Impromptu river trip

What a lovely scene this was yesterday out on the river. How lucky we were that our friends John and Gill invited us out on their boat for a trip up the river Thames. We weren’t expecting this so it was an exciting spur of the moment thing.

We started from Windsor Racecourse Marina, by Gogos Waterfront restaurant. There are some really big expensive boats for sale there.

This one at the front is for sale for about £500,000 I believe.

John saw me looking at these and said “don’t get your hopes up”(!) as we didn’t know what his boat looked like yet. We walked to the far end of the marina and boarded his boat, Spindrift 3. Here we are on board. It was really comfy and I sat up front the whole way. I’m the one smiling at the front. I loved it.

We went through Bray lock, which was a new experience for me, going through a lock. I don’t think I’ve done that before.

When we got up to Maidenhead I noticed how picturesque the bridge is, never seen it from the river like that.

We went underneath and up to Boulter’s lock. We met a few swans along the way.

Gill and I did some window shopping of houses for sale along the river front. This was one of my favourites that was not for sale. I like its style and symmetry.

We did a bit of celeb spotting. We waved at a very friendly man in the garden of his posh house and then realised we had just befriended Rolf Harris (oops!). You can’t take back a wave, there’s no cancel your wave action after you’ve done it. We then saw Michael Parkinson, his wife and another person relaxing on their patio seating. We didn’t wave at them. We remarked how little privacy these river frontage properties get, everyone peering and photographing as they go by. On the way back we managed to wave at my friend Erica. Hi Erica, that was fun! 🤗. The weather looks a lot gloomier in these pics than it actually was, at one stage the sun was gorgeous, really warming on your skin.

A few other lovely images along the way.. Broken tree at Taplow Riverside, you can buy a very expensive new property there.

Canada geese out for a paddle.

This is the life.

Nice al fresco restaurant at Bray Marina.

Oakley Court Hotel was busy.

Monkey Island Hotel through the trees.

Luckily we got back safe and sound, unlike this poor boat.

We parked up, or berthed as I guess you say. And headed up to the bar of Gogos to finish off relaxing in the early evening sunshine with a drink.

I hope you’ve all had a relaxing weekend too and got out in the fresh air and sunshine. Off to eat roast chicken dinner now. 😊x