berkshire – Narrowboat Firecrest

A slight detour, back to Windsor.

Having enjoyed several days at Hampton Court, we should have continued downstream towards London. But we’d made a few commitments to see people, including having found a dentist willing to see us as walk in customers for our long overdue check ups. Accessing routine health care as a continual cruiser is a continual frustration. We snatch what we can where we can and try to keep healthy, which probably means I shouldn’t take advantage of hedgerow foraging. But the fruit came from Hampton court so I couldn’t miss an opportunity to make Royal Jelly.

We turned the boat around, said goodbye to Hampton Court palace and began our cruise back to Windsor.

Thats a posh pad on the banks of the Thames

But Eric had warned me I might face execution, poaching from Henry VIII’s back yard, so we were a bit worried when we realised we were being chased down by the police.

Turns out it was the Met on the run, not us. They were escaping from their regular city patch to familiarise 2 new officers with the route to Windsor Castle. They occasionally provide royal river protection along that section of the Thames. But whilst they cracked on apace, we meandered more slowly, stopping at Staines, to see the London Stone.

In 1197, Richard I needed money to pay for his Crusades, so he sold the crown’s rights over the River Thames, from the estuary to Staines, to the Corporation of the City of London. The date, 1285 is engraved into this stone as the boundary marker of that new jurisdiction. The original stone is in a local museum but this replica is next to the river in the memorial park

We took advantage to restock the fridge in Staines and enjoy some nice moorings overnight

before heading back upstream, under the M25

Past the lovely mooring at Runnymede, although the NT had decided August would be a good time of year to relay the footpath so although we were able to moor, we were effectively caged in and unable to access the actual site.

When we got back to Windsor we checked onto the electric mooring point and had visits from some good friends

From Windsor to Wey via America

We spent our final night in Windsor on the Baths Island electric charging point, which is exceptionally good value, £10 to moor plus £5 for the electric.

And I make no apology for sharing more photos of the amazing views of Windsor castle when we set off. After Romney Lock the river skirts the royal estate with strict warnings not to even think about stepping foot on the hallowed turf

One of the smaller castle cottages, keeping watch to make sure we dont set foot on Home Park

But it didn’t stop us getting out our long lens’ to enjoy another side of her Majesty’s home

Windsor castle from the river near Datchet

The river seems to have changed again, its wider, the cruisers are huge, and we are seeing more and more residential moorings, many that appear to be in fabulous old river barges.

We couldnt find out any details but this is possibly a dutch sailing barge, over 100 years old

We moored up for the night at Runnymede.

It had been such a hot day we didnt go exploring until the early evening which meant we missed the visitor centre, (and icecream seller)

The Magna Carta, the document that still enshrines Justice into, not only our own legal system but many countries around the world have followed our example.

but we got to wander around some of the monuments and installations

I particularly liked “the Jurors” a series of decorated chairs representing the concepts of law and the struggles to gain freedoms and equalities. I like accessible art that is free to be enjoyed by all and thought provoking to those who want to look more deeply.

Having pondered the impact of the Magna Carta and its worldwide impact, we then found ourselves ascending a path known as the Steps of Individuality, only to realise we had also stepped over onto American Soil, as this “English Acre” was given to to America for the UK Kennedy memorial. (Thats one for the pub quiz)

The steps of individuality leading tothe Kennedy memorial

“The memorial is entered from the flat, but often wet, meads of Runnymede through a gate. Once a visitor, who is assumed to be a ‘pilgrim,’ passes through this gate he or she steps onto American soil and into the allegory of life, death and spirit.
The gate gives access to a pathway of 60,000 individual axe-hewn Portuguese granite setts, which rise steeply through the surrounding woodland. There are 50 steps in all, each representing an individual state in the USA. The setts can also be seen to represent a multitude of pilgrims on their progress through life to enlightenment. Each step is unique and each sett has been laid at random. The craftsmen were unable to comprehend the need for individuality, and could only complete their task when the steps were likened to the uneven appearance of a crowd at a football match.” Copied from the info board

We continued our journey back on English water, looking out for one of the very few statues of our Queen Elizabeth, but whilst she and her loyal subject might have had a good view of us cruising past, with the sun directly behind her we couldn’t see much

We had a few move overnight stops on the Thames before we reached another significant point in our journey, the confluence of the River Wey joining the River Thames.

