Thursday`s departure was delayed as we decided that Henley was as good a place as any to meet up for a meal with friends Anne and Graham. They had already visited us for lunch on Tuesday and this was another chance to catch up. However first things first, we had to go back upstream a couple of locks to water etc. When we came back mid morning our same place was still vacant so in we went....its very hard to tear ourselves away from here.
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| This will do for my boat tender |
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| There is a rally going on of amphibians |
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| All shapes and sizes |
Thursday evening we decided to give some of the more expensive establishments the big swerve and try The Catherine Wheel which is a Weatherspoon pub. We had an excellent meal and cannot believe how reasonable the prices are. A small bottle of Prosecco which can cost anything from £5-8 in other places was £3.85. If my system could have coped it was tempting to have two!!!!
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| Friday we really had to go as we wanted to be in Marlow for the weekend |
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| Past Temple Island |
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| Next door to Bisham Abbey! |
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| Bisham Abbey ( I think) |
33 years ago we lived in the area at Medmenham. At that time Danesfield was being used as the Headquarters of some Chocolate factory...may have been Cadburys. Nowadays it would appear to be a very upmarket hotel. Way back in the early 1960`s I stayed there when it was the Officers Mess for RAF Medmenham. I remember wood pannelled walls with hidden doors, large bathrooms with huge baths and very cold!! I wonder what it looks like now??? I think it has had several changes of use since then.
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| Danesfield Sailing Club |
Once again memories. In the early 80`s we launched Geoff`s self built Wharram Catamaran here. With much help from friend Jim Crint, this 12ft sailing boat had started life in our garage in Kinloss, Scotland, travelled down half built in the removal van to the quarters at Medmenham, eventually finished and successfully launched here. It never went very far as our sailing expertise was extremely limited and the river quite narrow.......When we left here in 1984 to live for 3 years on a much bigger catamaran (30ft) I cannot remember what happened to it........maybe the rotting hull is still lurking there!!
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| Yet another rather nice residence. |
On arrival at Marlow there did not seem to be much space. We spied one possibility but thought the sign said No Mooring so went further along and managed to squeeze in. It was not ideal however as we were across a water outlet that told you not to moor there because of this outlet. We decided to sit it out and see who moved later in the day. The water outlet was not constant but made a bit of a racket when it was in action. It didn`t seem to bother Geoff but it did bother me!
I chatted to the people on the small gin behind and discovered they ere leaving later in the afternoon which was ideal as we then moved back and were safe.
Mooring here costs £12 a day between 6pm and 9am. Hence some local boats come up for the day but disappear before 6pm as the people behind had done.
We subsequently discovered that the moorings behind did not say NO MOORING but MOORING ALLOWED. They should have bigger notices!! It was however 24 hours only so would not have sufficed as we wanted the whole weekend as we were expecting visitors. Once again we have had to bite the financial bullet.
Total distance:6.72 miles
Elapsed time:2h30m32s
Locks:3
Bridges:2
Average speed:2.68 mph (3.87 lock/mph)
2 comments:
Your picture entitled Bisham Abbey (I think) is actually of Medmenham Abbey, which has a dark history. It was good to meet you again in Henley.
You might be right........I was unsure!
Good to catch up with you both as well. We are heading the same way this year and hope to get a bit further down the Thames.
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