Cool Running in hot weather.

We left our mooring outside Hampton Court on Friday morning and travelled the short distance up river to Shepperton where we moored for a couple of hours to meet up with friends Jane and Derek who came aboard for coffee.

We had a great catch up chat with them and, as so often happens, we forgot to get a proper pic of us all. So this is the best we can do with Doug on the boat taking a photo of James seeing them back to the car.  Derek’s already in the car and  James is not really leaving with them!

We got a great mooring on Friday night on “the wall” below Shepperton lock – this was our lovely view from the boat.

Today we intended to get e few miles under our belt and set off earlyish in glorious sunshine and the temperature threatening to rise to a record level for this year. The river conditions were akin to a millpond.

We had a gentle, serine and very pleasant journey today – here getting overtaken, as we go under the M3, by “Hullabaloo”, a very nice older style launch in really beautiful condition.

Some of the houseboats these days are looking distinctly alien …….

…. and the riverside homes are also starting to look rather ‘adventurous’.

Although the lock keepers are reporting very low river traffic this year, we were not without company in all of the locks today.

Maintenance on the go - and multitasking as well! Cleaning the boat AND topping up the tan.

The beautiful Thames gets even more so as we get closer to Windsor.  Things couldn’t look more idyllic as we pass Windsor Home Park on the left bank.

This seemed to be the only remaining casualty of last winter’s terrible floods that we saw today.

Her Majesty certainly keeps a tight ship on the Crown Estates!

Finding a good mooring in Windsor for tonight, we took a walk into town for supplies.  The temperature certainly did top a high today and we quickly got back to “Chance” for some shade and a cool drink ……..

……. but some still braved the heat to keep up the standards in Windsor ……..

…… and others weren’t too bothered about standards as they took advantage of Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee Fountain to cool off.  We’re sure she wouldn’t mind!

Back on board “Chance” this afternoon we had a very welcome visit from friend Alastair who lives in Windsor (when he’s not flying around the world!).  First met on board “Queen Mary II” in January this year he’s become a firm friend and it was great to see him again.