in Melbourne yesterday, and are shortly about to board QF9 to London, with a quick refuelling pit stop in Perth.

Our house sitters from Dunedin quickly settled in, and are being re trained by Cooper and Rosie into a Butler and Maid service, good luck guys ! Flying up the valley gave us a Birds Eye view of new housing developments around us, I’ll be glad when the earthworks finish. As ever the Valley looked beautiful in the afternoon sunlight, we are lucky to live in such a stable and picturesque part of the world….but there’s always room for canals and rivers to explore by a Sea Otter.

Our boat trip plans have changed a number of times, here’s Plan C……there is no plan apart from going from the River Wey onto the Thames and hopefully up the Oxford Canal in a 5 week period. It’s all about SLOW BOATING this year. Let’s relax and explore some of the towns along the waterside. We do have a rental car back in the Marina should the desire to play in the traffic prove too strong. However roundabouts like this quickly put me off.

The last 2 weeks of our trip will be a big boat cruise around Ireland in Oceania’s Nautica. She’s a sister ship to Regatta who we cruised to Alaska last year, and with just 600 passengers is very comfortable. I’ve cut down on the camera gear this year, with just 2 (so far 🤫) suitable for the expected landscape needs. A Fuji XH2 with 18-300mm lens will cover the wide angle to telephoto requirements, with a stabilised body and lens to cope with rolling boaty movements ! For the evening strolls and macro requirements a Leica Q2 will be more than sufficient.

The trip has not started off brilliantly, I lost my razor on the way to the airport, and have come down with a cold…..sounds just like last year doesn’t it….if that’s all that goes wrong I’ll not complain.

See you in England !

We did a quick trip down to Weybridge yesterday, for a successful visit to the bank, and a few stock items for Prime Thyme. It was quiet going down, but a few boats were making their way upstream by the time we turned around. Hazel’s “favourite” last lock, New Haw, was a bit anti climatic because somebody waited for us and shared the lock duties !

As ever I am blessed with my crew ❤️😀, many thanks to H for all the locks, galley duties and frequent washing of tops in the hot weather. It was a bit frantic on the Thames sometimes, the alternator breakdown didn’t help, but we coped with it all and had a great 3 weeks cruising.

We are packing today, doing a final boat clean and swapping the cratch covers over ready for the change of seasons. However the holiday has one more highlight when we stop over in Perth for Dads birthday, how good is that for planning ? Next years cruise hopefully sees us finally doing the Thames Ring in company with Lazy Otter, and a big ship cruise of Ireland if all things work out. Till next time, Cheers Tasotter

With rain this morning we had a lie in, and changed the plan to a day at RHS Wisley. I first started working there in 1976, so have seen plenty of changes over the year. Let’s go for a walk…..

First of all you have to get thru all the roadworks associated with the Wisley A3 / M25 bypass, then into the mega car parks, remember where you’ve left your car ! The entrance area is beautifully landscaped with pleached limes and smoke bush.

It’s a bit warm, let’s get a cuppa. Too busy at the restaurant already, head for the Glasshouse Cafe, it’s past the lake and stand of pines

The Cafe is busy as well, with wildlife all around ! Ducks on the table, Crows on the chairs and a lovely Robin posing for us !

Let’s go to the glasshouse before it’s too busy. LOOK, a new Orchid Exhibit area is being prepared ! We’ll miss the opening, but when I mentioned that I used to be the Orchid Student they invite me in. I talk about the old days, they seem genuinely interested but it’s just an old guy reminiscing 😀

Let’s continue our stroll, first thru the temperate then tropical sections.

That was so good to see the Orchids coming to the forefront again, I look forward to visiting in the future. Let’s head up to the Rock Garden.

It’s lunchtime now, a quick snack at Hilltop, site of my old glasshouses, then onto Battlestone Hill. This is where I first started working, and gained my love of Rhododendrons.

The old trials fields have been replaced by a lake ! At least the trees screen some of the A3 traffic noise. Time to head down to the herbaceous borders.

The back of this area has been transformed into the allotments, a smaller version of the trials field. It’s beautiful with wildflower mixes and sweet peas. Lovely to look at, even better to smell!

We’re continue on thru the roses towards the walled gardens now

Let’s head to the old lab now, it’s just been opened to the public and gives a wonderful view of how Wisley has evolved with pictures and exhibits.

Did you enjoy your walk ? Tired, but you have been on your feet for 5 hours ! There’s still the shop and plant centre to look at, don’t forget something for Mum ! Time to rest up, 6 locks tomorrow on a trip to Weybridge and back with a celebratory dinner at the Anchor.