Bank holiday in England yesterday, and an unheard of (for bank holidays) 27 degrees and fine! My favoutrite view of Wittenham Clumps!
Thursday, 21-Aug-25:
We flew out of Perth just after midnight on 20-Aug, flying Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, and arrived at London Heathrow at 20:35, hired a car, and drove to Warborough.
We were greatly blessed to be lent a house within a few minutes' walk of Lynda's house, by a friend who was away on holidays in France. This meant that we could be there for Lynda, but not be too much of a burden for her.
For the next few weeks, till the funeral on 9-Sep, we mostly just helped with funeral arrangements, etc.
Monday, 25-Aug-25:
Bank holiday in England yesterday, and an unheard of (for bank holidays) 27 degrees and fine! My favoutrite view of Wittenham Clumps!
Saturday, 6-Sep-25:
Currently visiting the UK, sadly to attend the funeral of a very good friend. But still appreciating some of our favourite spots - Wittenham Clumps, Burford, Bourton-on-the-Water...
But we also caught up with Nikki (and Ian who happened to be visiting, twice), and Ted & Doreen (Nikki's parents).
I also visited Isam Naqib in Oxford, and collected my Oxford University card from ITS (OUCS as was).
We also went to Warner Bros studios, The Making of Harry Potter, which was a wonderful experience. See on, 23-Sep.
We made a visit to National Trust's Grey's Court, always a lovely place to visit. See on, 29-Sep.
We also visited Nuffield Place, the home of William Morris, founder of Morris Motors. See on, 1-Oct.
Then we thought we'd take Lynda on a nice relaxing trip somewhere, eg a cruise ship, where we/she didn't have to worry about getting meals, etc, etc. Just a nice relaxing time. It didn't work out *quite* like that, as we couldn't find a suitable cruise that didn't have exorbitant solo passenger surcharges. We settled on a cabin cruiser on the Thames River for a week, with the idea of eating out at the many pubs en route. It was certainly wonderfully relaxing gliding down the Thames through beautiful countryside and occasional towns and country pubs. But then came locks: the locks themselves were not a big deal, as there were generally lock-keepers to operate them (and we even operated a couple by ourselves without too much difficulty). But it was pulling up outside or within the lock that proved a mite stressful - throwing the rope around the bollards proved to require quite a degree of skill, which we finally mastered on our very last lock! - despite every lock-keeper helpfully showing us how easy it was when you coiled the rope properly...
We boarded our cabin cruiser in Chertsey (outer London), and cruised upstream as far as Marlow, then returned. Here is the Facebook account of our travels... see below...
Saturday, 13-Sep-25:
We have taken to the river (Thames), and moored up in Staines-upon-Thames for the night. A bit traumatic getting through our first lock, then mooring at a free spot. Tomorrow we need to watch out for a storm, but plan to really take it easy!! Planes from Heathrow overhead, Heathrow Express on bridge.
Staines: did you know that linoleum was invented here, and the factory in the 1930s occupied 45 acres. Here's a sculpture paying tribute to this history, by David Annand in 2004.
After that short stroll to do a little shopping in Staines, we had a quiet dinner on the boat, prepared before we left "home". Some lovely reflections, and even a sunset that augurs well for tomorrow...
Sunday, 14-Sep-25:
Cruising down the river, on a Sunday afternoon [music emoji] Some lovely river views!
Moored in Windsor, probably for the night* (though it's only 12:30pm). Glimpses of the Castle as we sailed along past the Windsor estate.
* a good mooring spot, plenty of pubs, and the object being to relax not make lots of distance...
Sunday roast beef lunch in The Waterman's Inn, Windsor (actually in Eton, which is the side of the river we've moored). With the castle towering over us. And lots of bunting (and police) for the visit of Trump in a few days' time.
Evening in Windsor, with a view of the Castle from our marvellous mooring site at the Brocas (a riverside meadow in Eton).
