Saturday, July 17, 2010

The dream has come true!

We set off early, one because it was a lovely morning, and two the lock keeper hadn't been round for the overnight fee!

It was very calm early on and the scenery was great. It felt like you were on a boat trip in another country looking at all the celebs houses. You don't see this by car you need to be on the river. We made our way through Kingston and were surprised at the amount of moorings, but we didn't stop. We were also lucky enough to see a boat coming off the visitors moorings at Hampton Court so we stopped for breakfast. Afterwards we had a little walk around and picked up some provisions, not before we had a walk round the grounds and a photo with the beefeater at the gates.

We then got moving again and went through a couple of locks before we hit Hampton Regatta. There were rowing boats and fun boats everywhere. We had to give the horn a blast a couple of times to avoid a collision. We were still pinching ourselves, as we used to come down to these parts while Derwent6 was in build to watch the boats and dream........and it seemed really funny that the dream had come true. We are very lucky people!!!!

After passing through Sunbury and Walton on Thames we got to Weybridge. They were working on the visitors moorings here so we couldn't stop, but it looked lovely. We went past the entrance to the River Wey and into the lock to Chertsey. We manage to find a 24 hour mooring and had some lunch. We then went for a walk into Chertsey, which was a couple of miles. We got a call from Maxine and Graham who had an afternoon BBQ party in Hampton and were on their way to find us, so we made our way back to Derwent6. They turned up about 7.00pm with a bottle of wine so we had drinks and nibbles before we took a walk along to the pub half a mile away. We walked back in the dark looking in everyone's houses and then had coffees under candle light back on Derwent6. They stayed till 1.30am and we just love seeing them. We all had great fun!!!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Guys,
I've just recently bought my narrowboat (Shortly to be renamed "Apothecary")and before buying her I had been looking at many sites in preparation for my first trip - One of which was yours!!! So I was delighted to actually see you both moored up at Hampton Court last Saturday....
Love your blog....Regards, Hamilton

Chota Memsahib said...

Hello
I was the guy shouting salutations just below Sunbury lock!
Follow your Blog, and am pleased to say that, as of 1st Sept, I become a gentleman of leisure and hopefully spend more time out on the boat.
Enjoy the Thames--I have been boating on it since 1983 and still find it a glorious river--we are doing the whole stretch up to Lechlade in September.
Pleased to see that someone else ignores thedisparaging comments made in some quarters about "shiny boats".
Derwent 6 was looking resplendent
Regards
Philip

Del and Al said...

Thanks Hamilton, sorry we missed you. Good luck with your travels aboard nb Apothecary, we will keep our eyes open for you.....Glad you enjoy the blog..

Del and Al said...

Hi Phillip
Thanks! It's good to be able to put names to faces and boats lol. Good luck with your travels. The Thames is delightful isn't it, as you can see we are really enjoying it! Derwent6 is shiny but that's probably all that brass! We're going to take shares in Brasso lol....Hope to see you again some day...