Kingston to Shepperton

 Geoff enjoyed 5 days on hos own at Kingston whilst I made my monthly trip to London. 

We did interrupt his peace on Saturday when Emma Kensa and I went out to visit him.  We had a very good meal in the White Hart.

The weather was somewhat varied but luckily not too much rain.

Looking from Kingston bridge.   All sorts of craft.
To hire one of the electric small boats will set you back £80 an hour.

Afer my return on Tuesday morning we went a couple of mile around the corner to Hampton Court Palace.   With our impeccable timing we managed to find a mooring with no problem,  This surprised us as we had discovered there was a music festival on in the palace courtyard and we thought it might be full, especially as Geoff had earlier seen 6 big wide beams going up the river close together.    They cerainly hadnt all stopped at Hampton Court.   We did watch several others attempting to moor just in front of us later on, some successful some not.   

The only trouble witth the mooring here is that no matter how hard we try we continually bang against the wall with so many boats going past.   However, somewhat surprisingly, we were not disturbed by music from the festival.  

A dull start to Wednesday but we were off reasonably early (8.30) as we wanted to water above the first lock.   We wee too early for the lockeeper as they dont start until 9 but at least they are electric so not nearly as hard for Geoff as the Grand Union had been.   We had to wait for a boat ahead of us to finish watering and when we eventually hooked up discovered that it had a very slow flow and leaked like a sieve.   The lock keeper stopped to chat as he came on duty and told us that new taps had been fitted (something to do with an EU regulaion!!!!) which were causing the problem.    We eventually gave up at 10am before the tank was full.....

Houseboats galore......some very smart

Maybe too big for us.

Geoff was hoping we could moor just above Shepperton lock as there was a pub right there for his evening pint.   He was out of luck as we couldnt squeeze in, although I did try.   We were luckier just a little further on, loads of space and 24 hours free.   Sadly a longer walk back to the pub so Geoff stayed on board!  The dull day had given way to a beautiful afternoon if somewhat breezy.   The wind was blowing onto the shore and we watched a boat ahead having great trouble getting off much to the dismay, I suspect, of a couple of fishermen who were perched on the moorings at the end.

We have passed some lovely riverside houses which we do me nicely if someone could lend us a couple of million.   Some ultra modern and some just waiting for conversion!