Monday, 15-Sep-25:
Today, Monday, we cruised from Windsor to Cookham, navigating 4 locks (1 on our own!). Now moored up adjacent to Bellrope Meadow, where we'll stay for the night. Several pubs and other eateries in Cookham (not much else, as it happens!). Here are some views as we set out, and after we arrived. More of a what we passed is coming soon!
Some really magnificent houses on the Thames between Windsor and Cookham. One with Aussie flag, another with WA flag. I rather think Rolf Harris had such a property at one time.
More beautiful Riverside mansions...
Talking of mansions on the Thames River, the best, of course, is Clivedon, with glimpses from the river...
Tuesday, 16-Sep-25:
Today (Tuesday) we set sail from Cookham, passing through only one lock, on our way to Marlow, where we have moored. Done some shopping. Decided we'll stay the night here (turns out that our mooring fees included access to plentiful hot showers!)...
More beautiful mansions on the banks of the Thames on our cruise from Cookham to Marlow this morning (via Bourne End). Also, interesting contrast between houses upstream from Bourne End (very modest) and those downstream (grand).
Wednesday, 17-Sep-25:
Today, Wednesday, we cruised back from Marlow to Eton (Windsor), where we moored at The Brocas (a meadow). A great fuss has been made of us, police escort, etc. because we are so important!! They have closed the river downstream from Eton for an important visit - even flew the Royal Ensign for us!
While moored at The Brocas, I took a short walk to see Eton College (on our side of the river).
On our 4-hour cruise from Marlow to Eton (Windsor), we navigated 5 locks, one of which was self-serve. Another was designated "self-serve", but the lock-keeper appeared and operated the lock and helped us. They've all been very helpful! We passed so many grand houses, I couldn't stop taking photos - the first was great, but the next was better, and so on!! Here are a few, maybe duplicates from the other day, but taken at slightly different angles...
We've seen quite a lot of wildlife (birds) on our cruise. Lots and lots of swans, ducks, geese, cormorants, seagulls. Occasional herons (see photos), and today I saw a kingfisher zipping along the edge of the river (but too fast to photo).
The last photo was actually mainly of the bird in the RH lower corner, but the helicopter got in the way - actually, this may well be the helicopter that transported President Trump away from his visit to Windsor.
To celebrate our arrival back to Windsor, they put on a marvellous Red Arrows flypast (sadly not including any F35's due to inclement weather - or perhaps they *were* there, but since they are stealth fighters, we couldn't see them?!)
Thursday, 18-Sep-25:
Today (Thursday) we spent the whole day moored at Eton (opposite Windsor). There were various restrictions on boat movements downstream, so we decided to avoid that stretch till Friday. What a beautiful sight the castle was from our boat with the evning sun upon the Round Tower.
Friday, 19-Sep-25:
Then on Friday we reached The Swan at Staines, mooring there for lunch. Beautiful day!! Here are some photos of today's sights en route from Windsor (the first 3 being parts of the Windsor Castle estate).
From there it was only a relatively short run to Chertsey where we had to return the boat by 9am Saturday morning. Rather than trying to find somewhere close to our destination to moor overnight, we decided to press on and return it later on Friday, which we did at 3pm.
The Swan Inn, Staines.
Well, our sojourn on the River Thames has come to an end, and we returned our boat, Caprice C550, to Le Boat station at Chertsey (pictured as docked there, proud I was able to back in!!). It was a marvellous week, alternating between peaceful cruising down an uncrowded river, with stressful docking and negotiating locks (which we pretty well mastered by the end of the week!!). BTW, many of the locks have beautifully tendered gardens, as shown here. We stopped at The Swan for lunch, also beautifully flowered. Still lots of lovely houses on the banks (though more like suburban homes than mansions!), gradually giving way to several fairly ugly apartment blocks.
