Thursday, July 31, 2014

Derwent6 on a Mission

We had set the alarm for 5.20am as we had to get to Teddington for 6.30am, an awoke with the foxes looking through the window.
We pulled the pins at Kingston and very quietly set off under Kingston bridge..
It was a lovely warm morning again and the sun was just trying to rise over the buildings as we cruised up to the tidal lock.
The lock was already open but we didn't know if it was for us so we pulled over just before and took a walk up to the lock keeper who was waiting for us.. " Thanks for calling yesterday, it makes life so much easier, the lock is ready for you" he said.
We got back and pulled into the lock. The Thames was full to the brim and looked like a piece of glass with the sun now on it..
Wow it was awesome and it felt like Derwent6 was gliding across the water with the outgoing current's
We passed under Richmond and then Twickenham Bridge and Matty soon joined us watching all the low planes coming into land.. 
When we got to the Grand Union we turned in and the lock keeper was waiting for us and checked our licence before he opened the gates..
 Matty got to work on the lock at Brentford by pushing all the right buttons and we soon moored up by the water point and topped up with some breakfast.. Scrambled egg and bacon on toast, Mmmmm

A boat set off in front of us and asked if we were going up the locks, they said they would wait in the first lock for us.. It helped us all the way through the Hanwell flight and Matty even had time to pick us some blackberries..
This section is still plagued with weed, but the Axion coped well as the people we were travelling with were down the weed hatch three times..
We got to Tesco's at Bulls Bridge and Al got a small top up of Matty's favourite things..
We then headed off up the Grand Union to Cowley dodging the rubbish on the way. There were moorings here but we just felt like cruising on in this beautiful warm day. We just seemed to carry on going......we just seem all or nothing at the moment..
It was getting late and we fancied going out for something to eat tonight so we pushed on to try and make Copper Mill. We had a nice surprise when we passed n.b Maisibert and Hilary was on the back doing their washing Brrrrrrupppp! on the horn, got her attention.. Andy soon popped his head out and we had a good half hour chat, it was nice to see them..
Tired and Hungry we pushed on and did another two locks, before we moored at Copper Mill..
We quickly changed and then managed to get a table outside in the Coy Carp pub, where we had a lovely meal in the warm summer air with a cold beer..
 
It was the perfect end to the perfect day. 
We got back to Derwent6 at 10.00pm shattered, where we all fell into bed. So we did Kingston on the Thames to Copper Mill in one day, we travelled for 14 hours and we stopped for breakfast, water, and shopping. Yep! we don't know how we do it either, but it shows you can...

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

A Nine hour Cruise

We were in need of water and a pump out so we decided to leave early this morning and go back to Bovney Lock to get it sorted.. In fact we left Matty in bed and left at 6.30am.. We managed to get pumped out and then had some breakfast when Matty surfaced..
We headed back to Windsor and as we pulled into the lock we met up with Bill and Jane again on w.b. Lazybones..
We followed  them up through Runnymede and the next three or four locks to Staines where we departed and Matty said goodbye to Georgia and Faith..
Our plan was to do a long day today as the weather was so good so we pushed on towards Weybridge..
It was all going so well we carried on, even through the locks when they were at self service, in fact Matty pushed the buttons to get us through....

Matty then took the tiller and to be fair he did a good job and soon got the hang of Derwent6. He steered for about three miles and even did a few bridges, well done mate!
We got a well deserved Ice Cream
It has been very quiet going downstream on the Thames, but it seemed busy going upstream..
Al phoned Brentford to get a booking for us to do the tidal bit of the Thames and we managed to get a early morning booking, so we had a 6.30am booking at Teddington.. We managed to get to Kingston in the end and found a nice mooring we just managed to get into..
Matty soon had the fishing rod out.

Al walked into town and picked up something for dinner which we had with a film Matty wanted to watch.. Phew its been a long day and we have an early start, lets hope we don't have too hot a night..

Slides and Bubbles

We were up at 5.00am with a horrific thunder storm and we had to put the glass in the portholes in exchange for the flyscreens we had in. We also had to shut the side doors which we had open to get some air in..
We surfaced in the morning at 8.00pm and it was still raining hard, we had had a lot of water but the levels in the Thames hadn't risen much, strange!
Al had a train to get as she was meeting her Dad at Denmark Hill as he was going to have a check up on his tumours and he should get the results later this week.. Matty and Del watched a DVD while Matty stayed in bed. At 11.00am they got their swimming stuff ready and walked first to meet up with Georgia and Faith on w.b. Lazybones. Del then took them all to Windsor Leisure centre.
They spent nearly three hours in the pool playing games of hide and seek and chase..
While we were in there Jane from w.b. Lazybones came over and offered us all a buffet meal for lunch and we all went round for a lovely bite to eat on their lovely boat.. After a long chat they offered to take Matty and the girls to a water bubble park where you are in a bubble of air on water, Matty loved it..
On his return we had snacks and chilled in the evening with more films.. It was an early night for us all as it might be an early start in the morning..

Monday, July 28, 2014

Speed boats and Fishing, it will make you Drone

Well the day started with a load of runners waking us up on a fun run along the Thames.
It had been another warm night and the sun was out again, but it was just a bit cooler, it was quite nice really.
We then had some breakfast and Matty was soon ready for some fishing and the net came out. The guy on the boat behind us got his fishing rod out as well and was soon helping Matty on the front of his boat.
This guy was 85 and jumping around like a 50 year old, amazing!  He offered Matty a trip in his dinghy but he didn't quite fancy it and we didn't want him to do it on his own.. Matty couldn't wait till his friend Georgia was out and soon asked the two girls if they fancied a boat trip.. With a watchful eye they all went out, first in the backwaters...
 Matty loved it and was allowed to steer.
They then went out onto the Thames and were having so much fun..
A big thank you to Dick for taking them all out, he is such a nice fella..
Afterwards the girls went swimming in the Thames and it wasn't long before Matty was in with them..
They then played in the back waters jumping in and swimming and doing a bit of net fishing.
They managed to catch three fish, while Del watched the Grand Prix.

In the evening we were all sitting out in the cratch when a guy turned up with a drone. This is like a helicopter with six rotors and looked a very expensive bit of kit with cameras on it..
It even had a stand with a tv screen on it, so he could see where it was flying. In fact it cost £1800 which we didn't think was bad. He set it off and went miles till it was just out of sight over the fair ground and we all watched round the screen.
He took some shots low along the river and even went down the side of Derwent6, nearly crashing in the trees...  Check out his Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/1MindUK?fref=ts 
Anyway Cliff, Matty wants one for Christmas now.. It was a good end to another good day...