Boats, trains and planes on the River Thames

Thursday, 14 July 2011 19:22

So we continued downstream encountering famous names and places, and enjoying the River Thames to the full.

Richard Dimbleby's house on Boulters Island, above the lock

Boulters Lock is a well visited lock - as we were fairly early, we only had two gongoozlers to watch us through .....

Since the mid 1800s, it has been a popular gathering place to watch boats and criticise the skill (or lack of) of the skippers, whatever the type of boat. The lock was full, but not this full!

In Boulters Lock, pretty full of boats

Below is Maidenhead and the Thames makes no concession to the riverside houses as it passes through the outskirts and under Maidenhead Bridge and the Railway Bridge. We were being "raced" by a couple of cruisers, one of which tried to muscle out of the lock before we did; we weren't racing, but on the FIFO principle we left first.

Maidenhead Bridge

Beyond the bridge we could see canoeists and they gathered together to let us by.

Through the arch

Brunel's Railway Bridge once had the widest and flattest arches in the world - it stretches across the main channel and the channel around Bucks Ait, or Guards Club Island.

Here is today's train

How about this  - a Spanish Villa in Maidenhead?

There were a couple of lovely Colonial style houses too - but the garden of this one was Floridian, complete with the Maidenhead crocodile.

Maidenhead crocodile

Bray slipway is beside the Waterside Inn. It looks inviting, and I know the food would be good. The Chef-Patron is Alain Roux, master pâtissier; we wished we had stopped, when we saw the menu. However, with the 6 course "Menu Exceptionnel" at £147.50/person it would have been a shock to the bank balance, to say the least.

Bray slipway, Waterside Inn to the right

Bray Lock came and went, as did the M4 bridge , Monkey Island Hotel , Bray Film Studios and Dorney Reach. Hidden from view behind the north bank is the Olympic rowing course at Dorney. It begins opposite Windsor Marina and ends at the almost hairpin left-hand bend known as Ruddles Pool. Beware boats cutting the corner here.

Ruddles Pool

Windsor Race Course is beside Boveney Lock and as the delights of Windsor really start from here, including the really low flying planes from Heathrow. I will continue our journey later so as not to bore you with another long blog ....

PS. We really enjoyed visiting Cliveden - I will put up our photo album as soon as I can. Here is the link to our Marlow album as promised.