Tuesday, 23-Sep-25:
This afternoon we visited The Making of Harry Potter at the Warner Bros film set in Watford. A brilliant show, very well done. There were 11 distinct rooms featuring some aspect of the films. Took us about 3 hours. Here are some of the huge number of photos I took.
1. Great Hall. 2. Entrance. 3. Tables of desserts in Great Hall. 4. The trio arranging the Sorting Hat. 5. Hermione's ball gown. 6. Example of shrinking distance by manipulating perspective. 7. Moving staircase in Great Hall. 8. Dumbledore's study. 9. Potions lesson with Prof Snipe. 10. Dementers made an appearance. 11. Weasleys' home. 12. Spiders in Forbidden Forest. 13. The Hogwarts Express on platform 9+3/4. 14. A miniature crazy house used as a prop. 15. The Night Bus. 16. 4 Privet Drive. 17. Inside 4 Privet Drive. 18. Inside 4 Privet Drive. 19. Mandrake nursery. 20. Gringotts Bank. 21. Diagon Alley. 22. Model of Hogwarts Castle used in the later films. 23. Hogwarts Castle.
Thursday, 25-Sep-25:
Today I visited a friend in N Oxford, then checked out Wolfson College (where I'm still a member of Common Room). I also checked out Adrian Meller's gallery in the Turl, to see if I could see Ai-Da, his robot artist, but it's no longer there. Here are some photos of Wolfson and the Turl.
Sunday, 28-Sep-25:
Wittenham Clumps, viewed from across "our" field, are endlessly fascinating. Here is the sunset from a couple of nights ago, a view with a big cloud of smoke/steam arising from where Didcot Power Station used to be, and with hot air balloon appearing to come down in "our" field, with Culham Laboratory visible behind it to the Right.
Monday, 29-Sep-25:
Today, Monday, the weather being lovely, we decided to visit the NT property, Grey's Court.
Some lovely floral displays, lots of dahlias.
Tuesday, 30-Sep-25:
Today (Tuesday) we travelled into Oxford and visited the Bodleian Treasures exhibition in the Weston Library. Some spectacular manuscripts, etc. Included a copy of Magna Carta - one was sold for £7 in 1946, another for £16m in 2007. Also a telegram received by a nearby ship from the Titanic saying "Assistance required; struck iceberg" - rather understated, don't you think? Another was a shirt worn under armour that contains the complete Quran. Etc.
We tried to get into the Divinity School and Duke Humphrey's library, and even the Sheldonian, but there was some private event and they all disallowed entry! But I do like the Radcliffe Camera framed by the entrance way into the Bodleian. And the lobby of the Weston Library with a view of the book stacks of the "New Bodleian".
Wednesday, 1-Oct-25:
Another fine day, Wednesday, so we set out again with our trusty NT card in hand, this time to Nuffield Place, the home of Lord Nuffield, aka William Morris. He left school at 15 when his father took ill, starting as a bicycle repair man, then his own bicycle business, then motorbikes, then cars. He emulated Henry Ford, making cars for the masses: in a few short years he went from 300 cars to 55,000, eventually becoming the 4th largest car maker in the world. Also a major philanthropist all his life. He bought this unprepossessing house and added to it in a haphazard fashion, so it's not a "listed" property. Some nice gardens, which his wife liked to potter in. No children.
Nuffield Place is unprepossessing internally, as well as its outside appearance. No Rembrandts or such, but nice cosy furniture, etc. Even the carpets in his bedroom were patched-together car carpet pieces. But he did have an internal telephone system, and a tool cupboard in his bedroom!
Thursday, 2-Oct-25:
About to depart UK, finally there are some Autumn colours just starting. Farewell to Wittenham Clumps. Just managed to grab a photo of the Agatha Christie statue in Wallingford, where she spent most of her life.
Friday, 3-Oct-25:
We boarded our flight back to Perth in the early evening, arriving back (via Hong Kong) late on Saturday, 4-Oct-25.
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Alex Reid
22-Dec-25