Sunday, 26 June 2011

A hot, hot hot day ...

It's 20 to 7 pm as I post this blog and the temperature probe on the roof of NB Rock n Roll is still showing 38.6 c...... far too hot for me!
 ... but not for a lot of folk ... some lovely sights ...
 ... on the river today ...
 ... busy, busy, busy ...
 Greylag geese abound ...
 ... together with the Egyptian geese, mallards and swans ...
... and for the first time today the ice cream cart has no queue but he's done a roaring trade all day!

Saturday, 25 June 2011

Through the window and statistics

Elly in Oz (Narrowboat dreaming....) asked recently about my mileage since living and travelling on NB Rock n Roll - well I've now brought my log book up to date and the statistics are: -  since April 12th 2008 to today 25th June we've cruised 2081 miles and 1090 locks giving a total of 3171 lock miles - 54.75 cruising miles per month.
Not really as many as we thought although we do like to stop and look around us as we cruise - we're retired and not in a hurry!
The river is busy today with all sorts of craft ...
 ... an attractive steam boat ...
 ... and before I could take another this one was in my face - about 2 feet from the window!
 ... yachts all over the place ...
 .. . this was the one near the window - it did manage to pull out an turn - the manoeuvre  looked ludicrously dangerous!
 ... the wider view though looks almost peaceful ...
... and in the other direction is that yacht again!

Friday, 24 June 2011

Birds galore on the way to Bourne End

We're upping sticks in a few minutes and out of the window I saw ...
 ... the great crested grebe family again ...
 ... reversing out of our mooring spot ...
 ... over there in the trees ...
 ... and we pass the young mallards that I've been feeding all week ...
 ... and the family grebe too ...
 ... and past this - the prettiest boat I've ever seen - the chap inside told us that he'd designed and built it himself and has only been out on it this week with a few jobs still to do on the inside ... lovely indeed ...
 ... and the river gets wider ...
 ... as we pass Spring Cottage on the Cliveden House Estate ...
 ... very nice too from the riverside ...
 ... and the boathouse with trip boat ...
 ... and the cottage opposite it ...
 ... ooh, we didn't see that when we were out walking ...
 ... hidden in the trees ...
 ... we soon arrive at Cookham Lock...
 ... where there's another house hidden in the trees!
 Cookham Lock is rather unusual having another set of gates making it also a stop lock ...
 ... under Cookham Lock Cut Bridge ...
 ... and past Hedsor Priory ...
 ... to Cookham with The Ferry pub there on the left ...
 ... and on towards National Trust Cock Marsh to the left of centre ahead where we made three unsuccessful attempts to moor ... and moved on ...
 ... passing a summerhouse and a glass ball with a door ...
 ... and a boat flying a Royal Air Force flag - perhaps an Air Commodore lives there ...
 ... two thatched properties ...
 ... of very different designs ...
 ... and a red kite in the sky ... we'd been watching a group of 4 of them earlier.
 Now moored on the EA visitor moorings at Bourne End where the locals feed the ducks, geese and swans ...
 ... this rampant swan was seeing off ...
 ... a rival - I'm telling you he nearly drowned the poor swan that he has hold of here next to Sancerre...
 ... here's another batch of lovely, cuddly, fluffy baby mallards ...
... and goslings growing up ...
... and all's well that ends well!

The River Thames Barrier Trip

Have you seen the photograph in the July issue of Canal Boat on page 7?
I shows about 12 of the boats at the O2 Arena
NB Rock n Roll in just to the right of centre - I'm wearing a blue/green jacket
Great picture - I'm going to try to obtain a copy.

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Sunset on the Thames

All taken about 21:10 ...
 ... the first ...
 ... two last evening 22nd June ...
 ... and these ...
 ... just a few minutes ago ...
 ... and these two taken by George on his iphone show the sunset's effect ...
... on the pathway - it looks as if it's on fire ... a real spectacle!