Henley, Windsor and a lovely coffee morning.

We're really loving the River Thames and over the last few days have passed through some fantastic scenery, observed a whole plethora of wildlife and seen some magnificent properties as we continue to head towards London. 

We slipped away early on Sunday morning from Pangbourne Meadow and had a very enjoyable cruise down as far as Henley on Thames. Plenty of boats about as the sun was shining which also brought out the crowds. 

Arriving in Henley

A very English scene greeted us as a brass band played on the bandstand in the park. We travelled down the regatta rowing course, which felt really strange and eventually moored at Temple Island, away from the town, a site we are familiar with as we enjoyed ourselves here at the Rewind Festival a couple of years ago. The 'temple' itself was constructed in 1771 by James Wyatt as a fishing lodge. 

Rowing course and Temple Island

Red Kite

We stayed put Monday morning as the rain moved in, but by midday we were off again in sunshine with just the odd shower. We passed through Marlow with its impressive suspension bridge, built in 1832 by Willaim Tierney Clark.

Marlow Bridge

We found an unusual mooring for the night at Cliveden Reach on an island in the centre of the river. We were surrounded by trees, birds (especially red kites of which we could see up to eight at once) and silence....other than being under the take off path from Heathrow !! 

Our island retreat  

This morning we had a rendezvous arranged with James & Doug on nb Chance so we made the short trip down to Maidenhead and awaited their arrival as they were heading up from Windsor. Doug jumped off Chance with a tray of breakfast muffins (very nice too) and we had a good, if not far too brief, catch up over coffee. It was great to see you again guys and look forward to catching up again later in the summer. 

Have a safe journey

We then dodged the showers and hail pretty well during the afternoon. When the sun was out it was very pleasant indeed. The properties in Bray are something else and were observed through slightly envious eyes. One seemed vacant as we passed...apparently it belongs to Rolf Harris !!

Rolf's Pad

One nice place....

After another....

As we approached Windsor, we were confronted by many rowers out on the water from Eton School. Their coach was most apologetic when a couple strayed from their line. Windsor Castle appeared ahead, but unfortunately the dark clouds spoiled the view. We hope to stop and spend some time here next week. 

Windsor Castle (plus rowers!)

We eventually moored for the night at Runnymede, still under the flight path of Heathrow, but it's been interesting seeing where all the planes are off to using the Flightradar app and an A380 doesn't  half look big when it's only 2,000 feet above.

Runnymede is most famous for the signing of the Magna Carta by King John in 1215, widely accepted as the first constitutional document that formed the basis of modern democracy.