Marooned on a desert island

Well not quite but we are the only boat moored on an island in the Thames tonight.  Anoher boat did come for a while but now they've gone so we have the place to ourselves: it's a bit like Swallows and Amazons:

The path in the foreground is a sign that lots of others have been here before us.  Indeed there are two National Trust signs on the island saying "Mooring Fees Apply" but no-one has appeared yet to collect any money.

But, as usual, I am getting ahead of myself, so I need to relate how we got here.  Last Saturday we came down the St John's Locks and on Sunday we descended the Woodham Locks on the Basingstoke Canal and rejoined the River Wey:

Early morning sun and mist made the mooring at Brookwood Country Park very attractive.

  This is one of the five St John's Locks.  Further down Ian on Leo was waiting mid canal for the lock to fill ahead.  We finished up under a plum tree which was burdened with fruit, so we've had plenty of plums in the last few days.

We've seen this swan several times and each time it was at Lock 2 on the Woodham flight and always it was pecking at whatever vehicle had the misfortune to park in this particular spot.  Glad our car wasn't parked there.  Another side to the aggressive nature of swans.

This is the bottom lock of the Woodham flight of six and soon after this we came back to Woodham Junction and rejoined the Wey Navigation.   So we said our goodbyes to the Basingstoke Canal.  We'll have to come back sometime when there is more water so that we can take Leo all the way to the end.

We shared locks through New Haw and Coxes Locks with another narrowboat called Daisy Anna and below Coxes Mill ....

...... we moored with them at the Pelican pub where we all had Sunday lunch.  Daisy Anna is coming up the Thames with us and we saw them again today (Wednesday) when they passed 'our' island.








Having skillfully avoided the Thames at a weekend when there are lots more boats everywhere, we came out onto the River on Monday.

Here we are about to come out of the lower pound at Thames Lock on the Wey.  From here a short cut leads to the Thames below Shepperton Weir.  We then turned left up Shepperton Lock.

When Helen was little her family owned this cottage on Pharoah's Island above Shepperton Lock.  To mark this, we usually do a grand circuit of the Island and this time was no different.  There is no bridge to the Island so you have to go by boat.

This is Chertsey Bridge and the next lock is just to the right beyond the bridge.

Monday evening we moored in a spot we haven't found before.  It was recommended to us by the lock keeper at Thames Lock on the Wey.  Behind Church Island above Staines Bridge there are a few moorings by a public park.  This proved to be a good place which we shared with 2 other narrowboats.  This Egyptian Goose and her young visited us later.





On Tuesday we carried on upriver.  We have bought a 7 day licence on the Thames so we have plenty of time to reach Reading.

This is Runnymede Bridge which carries the M25.  So once again we are outside the M25.

Just beyond the M25 bridge is Bell Weir Lock which we shared with this monster.  She's a rather fine steamer called Magna Carta.

A good name for a steamer round here as we then passed the meadows where Magna Carta was signed in 1215.  In the woods on the hill behind you can just see the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial.

The lock keeper at Romney Lock made a good job of packing us all in.  There seemed to be more boats waiting than would fit in the lock, but he found a way to get us all in.

We waved but the Queen was not at home.  There were lots of boats of all shapes and sizes at Windsor ....

.... including this DUKW.  It seemed very slow and low in the water.  We didn't like to tell them that one had sunk in Salthouse Dock at Liverpool!  This one was still floating when we lost sight of it.

This small chapel is at Dorney near the Olympic Rowing Lake.  We moored soon after passing it, attached to a ramshackle pontoon.  The pontoon was intended for rowing boats (the storage building for the boats was behind us).  We didn't feel it was a proper place to moor.

A boater on a good mooring nearby walked his dogs and returned to tell us there was a better mooring just round the bend.  So we moved to here.  A nice spot with some prestigious houses opposite.

Here are the Bromptons ready to go out.  Sadly Helen's Brompton had a flat tyre so we had to put in a new tube before we could go for a ride.

We cycled on the towpath up the river and then into Dorney village.  We wanted to see Dorney Court which is Elizabethan but it is private and difficult to see from public land.  This was the best view we could get.  We tried to have tea at the cafe but we were too late.  Without the flat tyre we might well have enjoyed tea and cake.

Returning to the boat, we crossed unfenced farm land on the edge of the village.  From here there is a lovely view of Windsor Castle.












Today (Wednesday) we came just a short way to Cliveden.  Well it was raining quite heavily.

We passed Bray Studios which is now derelict.  Lots of animations and other films were made here from the earliest days of the movies.  Hammer Horror was based here at one time.  We understand that houses are to be built on the site.

It was not a nice morning.  Dull, wet and grey.  You can just see Cliveden above the river.  There are three channels in the river here which all seem to be navigable.  Islands separate the channels and we are moored on an island to the right of the narrowboat ahead of us.  A fun spot.  No prospect of a long walk, the island is only about a hundred yards long.

Here is our spot.  Just long enough for Leo.















Our aim from here is to go upriver as far as Reading and then turn off on the Kennet and Avon Canal towards the West Country.