A Garden in Marlow

Whilst we've been moored on the meadow at Medmenham we've not been lazy ... George has washed and polished Still Rockin', I've been sorting out winter clothes, shoes etc. and catching up on the blog.

The weather has continued to be very cold with temperatures most mornings around 0°c as it was on Saturday (27th October) at 8 o'clock

We've also been searching the internet for travel insurance, not always easy when you get to 'a certain age' and are intending to have an extended foreign holiday.  Not sorted yet, but need it to be very soon.

Yesterday (30th) we took the bus into Marlow and found this ...

We've walked this way many times but not noticed it before ...

so of course we had to go inside for a look-see

The garden was created by Kenneth Balfour in memory of his mother.

I have tried to find out on the internet how this amazing sundial works ... without success.

The red brick house to which the garden probably belonged can be seen in the background

We walked round the streets to the front of the house ... Marlow Place, a grade I listed building built in 1721 and used by the then Prince of Wales temporarily at that time

This lovely building as you can see has now been converted to offices and is 'To Let'.

We'll be on our way again tomorrow ... guess where to ...

Our Penultimate Summer Cruise

Although we were up early this morning (Friday 26th) seeing off our visitors of yesterday, we were in no rush to leave Marlow and we're not going too far.

It was overcast and very cold, much colder than yesterday.

Hitching a ride!

This beautiful little bird, a female Grey Wagtail

sat on our navigation lights for a good few minutes

An hour after setting off we're passing below Danesfield House Hotel

and Medmenham Abbey

By 11:15 we're safely in our favourite (except for the goose poo) mooring on Medmenham Meadows

with lovely open views all around us

It was very windy but the sun was out and my washing dried on the back deck in no time at all ... I love it when that happens!

Lovely light as I look over the meadow up towards Westfield Farm at 5:45pm.

We're here for a few days.

It's good to spend the day with friends

It was another quiet day for us on Wednesday (24th) October, very cold outside.  

We walked into Marlow again and was offered in the street a sample green mint tea from a young lady with a tray of them.  George declined but I accepted a cup and it was really nice, it had a peach flavour to it.  The young lady then told us the tea was a gift from Bill's and gave me a little card offering a bottle of wine (up to the value of £20) when ordering two main meals from the menu.  

We decided to go for a look see ... it'll save me cooking tonight!  Once we'd seen the menu, that it was reasonably priced and a good range of food to choose from we booked a table for the evening.  

We had a really good time and will definitely go again while in our winter mooring.

 The weather looked good for our cruising today.  Although it was bitterly cold ...

 at least the sun was shining and it's only 8 o'clock.

Our visitors arrived at about 9 and we started the day (well our day anyway ... the visitors had been on the road for a couple of hours) with bacon rolls and a cup of tea ...

Here they are!  It's Lisa and David from narrowboat What a Lark, they've come to see what cruising on a wide beam river boat is all about.

We had a wonderful day, lots of chat and even more laughter but I didn't take many pictures, I left that to Lisa and you can see her blog of that day HERE

We cruised to Medmenham meadow for lunch onboard and then back to Marlow 24-hour visitor moorings above the lock by about 4:30 pm.  After a cuppa and a quick wash and brush-up we walked into town to Cote Brasserie Restaurant and had a fine meal together.

Lisa and David were up and away early Friday morning to travel to What a Lark ... there was some washing and polishing to do!

Thank you both for coming to spend the day with us we had such fun and must do it again in the not too distant future.

An Addendum

I forgot about these two photos which I took yesterday when we walked into Marlow from our mooring below the lock ...

How is that standing upright all on its own?

 Just the two end walls standing ... that's what's called 'gutting' a house!  I hope we don't have any strong winds over the next week or so or until there are more wall built.

A very unusual journey to start the day

Monday (22nd) at 8 o'clock the sun was coming up and there was mist rising too ...

as we left our mooring at Cookham, winded to face downstream once more

and headed into the sun!

Getting through the narrow arch of the road bridge was difficult to say the least, but George managed it with a squint of the eyes!

Once through we winded (turned) again ... can I hear you ask 'why?'

Behind our wake as we turn you can see the lock cut ... it's quite narrow ... we need to fill the water tank and if we'd gone into the cut forward there wouldn't have been enough room in the channel to turn and come out again ... 

so we're in reverse ... and it seems a long way!

We can just make out the lock in the distance now (click to enlarge) and know that the water point is just beyond the bush on the right.  It only took eight minutes to reverse down the cut but seemed like an hour!

20 minutes later we're still filling with water as this hire boat comes to join the queue for the water tap ...

and another twenty before we make our way, in forward gear now, out onto the main channel of the Thames

I like how the owner has built his boat-port roof to match his house

They need eyes in the backs of their heads to see what's behind them!

Approaching Bourne End railway bridge where I had hoped to moor and arranged a Tesco delivery ...

but it was not to be ... there is work going on on the railway line and two hoppers taking up space ...

so we continue upstream where we find a new obstacle to work around

Not just a boat-house then!

We were lucky to find a mooring space on the 24-hour visitor moorings below Marlow Lock ... see how calm the river is today.

A glimpse of Marlow church steeple above the lock

and a wonderful sunset after a quiet day on ...

Tuesday ...

We're expecting visitors tomorrow ...