Sep 13, 2018 at 08:12 pm

Hitting the town

Update posted by Martin Wainwright

A week after slipping away from the Wolvercote millstream on Port Meadow, Clementine is resting on a pontoon outside a floating puppet theatre, a hundred miles down the Thames. She and Penny and I are gearing ourselves for the voyage's finale on Saturday, when the plan is to row through the high tide window at Richmond half-lock, probably around 9am, and allow the ebb tide to take C and me the five miles to Chiswick slipway, hopefully by 11am or so.

This may be an, um, exhilarating experience according to the waterfront team from Eel Pie Island and Richmond who found me Clemmy's exotic berth. "It's not you, it's the moon," said David who was painting the theatre barge. "It's big at the moment and so are the tides. You may be doing four knots." That's about four-and-half mph which is well above my usual rowing speed. I just hope that I can stop.

The last three days have been pretty much an idyll - indeed I had to backtrack when I told one of the many cash donors en route that I was having a marvellous time. "In that case, I'll have my money back," he said. He was only joking, I am glad to say. Here are some of the sights with which the river from Marlow to Teddington is packed,: Hammer's House of Horror near their Bray studios, now the swanky Oakley Court hotel and Christine Keeler at Hanky Panky (actually Spring) Cottage in the stunning Cliveden gorge; Stanley Spencer's Cookham and a lookalike statue of Richard Dimbleby at his former home on Ray Mill island in Maidenhead from which he yelled at speeding boats; the spooky mansion on D'Oyle Carte island near Weybridge and an aerial view of same; and the stunning gates at Hampton Court, a mansion designed to be approached by boat, plus the Runnymede Bridge which takes the M25 roaring over the murmuring Thames.

After slinking beneath this huge set of spans, plus a similar one for the M3, I reckoned that I was in the low emission zone. Actually on the Thames you are always in a low emission zone; the perpetual though often hidden presence of walkers on the Thames Path is a deterrent to making unseemly bodily noises when rowing.

As always, every day adds to the people to whom I owe thanks and on this leg, the Clemmy team are specially grateful to Mark of the Eel Pie Island Boatyard, his right-hand man Captain Barry, Dave the Boat Painter and all at the Barge Puppet Theatre. Also Molesley Boat Club, home of Olympians, who hosted Clemmy the night before and their very nice former committee chair who came out specially to inspect her after reading this on the website Hear the Boat Sing. Plus my marvellous cousin Andrew Skirrow who shouted 'Martin Ahoy!' from the bank at Teddington much to my amazement and then helped me clean and re-insert Clemmy's slightly leaking bung. He had been at the fearsome-sounding but actually very efficient Teddington Locks to see if I had been through, adding in view of all the flags etc: 'You won't miss him' Thus, when I sculled up after bidding Andrew farewell, I was genially greeted by the lock keepers: "Ah, we've been expecting you'.

Please think of me on Saturday morning when I hope that those barriers in the pic below of Richmond half-lock will be safely down


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