Politicians,Bankers and Plebs

Leaving Henley for Marlow and Maidenhead makes you realise how the other half live in the UK. The houses lining the Thames can only be afforded by politicians, bankers ( note the spelling ),sports personalities and A-list celebs. Another World entirely. Cliveden was the scene of the John Profumo, Christine Keeler scandal in 1961 which toppled the Conservative government of the time. The magnificent house with amazing views over the Thames and surrounding countryside now belongs to the National Trust. Maidenhead Rowing club were heavily involved in Sir Steve Redgrave's early rowing career and over-nighted my sponsored rowing boat for Joel and I. The Thames almost encircles Windsor Castle (surely one of the largest moats in the world ?) so it seems to linger on the horizon for ever. In this region I became aware of air traffic from Heathrow airport, none of your toy A350's or B737's but real beefy planes like 747's and A800's....oh,joy. Which raises the question why would the Queen choose to build Windsor Castle under the Heathrow flight path?  We cruised through Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed and subsequently the JFK memorial erected. In my early romantic days I used to park my aforementioned Austin A35 van next to the RAF memorial and watch planes arrive at and leave Heathrow with a girlfriend during the summer evenings.  Who said romance is dead? We then cruised through Staines and the lock keeper at Penton Hook Lock taught Lynne how to throw ropes accurately. We moored at Laleham inside the M25 and met-up with Lynne's sister and brother-in-law. Traffic on the M25 was going slower than we were. No change there then.

MRSA

Cruising through Henley today made me nostalgic for my old rowing days. Do I miss it?   Of course I do ! At this point I must thank my son, Joel, his first coach and mentor, Dickon Poole and my first coach, Roy Mumford (bless him) for introducing me to this tremendous sport which I will always love. Dickon set up Molesey Schools Rowing Association to enable youngsters to take part in a sport they would otherwise have missed. Roy was a dedicated coach. MRSA was a fantastic success, now sadly missed and a great loss to British rowing. Via a joke (I think) Dickon managed to get me involved in the physical side of the sport, initially with Molesey and then with KGSVBC, for which I will always be grateful. Thank you guys.

Clean for Hampton

Having moored close to hoses, bins and cassette emptying facilities we made full use of them all before setting off on our travels again early afternoon. Tardis Two looks pristine having had a full wash and wax, although Lynne is complaining the windows look streaky. Another job for later perhaps? The water tank is full and the cassettes are empty. Happy days. We spotted a boat named Cirrhosis of the River and another Tardis yesterday. We should pass the Queen's barge (narrowboat, please) at Henley apparently. See below. Having washed the bloody boat it rained all through Henley,all through Marlow and until we moored tonight at a place called Bourne End. Having said that, as I write the precipitation has stopped. Henley regatta actually starts tomorrow so we were one of the first crews to test the course. No cheering crowds to wave at, unfortunately. My first visit to Henley was when Joel and his Molesey crew won the National Schools Head of the river race there ten or more years ago in the most horrendous horizontal rain. At times it was almost raining upwards. The rain today was a mere drizzle in comparison.

The what day is it syndrome

We are currently moored near Shiplake lock and weirs. The dawn chorus has been exclusively ducks and geese, the latter in their hundreds. Canada geese operate a crèche system whereby a couple of "parents" look after other families to give each other a break, which seems to work well. Did you know ducks first invented the bidet? Just watch them land (on water) and you'll see what I mean. We heard a cuckoo yesterday, Lynne for the first time ever and myself since I cannot remember when. Whatever happened to cuckoos? Something to do with EU regulations I suppose. Nothing to do with travel restrictions as we don't seem to have any. Two plus points emerged from our recent sandbank adventure, both being wildlife related. Two Red Kites and a Great Crested Grebe kept us entertained during our lengthy stop. Both species are amongst Britain's most beautiful birds, the former only saved from almost certain extinction in recent years, the latter keeping us guessing as to where he would next appear after diving for food. We rarely guessed right. Apparently the sandbank at Shillingford is due for dredging this winter and was deposited during the extreme Thames flooding during 2012.

We have yet to find the Tardis Two electrical fault(s) but have developed a strategy to deal with it. We now avoid watching TV late into the evening, switch off the inverter plus all electric lights and retire to bed for a read by torchlight(Lynne). I just sleep.

Healthwise I am OK. My new drug seems to let me operate on more "normal" insulin doses, which I have yet to perfect. My leg wound is healing nicely and generally I am feeling reasonably fine, other than tiredness taking hold early evening.

