Journey to Hampton Court
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Day One – Nicki and I set off towards Hampton Court on Tuesday, 24th October as we wanted to make the journey down river before lock closures at Bell Wier Lock took effect on 30th, which we managed successfully. Over the six/seven days we have racked up about 120 hours on the engine so far and whilst we have yet to determine the exact capacity of the diesel tanks I would estimate that we have used about 500 litres, about £400 worth.
Being ‘out of season’ we had anticipated that Temple Lock (our first lock) would be self service, and started off a bit early in the hope that Marlow would be manned by the time we got there. Unfortunately that was not the case, in fact all the way to Hampton, only two locks were manned. I was a bit worried about a footbridge just before Cookham Lock – on paper it looked as though we would be OK for clearance but I could not find any details on how much of an arch it is, and that is what could catch us out.
As we travelled down the cut towards the bridge we encountered an emergency situation – a lady was leaning over the side of the canal seemingly in distress. Nicki quickly realised that the woman on the bank was calling out to us, asking for help. Her small dog had fallen off the canal bank and despite it trying to swim back, it had become tangled in brambles in the water and was in danger of drowning! Whilst the situation was obviously urgent, we had to manoeuvre quite slowly so that we would not crush or scare it. Fortunately, having got into position, Nicki was able to get a boat hook under its harness and pull the dog out, and we were able to reunite the dog with its grateful owner. We both felt pretty good after that, and were glad we were in the right place at the right time.
One very happy owner with one very wet dog
We do seem to be making progress with our man overboard procedures – our first overboard issue was a dog mat blown off the barge roof, successfully retrieved. Now we’ve upped the ante to a dog, again successfully. It’s looking good for a real man overboard situation – we should be ready for bigger challenges now although I would prefer it if it was not life threatening.
So we continued and approached the bridge VERY slowly down a long cut and, with advice from a local on the bridge, we navigated through without any hitches, although with only inches to spare.
An anxious moment for us!
Eventually we arrived in Windsor, where we moored up for the night near the leisure centre, with the backdrop of Windsor Castle. We had a quick stroll around Windsor where I treated Nicki to a McFlurry (I know, I’m too good to her) before returning to the boat and hunkering down for the evening.
There are an awful lot of swans at Windsor too …
Day Two – Today we pushed on toward Shepperton, with beautiful weather and brilliant scenery all the way. Though we were were aiming for Hampton Court, we decided to stop short as we were not in any hurry and there was a good mooring that we had been told about where we tied up and took the dogs for a nice walk along the riverbank to the Thames Court pub, where Nicki and I decided to have a very leisurely and pleasant meal to end the day.
Day three – A bit more overcast today but still a good day for boating. It was only a short hop to Hampton Court where there are limited moorings directly outside of the palace and we had hoped to find a space easily since it was so much quieter on the river. Unfortunately we did struggle for a mooring, ending up having to hang off the end of the pontoon. However, once securely tied up I spent some time pacing out the gaps between various barges to see if we could potentially fit in. One of the other boats said he was happy to move down, so I helped him with that and then headed back to move Shensi into a better, more secure position. I’m getting a bit chattier nowadays, so passing another boat where the occupants were engaged in some fishing, I mentioned I would have to give it a go sometime (actually it is not something I have very been desperately keen on), and they immediately gifted me with a rod and all the extras I would need which included a tub of maggots! Nicki was less than impressed with the idea of keeping these in the fridge.
– Hampton Court Palace at night –
Day four – Unfortunately, today started with me slipping whilst out with the dogs, the result being an extremely sore knee. Despite this we headed off to Hampton Court for a full day walking around the palace, leaving the dogs on the boat, and the day turned out 
so much better than I expected,although by the end of the afternoon I was limping quite badly and decided to return to the boat to rest my knee. Nicki came back with me, collected the dogs and returned to the palace gardens to wander round and see some of the beautiful scenery, while I stayed behind for a bath to relax.
As we would be so nearby, we had arranged to meet up this evening with Gerry and Doreen for a meal and catch up as we don’t often find time to get together – we had a really enjoyable time and several hours later we were the last to leave the restaurant!
Day five and we are on our way back. Although this was to be a leisurely journey, we did have to get back through Bell Weir Lock before 30th since the lock was due to close for repairs for some time and if we did not reach that target date, there was a possibility of not being able to return to our base! That said, everything went smoothly with an enjoyable day’s boating and we fairly easily found a good mooring spot on a towpath in Egham. Once settled we nipped off to a local Tesco (via some great dog walking fields) to replenish a few supplies and returned for some R&R and to continue depleting our vat of wine.
Day six saw us heading towards Maidenhead where we moored for the night just in front of Brunel’s bridge. We look a stroll into Maidenhead to look around the shops and let the dogs have a good walk, and then we went back for food and some downtime. There were a few other barges moored up and we had some really good conversations with fellow bargees, who always seem to be the friendliest of people.
– Brunel’s Bridge – The Sounding Arch –
Day seven – Our final day and a leisurely late start for us. Nicki took the dogs off for their morning walk along the river bank and beyond, and when she got back we cast off and began our return to base camp at Harleyford Marina. Apparently today was the first frost of the year but maybe/luckily we did not get up early enough to see it, although it was a bit chilly when we opened up the doors. And there was so much condensation on the windows and frames – since these particular windows are really expensive we are now waiting on the suppliers to visit and assess why this should be the case and hopefully resolve it. Anyway, there were no issues on our way back and we made very good time, such that we decided to stop off at Marlow for a few basics and a coffee, and then it was back to the marina. Our first port of call on re-entry was the pump-out station – the marina pump-out station will be closing soon for the winter season, and I figure we have 3-4 months capacity so this pump-out should take us through the winter, but if not there are other stations along the river. That done, we travelled the last few meters to our mooring and there our journey ended.
After such an enjoyable few days, we are both feeling pretty good about the whole experience – some nice gentle boating, some excitement, meeting up with old friends and making new friends, beautiful scenery, lots of engine hours and experiences achieved. Still feeling pretty positive about the whole adventure, and looking forward to lots more good times. For now, we have to tidy up and batten down the hatches before we head off for Nicki’s mum’s 90th birthday celebrations followed by a week in Southampton with Amy – our next trip will be to Oxford, probably towards the end of November.
