In the reasonably priced car..Wow! what a Day.

Its funny how things happen in life and there are some losers and some winners..  Well on Tuesday we got a phone call from Joy and Steve who we had just seen in Windsor, saying that a guy they knew, Martin, who worked for Honda had got some tickets sent to him for the Festival of Speed at Goodwood and it was too late to give them out to clients. He offered them to Joy and Steve as he knew it was easy for them to get time off to go, and Steve also knew we were available. Can we go? of course we can bloody go!!
It turned out to be the pre show which is called The Moving Motor Show where you get to see all the cars and anyone very interested in buying on gets to test drive them on the elusive Goodwood hillclimb track...  But! Honda had thrown in a go in one of their cars on the test track, if you brought your driving licence... Wow! Lets go racing!  Joy didn't want to go so Steve offered to pick us up at 7.30am in the morning, it was very exciting..
We got up late after not hearing the alarm but just managed to make it in time. Good job we didn't have far to walk.. We travelled down to Goodwood and the traffic wasn't that bad as we pulled into the carpark..

We could see the cars and dirt bikes in the distance sliding around in the fields as we walked to the gates..

The first thing we noticed was how much there was to do.. 

Lots of hidden corners and all types of cars and bikes, from the normal makes, retro, custom, to Supercars, to F1..

It was just a lovely day in the sunshine and we were able to get right up to all the new cars coming out, and get in them if we wanted to..

Al sat in the back of a Bentley like the queen and also sat alongside Hamilton's F1 Mercedes.

We took so many pictures we can only put a few on here..

We stopped for lunch and sat on the grass and they then put on a bike show right in front of us...

In the second half of the day we saw the Supercars and F1 paddock, all in the background of Goodwood House.. At 4.30pm we had a slot booked at the Honda stand on the hill climb pits..

We checked in and waited for a driver..  We had a new Honda Civic which we were allowed to thrash up the track with speed and Al was allowed to sit in the back, so buckle up! 

As the lights went out Del  put the peddle to metal and we hit the first bend sidewards, "Wow good" the guy said "keep your foot down, and don't lift at the next bend" Del wanted to but kept it down....WOOOO HOOOOO! we were racing! we crossed the finish line doing 75mph, that was good he said, Well Done! We loved it! Al's video was a bit of a blur....
It just started to rain as we picking up some bits and pieces Del wanted for Derwent6 and we walked back to the car.. What a great free day out..

We would like to say a big thank you to Martin from Honda and to Steve and Joy who organised the tickets and for thinking of us.. We had just a great day!!
Steve got us home after diverting a few times to miss the traffic in the pouring rain. He dropped us off and we got back to Derwent6 at 9.00pm..  Phew! we were knackered!

Bray Today

Wow this weather has just been fantastic.. Its been in the twenty's everyday since we have been on the Thames and long may it continue. We got up early and Del was wiping the sap and birds poo off Derwent6 like he does every morning.....a small price to pay for a great location. Yep we had the trains every half an hour and the planes landing overhead from 6.00am till 11.30pm and we could hear people having fun till the early hours, but we loved it.. As we decided to leave Neil and Pauline on n.b Waterlilly turned up, good timing, they could have our spot, another good thing about blogging.

Pauline had made us some lovely freshly made scones, bless her, and we put them on the roof with loads of melted butter in them for the journey..

Thanks guys...hope to have a longer meet up next time. We got under the low bridge and headed out onto the mighty Thames..

The weather was perfect for cruising and we had a lovely breeze in our faces..

Our main reason for moving, pumpout. Our waste tank was getting full and only had a day left so our first stop was the sanitary station.

Al walked up and got a pumpout card from the lock Keeper, a bargain at £9.00 so we got two. After bleeding it a little to get it working we were empty again.. We then had to move over to another station for water and this one was a bit tricky next to a fast flowing weir.

You get massive hoses on the Thames and it seems to fill tanks very quickly.

We then went through Bovney Lock and took a steady cruise to Bray Lock doing our washing on the way..

When we arrived at one of our favourite moorings, it was a bit over grown, but available. We slotted Derwent6 in between the trees and then tied to them.

We then got ourselves sorted for the football and Al made a lovely pork salad with apple sauce, Mmmmm with a few beers what more could a man want..

Respite

So we haven't blogged for the last week or so.. Never mind! We decided to take a break from it because we have had just a fab time at Windsor, we have been enjoying the fantastic World Cup, and now we have Wimbledon as well. It has been nice not walking around with a camera all the time. So moving has been a problem for us..... we did know this, which is why we love the Thames so much!.. Even when you're static there is so much to see and do, even from the cratch of Derwent6. Rowers, canoeist, watching the high life boats, trip boats and the hour hirers and even Otters, yep that's him on the corner here.

With just the best back drop.. 

but once again you get the itch to move on.. Its so funny when we have lived in so many places you still have the urge to travel... So we will be going tomorrow..  making sure we get a TV signal to watch England go out of the World Cup..

Friends on Race Day

We have had a relaxing time here at Windsor.. It has been fun and we have everything we need.. It is also handy that we can get the telly signal ok for the World Cup and if we fancy it we can go to a pub.. It does have its draw backs though.. We get woken up by the late night football fans, the swans peck Derwent6, and we get the train going by and planes going over from six in the morning....and it was going to be a late night with England playing Italy.
On Sunday we were woken up by screaming and shouting as there was a Triathlon going on and they started the swimming section in the Thames at 6.30am, not good after a late night and after England lost.

 In the end we had to get up and watch what was going on..

They were swimming up and down the Thames just on the other side of the Island we are on, so we watched them for a bit. We then walked up to the end where they were getting out of the water already exhausted.. 

We then decided to have some breakfast with all this activity going on and then walked round to the finish line to welcome them back on the finish straight.

It was very inspiring and made you feel proud watching some of the older people get back and the look on their faces knowing they had done it..

Del has run a Triathlon so he knows what it feels like.. It was won by a guy called Mark Buckingham and he was so fit he didn't even look like he had taken part at the finish....

We then went back to Derwent6 and waited for friends Joy and Steve to turn up as they live half a hour away.

We sat out in the cratch and had a good catch up. We then fancied something to eat so we walked into town and went to La Tasca and had a mix of Tapas to pick at..

We saved ourselves for dessert as Al had some cake back on Derwent6.

We walked back along the river and then got the kettle on for coffee and carrot cake and a lot more chatting.. It was lovely to see them both..
In the evening it was football again, but we were falling asleep and couldn't last out for the Argentina game because of our early start....      

Windsor for tea

Well we have got a lovely mooring here at Windsor.. and the good thing is we haven't had to pay anything yet which makes it even better..  We have got a bit settled and managed to get telly for the World Cup. We are under the trees and Derwent6 gets covered in birds poo every night but hey ho, who cares we are living in Windsor.

Al has been making the most of it by going shopping while Del has been doing some touching up to the paintwork in the sunshine.. he also managed to polish out all the scratches we collected with our dilemma we had the other day.

Today we walked up to town as Al loves watching the changing of the guard so we managed to get a good location at a coffee shop on the corner with a brilliant view..... it wasn't that expensive either..

We then got all the heavy food and drink stock and Del carried it back while Al carried on browsing. When Al got back Del went out on his bike for three hours around Windsor Great park. We were all set for the start of the World Cup in the evening..