And through Thames lock(which is on the Wey) to pay our fee to the National trust allowing us 3 weeks cruising on the Wey

Windsor part 2, wandering around Alexandra Gardens

Of course the main focus of Windsor has to be its royal heritage, especially as the castle can be seen from most of the town, (our header photo is taken from Baths island)

The castle from Windsor Central train station

The promenade along the Windsor side of the Thames is no different, the adjoining park is known as Alexandra Gardens, and honours King Edward VII’s wife queen Alexandra. At the end of the Queens Walk is the Jubilee fountain build to commemorate our Queens Diamond Jubilee,

During the summer there’s usually music at the bandstand on a Sunday afternoon and we stumbled upon the rotary club summer fete. We won the “guess the weight of the cake” competition but sadly didn’t win the £400 prize duck race

Just be glad they dont have canada geese races

It seems that Windsor has a thing about Ducks as we also stumbled on this odd mode of transport

Or perhaps its not ducks but transport that floats their boat, as the elegant Windsor Royal (train) station has been transformed into a very upmarket shopping arcade, including a replica of Queen Victoria’s steam train that took her from London to Windsor.

There is still a single track station in operation, which I took advantage of to make a flying trip back to Suffolk, whilst Eric was moored safely and you can see the castle from the train

Windsor isn’t just about boats and trains. Windsor was home to Sir Sidney Camm who designed the Hawker Hurricane fighter plane in the 1930s. Its quite a shock to come round the corner and be confronted by a full scale hurricane in the park

Camm’s love of planes and inspiration came when in 1911 Windsor received the first airmail post in the country

We found the aerial postbox in the Windsor museum but the other pillar boxes were around the streets of Windsor. Sadly I missed the blue box.

…but the river, mooring on the Eton side, is probably the best place to see the castle from elsewhere in the town. And there’s ample mooring on both the Windsor and Eton banks for just £10 for 24 hours, and on Baths island there’s even 4 electric charging points for an extra £5, which we made use of on our last night’s stay.

Moored at the electric charging point on Baths Island

Windsor is a fascinating place to visit as a boater, almost too overwhelming to do justice in a few day, and definitely too busy for our liking, though as visitors ourselves, we cant really complain. We were very lucky to have found our wild mooring so close to town, it was nice to retreat to tranquillity in the evenings

And as a personal post script one of our friends who regularly reads our blog lost their beloved dog today, We hope doggy heaven is full of juicy bones and sniffy lamposts

Looks like Her Majesty’s at home, Windsor part 1, Eton

No wonder the tourists love visiting Windsor, everywhere you look there is history, pageantry and Britishness, which includes lots and lots of people and touts cashing in. But we were lucky enough to find a spot of unrestricted wild mooring, opposite the race course, just a 15 minute walk into town.

Wild mooring, opposite the Windsor racecourse.

At the weekends, Eton College opens it’s museums to the public, so as it was Sunday we walked up to the hallowed halls and enjoyed wondering what it would have been to have been educated in a place like this,

but as the Victorian Educator, William Johnson Cory who was an Eton Master expressed, its not so much about being educated, as being taught how to learn, and that was the vibe we picked up. It might seem like a privilege to be educated here, but oh boy we also got the impression that those boys work very very hard.

Eton, itself is not just a school but an entire town. Eton being derived from the old English word, meaning “river town”, was a hamlet in 1066, built up by people maintaining the road and bridge from London to Windsor. It wasn’t until 1440 when Henry VI chose to build his new college here that the name Eton became synonymous with an elite education.

Nowadays most of the town’s businesses, are dedicated to supporting the schools infrastructure.

Eton was the first place in England to have a post office and this early Victorian post box shows why in the style of a doric column helps explain why they are called pillar boxes.

A proper pillar box, with a vertical letter slot

Whilst we were there, we saw the Queens Baton relay arrive, which has toured the commonwealth in anticipation of the commonwealth games being held in Birmingham later this summer.

Not quite as exciting as an olympic flame, but still a great honour and I’m sure Birmingham will do us proud

The baton was carried over the Windsor bridge which has been pedestrianised to link Windsor and Eton. We also crossed the river and continued to expore….

Underneath the arches, moving onto Maidenhead

As with a lot of places on the Thames, settlements grew because of a river crossing, and Maidenhead is no different. There’s evidence that the Romans set up camp with a ferry, then the Anglo Saxon’s built a “new wharf” aka “the maiden hythe”, that then became a landing stage for the marauding Danes in 870. The Danes moored their longboats here to continue fighting overland towards Reading, (not sure why they didn’t just cruise a bit further, maybe there was a water shortage). But by 1280 a wooden bridge had been built which helped to establish Maidenhythe as a thriving medieval market town. But wooden bridges and rivers prone to flooding are a recipe for disaster. Despite the royal “grant for pontage” ( the right to charge tolls for upkeep and repair) a chapel and hermitage had to be built so travellers could stop and pray for a safe passage or to give thanks that they had made it over and could continue their journey. The wooden bridge battled on through more political, military and civil wrangling, collapsess and rebuilds until the new 13 arch stone bridge was built in 1777.

