After three weeks on the Wey, it was time for us to push off from Thames Lock.
And rejoin the big river Thames.
past some pretty impressive houseboats
And some …. well …. some in need of a bit of a declutter
And some that were for sale… if you have a spare £1.8 million. But it is Edwardian, has 5 bedrooms and has an extremely large plot, but not even the temptation of a large workshop could persuade Eric to buy it for me, as it is “… in need of restoration ”
So we sailed on, aiming for the Electric charging point at Molesey lock. We had followed the guidance and emailed 48 hours in advance to request a booked mooring, but hadn’t received a reply. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise when the lockie laughed and told us it was broken…. but we didn’t laugh back when he told us it had been broken for over two years. And to be quite honest we were hot, tired and low on power so pretty “cheesed“ off that, after 2 years, it was still listed on the website as available. Perhaps Molesey’s topiary was quite appropriate.
Reverting to plan B, we continued on under Hampton Court Bridge
And 5 minutes later we moored up on the Hampton Court visitor moorings
The charging fee was a bit confusing, all boats have to register on arrival, but the first night is free, the second night is £16 for a 60’boat, or £8 for a shorter boat, then I got very confused and had to phone up. In the end we paid £32 for 5 nights, which we consider pretty good value considering, we were sitting outside Hampton Court Palace’s back gates. No electricy but plenty of sunshine
And as Eric spent his teenage years in this area, we had a lot of friends and more family to catch up with.
And to our amusement we received an email about our electric point booking request at Molesey lock.. no apology, just an “I understand the lock keeper has explained the situation” to which I responded by acknowledging that we understand things break down…. but if its been out of action for two years, WHY is it still listed as a facility, and please treat this as a complaint…. to which I am pleased to say, has been acted upon and after a few emails, the website has been updated.