Just a hop and a skip and a jump ...

It was another warm sunny morning on Tuesday (17 Oct) and we weren't in any rush to move off our mooring in Desborough Chanel

Nice river frontage for the owners of this house

Desborough Sailing Club

Looking back

Sentinel on duty as we approach Desborough Cut which was dug in 1935 to prevent fooding in the area and creating Desborough Island.  The cut provides a more direct route between Walton and Weybridge rather than the convoluted route which we chose to take on Monday.  We will certainly take this much more pleasant route again in the future.

D'oyly Carte House on the Island of the same name was recently sold for £4m and has an interesting past.  The moorings have been here now for quite some time ...

... and I wondered if this was a very old mooring notice from way back when the island was surrounded by moored boats (whether legally or not I don't know) but looking up Eyot House Ltd., company information it looks to be still in business owned by a Chinese company.  Earlier in the year when we passed here we saw a group on Chinese people walking over the private bridge access to the house. So maybe those mooring are available once again.

Once passed the island we can see the pretty gardens of Shepperton

Weybridge visitor mooring here on the left and they look full.  We cruised past the boats to look for a space; there would have been plenty of room if the boats had shared rings so we winded (turned) and pulled in behind this narrowboat.  By mooring up with our ropes 'inwards' we were able to avoid roping up on that first bollard which denotes the National Trust ferry mooring space.

Our journey today to Weybridge was just a hop from last night's mooring and took us just 15 minutes but well worth the effort for these views!

Even more effort needed on Wednesday morning when it took us just a quick 30 minute skip up Shepperton Lock to the Thames Court Hotel which we took advantage of in the evening of course!

Thursday morning (19 Oct) it's a bit of a jump as todays cruising took us nearly 15 minutes!

Riverside property for sale on Pharoe's Island for less that £1m ... bargain!

We were minding our own business travelling upstream on the right-hand-side of the river (correctly) when from round the corner on our side of the river came the huge Thames Venturer.  George pulled even further over to his right and had to sound his horn a couple of time before the helmsman even saw us and was able to take evasive action passing us by about 3' away.  No sooner had he passed us the wide beam above came round the same came corner also on the wrong side of the river.  What's wrong with these people!!

I like these no frills, clear mooring signs, much easier to read and understand than the TVM (Thames Visitor Mooring) signs which are (right) very wordy with terms and conditions etc., that you need to actually moor up for a few minutes to read, digest and action, if you decide to stay, that is.

It was a dull, damp day and stayed that way for the rest of the day

... but the views are ok.

Moving on again tomorrow ... another hop, skip and jump maybe.