Wednesday 28th May
We had a bit of disturbed night – we were directly under the Heathrow flight path, and the last plane took off after midnight. Then there were intermittent heavy rain showers, and finally the planes started again at 6.20. However, the busy road was quiet overnight so on the whole not too bad!
We set off around 9.30, not having had to pay for a mooring for the second night running – must be the rain putting them off. The weather was grey and quiet with drizzle at times, and a bit cold, but we saw the odd kingfisher and Great Crested grebe to brighten up the day, not to mention the ubiquitous (and noisy) parakeets. There was a woman on one bank with a bag of bread who managed to attract the attention of the swans on the other bank, which cruised across in single file to feed.
This stretch of the river had no stream warnings, in spite of last night’s rain, until we got to Chertsey lock, below which the Wey joins the Thames. There was a variety of houseboats, from the weird to the palatial -
and one with a garden shed on the roof.
We passed under the sweep of Walton bridge
and moored for lunch on the visitor moorings downstream. After walking Meg, we carried on through Sunbury and Molesey, where we took on water and watched a giant crane manoeuvring large bits of stuff around. Something for the lockies to watch anyway – there are very few boats out now the bank holiday is over apart from a few narrowboats and hire cruisers, and we were alone in the locks this afternoon.
We moored at Kingston on the quiet side, where we looked rather small against the other craft (we are second from the right).
We went for a stroll round town and did some shopping, then had a walk in the Home Park with Meg who enjoyed a good run around chasing sticks. Then we watched sculls training and some dinghies struggling to make headway in the light wind. Tomorrow we make for Brentford and the Grand Union. The river weirs exert quite a pull but not as much as the canal does!
6 locks 14 and a half miles
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