Friday 20 June 2014

Thames Upstream...



Heading toward Reading going upstream against the flow the motors up a couple of hundred RPM to maintain the cruising speed.
The sun was beating down hot and even with no cooling breeze it was most enjoyable to cruise and take in the sights...




 



Supermarket trolleys for reconditioning... junk from the canals and river...

A selection of floating homes...

 





Art Deco variant...







Pink Floyd front man  Dave Gilmour has this lavish barge, Astoria, used as a recording studio moored on the Thames..
And as we passed a man fitting his description was on the end deck... should have pulled over for a Yakk....





Taking some shade....




Need a brolly holder on the tiller arm...



 
 Past Hampton Court...



 
Shared some locks with this immaculate Dutch style barge....

Onto Windsor..

 



The castle from the river...



And walked to the entry gates...

Then took a walk to Eton...



Entrance to the boys school.... no visitors allowed this morning...


 


Students leaving their hostels and heading for class...



This is what one wears to attend school...

And then what turns up?...



Cops and a Drug dog.. NO.. Not Eton...


Down Eton high street...



VW splitty... was a left hooker....


Back on the river..



A nice steam boat..

The landing jetty at...


Windsor race course..... I need to coincide passing by with a scheduled meeting.. You gotta Speculate To Accumalate.....
 


 Need to moor up for...


 
Tea, coffee and scones served here.. 

Not riverside residences...



Just a selection of Boat Houses...













 






 










 
 

 








 

At the end of the day it was time to knock up a quick feed..



I was pretty happy with the Yorkshire pud...




And the roast beef.....

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Hot As.....





 
Our last couple of days and the weather was fair scorching in the Big Capital. We just bused around a lot because you get a great view from the upper deck and for the price of an oyster card it's cheap transport and sightseeing.

 

Travelled to Greenwich to view the Royal Observatory, from the outside, which is on a hill in Greenwich park. And I'll tell you that climbing that hill in the heat and dodging Asshhoonn tourists was freak'n hard yakkka.

First off we alighted the bus at Greenwich and walked to view the Thames.
There we saw the secret tunnel entrance which was built to escape from Asshhooonnns...


 


We walked the tunnel under the Thames and emerged in a park setting then walked back again...




Looking from the park back to the tunnel entrance, the dome building, on the other side of the Thames...




Parked up in Greenwich is the Cutty Sark... Built as a Fast Tea clipper, and she was one of the fastest,  she travelled between London and China, that's how those Asshhooonss arrived, carrying tea as the return cargo. Steam power and the opening of the Suez Canal cut down times so she went on the Aussie run bringing wool back to the Auctions in London. Cutty Sark held the fastest trip from Sydney to London for 10 years...

 
At the observatory...



This was one of the first electric clocks in the world..   Canary Wharf and Olympic Park in the rear view...






 
Leonie stands with a foot  in the East and a foot in the West.... The Prime Meridian Line....





And the sign says so... East and West Longitude line...

After several days moored in Paddington the water tank starts to run low so rather than get around with smelly "Bollocks" a trip of about a half mile return to the water point needs to be taken.
Trouble is some geezer, probably in an unregistered boat, will steal your mooring so the thing to do is set the alarm for 4.45am and quietly slip down to the water point  for a fill up...



 
 

And it worked a treat... reversing across Little Venice to return to the prime spot.. Even the neighbouring NB.s  moored 1.5 metres didn't hear...

The sun was out so...


Sun bathing on the jetty was in..



And in Regents Park the English Bull dog club were out in force...

 
Also out were the...



Abseiling window cleaners...

Came time to move on...


 
Leaving Paddington Basin...
 
Heading toward Lime House Basin through Regents Park..



A canal side dwelling... probably the reason there is no mooring allowed along here..


Past the Zoo...


Only saw a Pig in Sh-T...

And an Aviary with...



Birds in it..... Well what would you expect??


 

On past Camden Markets.....

A bit of...




Canal side graffiti...

Past workers on their lunch break...



Enjoying the Artificial Grass..
 
Shared a lock with a...



Aluminium dingy... whilst the lock was filling the Driver accidently wound open the throttle on the outboard.. Started smashing and climbing the lock wall like a bucking bronco.. lucky it didn't tip over and lucky it was facing across the lock.. I said " you own that or steal it bro"? 
"Stole it".   
Choice then...

A lock side house....

 
 

With an upmarket extension... as an office..

 





Moored here in Limehouse Basin.  Already covered the trip part way up th Thames so next it's the upper reaches and how the other half live...