We're heading for Henley and Windsor today - infinity and beyond, beneath magnificent cloud formations and a hint of sunshine.

Mobile laundry

Sponsored memories

Zooming down the THames as we are today brings back many happy memories of sponsored rows enjoyed/suffered in earlier life. For Kingston grammar school (as a member of the veterans club) I joined a mixed eight rowing from Radley rowing club covering 80 miles to Hampton court raising funds towards cancer research and a new rowing club house for the school. Only 6 weeks previously I undertook a sponsored row in a pair with my youngest son from Pangbourne to Hampton court raising funds for his World Challenge project trip to Tanzania. In all , both rows covered 141 miles and raised enough to cover the Tanzania trip and completion of the club house, but cancer has yet to be beaten unfortunately. The very friendly lock keeper at Day's lock was there all those years ago. Lynne was part of the pair support group.....in fact, she was the pair support group ! Her job was to supply bananas and sports drinks or water to us at each lock, armed only with a sat-nav and mobile phone. Out of 31locks the only one she missed was Day's lock but the keeper was able to inform us double rations would be available at the next thanks to a phone message from Lynne. I have lost count of the regatta's attended or competed in on or near the Thames over the past 10 years or more at places like Wallingford, Beale Park, Pangbourne, reading, Shiplake, Henley, Abingdon, Marlow, Maidenhead, Dorney, Egham, Twickenham, Molesey, Thames Ditton, Kingston and Richmond. Each has a story to tell if only time could allow.

Gin palace redemption

We left Basildon early in warm sunshine to ensure maximum use of our schedule without the need for rush, passing Radley boat club where my aforementioned sponsored row (my second) commenced. The river is truly majestic. Badly signposted, but majestic.Each lock has a nearby massive weir but you only discover the respective lock and weir entrances at the very last moment. Boats queue for the locks in "lay-bys" and the rules are: First in, first out. Use bow and stern ropes. switch off engine. All locks have two keepers, all extremely friendly. The river was not particularly busy. All was going well until Shillingford where there is a particularly sharp, blind bend, around which appeared a large, black narrowboat at full throttle on the wrong side. The lardy, bald  blob of a driver with the largest builders cleavage you could ever imagine hanging over the back of his shorts and boat (obviously where he keeps his brain cell) had no intention of slowing down, stopping or avoiding a massive accident. (Hence me only recognising him from the back. I'll have nightmares for the remainder of my life or until I happen to meet him again armed with my barge-pole). I slammed Tardis Two into reverse, stopping on the proverbial sixpence and swung towards what was left of my side of the river, only to embed her on a very shallow sandbank. Fortunately the large Tupperware gin place following managed to avoid hitting my rear end and the sandbank ( there's a vision). No amount of forward or reverse throttle even threatened to move us and a tow from the gin palace also failed. Another Tupperware boat with an all-female young crew stopped to help but only managed to break our bow rope, although they did offer to report our problem to the next lock and phone back. I very reluctantly gave them my phone number. In the meantime I phoned the Environment agency helpline to report our problem and to my delight and surprise they were very helpful and supportive, offering to raise the river level and keep in touch, which they did every ten minutes for the next 5hours. The lock keepers at both Day's and Benson locks also phoned regularly to check how we were, let us know when more water was being let through the weirs and to recommend emptying our water tanks to reduce draught and weight. A few boats offered to help, but most were lightweight Tupperware ones. Apparently the river rescue people do not work on Sundays, probably the busiest time on the Thames ! A dad and his son in a passing canoe gave assistance. The dad stood on the sandbank and used his paddle a a shovel in an attempt to dig us out. It failed of course, but kind of him anyway. After 5 hours in the very hot sun a particularly big gin palace silently cruised round the corner and rescued us, towing Tardis Two backwards into deeper waters. To say we were overcome with relief would be an understatement. We both collapsed in tears and hugged as if we had just survived a massive natural disaster, waving frantic thanks to our rescuers as they disappeared over the horizon. Both were middle-aged and very "down to earth", unlike most gin palace owners from my experience. I'll never say another derogatory word about them.

The Benson lock keeper even phoned us on our way "home"from a pub meal at the renowned Miller of Mansfield to check we were OK. How caring is that?

As we cruised through Moulsford after our release we were cheered and applauded by previous "supporters", feeling like Arsenal after one of their many FA cup and/or league win open top bus parades through Highbury.