Tuesday 3rd September 2013 - Windsor to Bourne End

We have arranged to meet Mum & Chris in Marlow for my birthday tomorrow - so we dont want to get there too soon.  We are therefore going to aim for Bourne End, which leaves us a short hop on Wednesday morning into Marlow.

It was lovely coming through Windsor with some lovely views of the castle from different angles as we came passed.  Stopped before we left Windsor to top up with water ready for tomorrow.

Coming down the tidal Thames we came passed a stonking big blue barge moored up along the tidal section.  At some point when we hadnt been on the boat it had managed to sneak passed us, towed by two work boats.  This thing travelled very slowly and was very hard to get by - we managed it yesterday when they pulled in for lunch.  However we found ourselves behind them again.

Big blue barge

I felt sorry for the lads moving it - though they were doing themselves no favours with the other river users.  The skipper just shouted and cursed at his lads - two chaps, one with his 10 year old son. One of them told me it was only his second day with a boat! The barge had no rudder so they were trying to keep the back in line with the second workboat. An almost impossible task given that the barge weighed over 100 tonnes.
Anyway at Boveney lock the wheels fell off (so to speak).  As well as being very tight in the lock, the barge had a metal roof structure on top which projected over the sides.  As it went into Boveney the metal structure jammed against the lock gates to the sound of splitting timber and graunching steelwork.  The young lad who had been sat on top sprinted off the boat like an olympic runner!  The gates were superficially damages but some serious damage was done to the barge superstructure.  After a delay they got it through - and we managed to get passed them while they scratched their heads!

Bit miffed that at the public mooring at Bourne End we were charged mooring fees - thats remained the only time in 5 1/2  months that we had to pay for mooring.

Walked into town looking for a pub.  Found it but it was boarded up.  Had a half at the marina club bar but they weren't very welcoming.

Stuck in the lock

and graunching out the other side