………… the Thames that is! We had a longish day yesterday (Monday) – travelling from Bourne End to Caversham, about six and half hours, to meet up with friends.
The mornings are glorious on the river with this fine weather we’re having – this is us leaving Bourne End.
Apart from the awesome scenery, which the camera never really does justice to, the riverside continues to offer much of interest. The grand architecture often sits side by side with the more humble dwelling. This little gem must date back to the 1950’s and is in lovely ‘nick’.
Still can’t resist photographing the top of the range stuff though. Some of these palatial piles are nestled beneath the soaring woodlands which surround much of this lovely river while others sit amid vast acres of mowed lawns.
As we exit the lock the perfectly preserved and manicured Marlow sits in front of us. The houses, church and white Victorian suspension bridge is a picture post card view.
Just this one house by the river at Marlow shows the prettiness of the place.
Just outside Marlow is the very impressive Bisham Abbey, now home to the National Sports Centre for canoeists and dinghy sailors.
At Temple Lock we reach about mid way from London to Oxford……….
…….. and at Hurley Lock we have to start getting used to a much smaller scale of things. There looks to be plenty of room but we’ve just managed to squeeze quite a large hire cruiser in at the back.
Our onward journey takes us into the perfectly cared for Henley. Temple Island heralds the start of huge areas of mowing and trimming ……
……. and the start of the mile long straight where the famous Henley Regatta takes place.
Henley is, of course, another very well presented town with lovely river front settings.
Just another couple of top of the range properties – we don’t know who owns this one but they’re are very lucky!
We do know who owns this one – it’s Sonning Court and the home of Uri Geller, who allows you moor outside for a nominal charge (well he has to earn a bob or two somehow to keep that place going).
Mentioning that the scale of things is getting smaller now we’re heading for the Upper Thames – Sonning Bridge can be a bit tricky if another boat is coming the other way.
Our day’s journey comes to and in Caversham, just upstream from Reading, where we join up with friends Del and Al on nb “Derwent6”. The wine, nibbles and the BBQ are soon out and we’re enjoying the sunshine in the late afternoon.
It’s a great setting and great moorings …………..
……… and when the sun goes down it’s disco time on board “Derwent6”! Al and Doug (both being somewhat vertically challenged) can afford to jump up and down in a narrow boat! Not so Del and James!
We had a fun time as usual with these great people and it was wonderful to catch up with them again.
We should also say that it was good to briefly meet a couple of our readers on nb “Firefly” earlier in the day – thanks for making yourselves known guys and we wish you safe cruising.
A little more trivia from my fountain of useless information for your readers. The beautiful chain bridge at Marlow was designed by William Tierney Clark who was later invited to design a very similar chain bridge over the River Danube, opened in 1849 to link Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest, capital of Hungary. If you were to disembark the boat here for a walk around Marlow, there is a plaque on the bridge telling of this.
ReplyDeleteLads, you're passing through our manor now so we expect you to be on your best behaviour. On reflection Doug, best and behaviour are unlikely to appear in the same sentence when you're involved! Take care.
ReplyDeleteJohn M