In Royal Circles

Yesterday we had a fun evening in The Bounty where we had a good meal – served with both sarcasm and wit by Anthony, the barman.

This a pale looking Doug (fault of the photo) in the very atmospheric Bounty.

Later in the evening, Ken from nb ‘Dogma’ (who we met up with earlier) and Sumo, his very large and gorgeously “wussy” black lab, joined us for a drink or two.  We had a very nice evening with him and some of the locals.
Today we set off with a pretty cold wind in our faces.  We stopped at Cookham Lock to fill with water and then onwards towards Maidenhead and Bray.

Just after Cookham Lock you can look back towards Clivedon, which is perched high on the steep, thickly wooded hillside.  Once the home of the Astor family, it’s now in the hands of the National Trust, part of it being a hotel.

Couldn’t resist another pic. of yet another wonderful residence.

Guess who lives in this house!  Clue:- “Tie me kangaroo down sport”.

Rolf’s even got a crocodile in his garden, not something you often see on the Thames!

Just past Bray (with a very uninspiring waterfront considering the price of property and all the hype about the place)  and we spot the old Bray Film Studios.
When we got to Boveney Lock we did a pump out of the black water tank as the red light came on this morning and, although we have a week or so after this,  we don’t want to be caught napping when we get to London.  It only cost £8 which is substantially less than most pump outs on the canals.

After a dry journey we arrived in Windsor, our destination for the next couple of days, at 12:30 just as the weather decided to get damp.

Our mooring here is the exact same position we had when we were in Windsor on our previous boat.  It just goes to show how quiet the whole boating world seems to be that we can choose our spot.

After getting sorted we had a walk across the river into Eton where we happened to spot this Victorian post box – there’s a definite limit to the size of what you post into this one.

We had to smile!  Close to Eton College two pupils meet their  Master, who proceeded to give them a dressing down in public.  One of them was eating in the street and the other one was not wearing his bow tie!

This is the view we have from the front of ‘Chance’ this evening.  It’s a bit scary every time we notice it!
We walked the short distance into town and had an excellent early evening meal at Francesco’s Italian restaurant.  The very gentle rain that settled in as we arrived has not abated so were hunkered down again for a quiet and cosy evening by the fire.