Cruising on a dull day and a mystery ...

Tuesday (31st May) 07:45 and we're getting ready for the off

... it's dull and cloudy as we cruise downstream towards Egham

passing the pleasure park which has been busy over the weekend

and clumps of flag iris that are now brightening the river banks

First lock of the day is Bell Weir and being only 8am there is no lockie on duty but there is a boat coming up so I don't even have to open the gates ... how luck are we!

I was wondering how they got that boat up there whilst waiting for the lock to empty

Ooh, goody I won't have to close the gates now either!

A bit of manoeuvring needed as we leave Bell Weir and it was here that I went inside to change into some warmer clothes and my gloves!

Approaching Staines under the road and rail bridges

where we notice that the 24-hour visitor moorings have been cleared of the overgrowth, we'll remember this one for the future.

A quick wave as we pass Chris on fuel boat Merchant at his base at J Tims and Sons in Staines

On the approach to Penton Lock the sign indicates that we should swap from right to left presumably to avoid getting in the way of boats leaving the lock.  Again the lock is still on self service and again there is a boat nearly ready to leave.

Californian Poppies seen at the lock

We shared the lock with this cruiser where the helmsman was hidden behind the screen and the dog was doing the navigating!

Chertsey Lock where the roses are in bloom is the last for today

Through the pretty Chertsey Bridge

A mile or so further and we can see our destination, we may just be able to fit in at the front of the Le Boat and were moored up by 10:15. Half an hour later Le Boat was ready to move and we decided to pull back into the space ...

... as the rain came down.

After lunch during a lull in the rain we took the ferry and walked into Weybridge to Morrisons but didn't manage to stay dry!

It rained really heavily and we had to walk down the road a little to get past the large amount of water collected on the bankside to get to Thames Court Hotel where we both had very good steaks and a pudding!

This is the mystery!  It came onto my phone at 17:10 a few seconds after I took the photo above from our table at the hotel.  I can only assume that someone in the vicinity was using either 'air drop' or blue tooth and I ended up with their photo ... it's rather nice but I've no idea where it could be.

Cheers!