Maidenhead bridge and the Thames Riviera hotel

In 1903 the toll for crossing the bridge in a horse drawn coach was an eyewatering shilling, roughly equivalent to £14 today. And if you took 20 sheep across, it would have been 10 old pence-roughly £11 today. Eric hoped they didn’t charge for going under the bridge as he’s convinced I have 20 sheeps worth of wool on board with all the spinning and knitting I do. But in 1903 the charity commission deemed the tolls illegal as Maidenhead corporation were using the funds for purposes other than bridge maintenance.

The Maidenhead bridge isn’t the only bridge with a story. In 1839 Isambard Kingdom Brunel completed the Great Western Railway bridge.

It was an innovative design intended to maintain the shallow gradient needed for the age of steam and at 39m x7m (129’x24′) the low rise arches were the widest flattest ever constructed at the time. However, the commissioners were worried that the bridge wouldn’t be strong enough, so Kingdom Brunel reluctantly agreed to leave the centering wooden formwork in place. But unbeknown to them, he had lowered it slightly so it was no longer of structural consequence. During the next strong flood the wooden “support” was washed away but the brick bridge held fast proving his superior engineering skills.

It might not be the most aesthetically beautiful bridge, but it is indeed a very clever and innovative one. The width and size of the central arch is such that acts as an echo chamber so the bridge is known locally as the Sounding Bridge. Though I’m not sure the local residents appreciate very passing boat tooting its horn, or the local teenagers sharing their greetings.

Maidenhead has yet another bridge within its bounds, the M4, but neither the road or the bridge give us any cause for excitement. But its always fun to see things from a different perspective.

We moored at Bray, the exclusive suburb of Maidenhead

next to Eton’s Dorney lakes (where the 2012 Olympic rowing took place), but thanks to a few disrespectful individuals, who used the site as their personal playground during the covid lock down, Eton have now closed it off to the non feepaying public. But we did walk the meadow and saw this flower that we haven’t come across before

and the damsel flies were very obliging when it came to being photographed.

Whilst Eric was lining up the perfect shot

And the mystery flower is Chicory. Apparently it’s quite common but i don’t recall seeing one before or since

Cliveden

Having cruised past some sumptuous houses over the past few weeks, we dropped by to say hello at Cliveden House. Only to find that the nice little cottage on the bank, was the summerhouse where Queen Victoria used to take afternoon tea. Undeterred we duly paid our £10 mooring fee to the National Trust, (not sure why, when as members we can park for free) and climbed up the hill to the big house,

only to find one or two other guests had arrived first, not being our usual choice of holiday destination, we hadn’t realised not only is Cliveden a NT property but a 5 star hotel as well.

Not wanting to spark further scandal, political or otherwise, photography wasn’t permitted (Cliveden is where the Profumo affair took place) and the tour of the house was very limited. (Which I suppose if you are paying a starting price of £450 for a room is fair enough) but it is worth having a look on the hotel website for some impressive internal features. Whilst we enjoyed the view from the terrace. ( remember this view for later)

I guess this is technically a house with a river view at the end of the garden

To be truthful I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t see more of the house, but at £90, we didn’t think we were suitably dressed to enjoy afternoon tea, even if Victoria was no longer around. (£124 for the champagne tea). It was time to see the gardens.

If you need a clock in the garden, it might as well be a smart one

especially the rose garden

and the fabulous borders

The mooring was wild and we struggled to get a rope around a tree to secure the bow,

but in the intense heat, we were quite glad of the shade and it made an excellent location for me to swim safely, it was cool clean and shallow, so much so that Eric handed me the scraper and I was able to clean off some of the growth under the waterline. But you’ll have to take my word for that.

Whilst I was enjoying my natural spa day, Eric set to washing the side of the boat

Its a myth that Braidbar are self cleaning

Refreshing though this mooring was, it was also quite shallow and everytime a fast boat went past we could hear us scraping on a rock underneath us, so said goodbye to the Mandarin ducks

and only stayed one night. As we continued our cruise downstream I chanced to look and oh boy did we get a treat. Remember the river view from the terrace? I guess this is what you’d call a terrace view.

Mysteries, murders and movies

After a week at Beale Park watching the jubilee celebrations, we took the opportunity for a night on Pangbourne Meadow (so I could restock the fridge without having to carry the shopping down the towpath). I would have called a water taxi but the standard of boat building in these parts leaves a lot to be desired.

Despite the dodgy rafts, the prestigious Pangbourne college, has historic naval links, but in 1939 it was the Royal engineers took advantage of the meadow and used the area to train in bridge building. However the Whitchurch bridge is still standing (Whitchurch being on the Oxfordshire side, Pangbourne is in Berkshire) has stood on the site since 1792. When it was first built the ferryman received £350 in compensation for loss of trade. Its one of only 2 remaining private toll bridges over the Thames. (Swinford being the other)

But with the sun shining we set off -our destination, Shiplake lock charging point.

