Windsor

All manner of boats passed our mooring including paddle steamers and this amphibious duck bus.

The hot weather meant that the water was packed with swimmers and small boats. If you zoom in to this picture you can see a youth who had just jumped off of the A332 Windsor Bridge.

Vera took her tennis ball ashore but rather than play ball we walked into Windsor to Waitrose.

We returned with our shopping for some R&R on the stern. There was a charge of £10 to moor here overnight and this was collected by the water bailiff. A blond lady in a blue high-viz vest was dropped off by a man in a dingy and Steve paid the fee with American Express using his phone and stuck the receipt in our window.

On Saturday (25/07/2021) we walked into Windsor again for newspaper and breakfast at Bills in Windsor & Eton Railway Station. We passed the Hawker Hurricane replica which has been erected in Windsor near the town's popular Alexandra Gardens.

Designed by Windsorian Sir Sydney Camm, the Hawker Hurricane was unveiled on the Thames promenade on Friday 20th July 2012. Often underrated, the Hurricane shouldered the lion's share of Britain's defense during the " Battle of Britain". It was the first fighter monoplane to join the Royal Air Force and the first combat aircraft adopted by that arm capable of exceeding 300 mph in level flight.

We saw the queen, or at least a steam train by that name in the railway station.

Only Windsor could have a shop dedicated to dog apparel and accessories.

The party boat alongside us didn’t appear to be working at the moment.

But it appeared that some youngsters had been having fun charging cream and blowing up balloons nearby.

After breakfast at Bill’s in the company of a noisy, smoking morning-after stag-do jack-the-lads we walked back to the boat and set off again. Once again, the route was lined with extravagant houses (although this one is probably a holiday let).

Parts of our route were a bit "Apocalypse Now", on the Danang River with woods on both sides.

The banks were still lined with incredible real estate, most with integral boat houses.

We ran aground twice while trying to moor up near Bourne End, the first time being watched by these cattle. Hilary managed to reverse off the first time and the second time a walker pushed us off while the owner of the “No Mooring” property beseeched us not to damage his concrete while trying to push us off the silt with a barge pole.

He told us to try The Bounty pub and it was here that we found refuge with free overnight mooring with electrical hookup to boot. The Publican was very obliging and helped us to settle in and relax. Vera liked the look of the Cock Marsh meadows behind the pub.

The pub was only accessible on foot or by boat and had to take all of it’s deliveries by boat across the Thames. The massive Cock Marsh has escaped the attention of property developers and will hopefully continue to do so.

The pub boasted that it was in the People’s Republic of Cockmarsh and was twinned with Chernobyl.

The back of the pub is in the centre of this picture and Vera is checking out Cock Marsh. Cock Marsh is an area of marsh land and steep chalk slope covering more than 150-acre (61-hectare) north of Maidenhead in Berkshire. It includes a 45-acre (18-hectare) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is also the location of a Round barrow cemetery and common land where livestock have grazed for hundreds of years. Cock Marsh is owned and managed by the National Trust.

The chalk grasslands of Cock Marsh are located near the River Thames, north of Maidenhead in Berkshire. The site has diverse meadow habitats in a small area, with wet alluvial grassland, calcareous grassland and acidic grassland on clay. It is managed by grazing by horses, cattle and rabbits. There are several ponds, and the site is subject to periodic flooding and drying out, which helps to maintain its botanic richness. The marsh is also a locally important birding site.

We enjoyed the hospitality of The Bounty pub and managed to wind down after a stressful day on the River Thames. Vera was happy to help out when a dining couple on the next table were struggling to finish their huge beefburgers.