Sometimes its well worth waking up at 6am

Our first chuckle of the day came when we saw two heads popping up out of the water, we realised they were divers, I duly called out what are you looking for?…. “Bodies” came the reply. It turns out they were filming for Midsomer Murders. I suspect Firecrest’s photobombing shot will end up on the cutting room floor.

Filming was obviously the order of the day, because we saw these two capturing the moment

and this swimmer who was either being chased by a submarine, or was well prepared to sue any boat that cut the corner too close for comfort.

Or perhaps just keeping a look out for anyone going the wrong way.

but the two things that puzzled us the most, was seeing a letter box built into the railway embankment wall below Mapledurham. Who was going to use it to post letters and who was going to collect them.

Then we saw another built into the Sonning bridge arch which caused me to ask Mr Google for some answers. The Sonning post box was is an art installation, just the front of a box, put up by the artist, Impro, in 2013, the Mapledurham post box appeared in 2016 but is probably a copycat prank with no one claiming responsibility.

but as I’m posting about bridges, we couldnt pass through this area without mentioning Christchurch footbridge in Reading.

Completed in 2015 linking Reading and Caversham, and if like us you like a few facts and figures,
it is 123 metres long, the mast is 39m tall. Is made up from more than 455 tonnes of steel,
A 68 m river span weighing approximately 200 tonnes and supported by 14 pairs of cables,
1,100 metres of reinforced cable attached to the main bridge mast, supporting eight separate steel sections
A 50 tonne mast sitting 39m above river level, supported on nine piles 750mm in diameter and 19 metres in length.
On a hot day, a mast that expands 3cm as it warms up.
A bridge deck which expands up approximately 6cm at the middle of its river span on a hot day.
A bridge deck is only 380mm deep – about the size of a car steering wheel
234 LED lights – 39 of which are colour changing – alongside its white LED walkway illuminating lighting.

I wonder if it will last as long and look as good as the brick bridges in a few hundred years.
We had been warned that there was absolutely no mooring to be had in Reading, however we spotted this gap, which leads directly to the entrance of tesco. I took advantage and restocked the ballast, eg, if theres a shortage of tinned tomatoes or other heavy bulky goods, we’ll be ok

Weve got used to seeing some pretty prestigeous boats but obviously not all boats in Reading wanted to be seen

We made it to Shiplake Lock to recharge our batteries. And our final mystery of the day….

Hurricanes and Typhoons overhead

One of the things we’re enjoying about being on the Thames is the excitement of wild mooring. Can we find a bank where we can get the stern in close enough for me to clamber off with my dignity intact, and long enough that we can get the bow tied off securely?

And preferably one that we wont be charged for. One of the things we’re not so keen on is the uncertainty of not being sure we will be able to moor roughly where we want.

Beale Park hit the spot, and with a 4 day weekend approaching the river was suddenly coming alive with craft of all shapes and sizes, so we happily tied off to the convenient overhanging trees and settled down to watch the world go by, even if the weather was a bit dodgy, we even had a kingfisher family living directly opposite which provided a lot of entertainment

Thankfully Thursday dawned with clear sky and mist rising.

But alas although it remained clear over Buckingham Palace by the time the fly past was dispersing over Oxfordshire it had clouded over, we’d also got a few storm clouds above. But we still got to see quite a few of the planes that had saluted Her Majesty.

We were able to take a very pleasant walk along the river and down Shooters Hill into Pangbourne village. We couldn’t help but notice a series of very interesting looking houses. It turns out they are known locally as “the seven deadly sins” of Pangbourne. They were built in 1896 to house the seven “lady friends” of the then Prince of Wales, who became King Edward VII

Pangbourne has a regal past with Bertwulf, King of Mercia being granted lands here in AD 844, Athough nowadays his allotted spot is on the village sign, underneath a Viking longboat, (frequently referred to as narrowboats by saxon gongoozlers)

The sign also pays homage to local resident, Kenneth Graeme, who wrote Wind in the Willows (although the book had already been written before he moved here) but its thought that E H Shepard based his drawings for the book from sketches done around this section of the river. It is a very pretty village.

Theres a brilliant butchers Greens of Pangbourne who boast having the best pies. I think we have been spoilt with good butchers recently, because we both agreed it was excellent so much so that we bought a second for our onward journey

Sadly prices are no longer in shillings and pence

On Saturday, whilst we watched Rod Stewart massacring Sweet Caroline at the platinum concert, I kept noticing the sky over London, and sure enough that same sky was all aglow over Firecrest.

But despite the red sky at night Sundays weather wasn’t condusive to us sitting outside for a “river party” so we ended our jubilee celebrations with a hint of a rainbow.

now, how long can I keep my bunting flapping for. Will we be celebrating Her Majesty’s century in 2026 or even her 75th Jubilee in 2027. Part of me hopes so, but by then I will try to devise a way to stop the pennants flapping onto the roof.