DogsBody
Well-Known Member
Had our first trip of the year on Unwinder this weekend and as the weather was so lovely, I thought I'd post a few pictures for those whose boats are still winterised.
The plan for the weekend was for a trip up to Cookham, where Ms DogsBody was having a birthday celebration with some friends. So after re-commissioning Unwinder and gingerly turning the engine keys both engines sprung to life first time with nothing more serious than a dripping water pump (which soon stopped) and a non working rev counter (which after a burnt finger - found a short circuit - and swapped gauges was still not working), not bad by our standards.
While I was busy doing all this Ms DogsBody had gone into Windsor to spend some of her birthday money, so by 1400h we were underway.
Off up river we went and through Bray lock with no problems, all gauges looking normal (except the rev counter) and only a gentle flow against us on the river. We were soon heading up towards Maidenhead, some expensive houses along here belonging to some famous people I believe although I've never seen anyone I recognise in any of them.
A little while longer and we'd made it as far as our second stop of the day Boulters lock. Lovely sunny day and warm under the canvas but chilly when on deck - good job I'm the helmsman!
There has been a lot of pictures posted of this lock recently, showing how it looked in years gone by, so I thought I'd post a couple showing how it is in 2008. Note the EA's new "Lock Unmanned" rising sun sign - which replaces a sign which used to say "Lock Unmanned" and when the keeper was due back - oh well, thats progress I suppose.
This was actually taken on the return trip but as its of Boulters, I thought I'd put it here
There was a post on here the other day about this restaurant. It is in a good place, although we've never eaten in there - put of by the prices and poor menu - but to make it work that landing really needs replacing and some dredging is needed to allow for proper boats to moor.
Having strained to work ourselves through the lock manually (pressing a couple of buttons is hard on the fingers in cold weather), we pushed on up towards Clivedon, one of our favourite stretches of the river and very busy in the summer months.
This is about as close as I got to the almost obligatory "Wake shot" (and a chance to fly the flag for BCC).
Our travelling companions for the weekend, just entering Cookham lock near the end of our epic voyage of some 4 miles.
Thats it for the photos, we had a lovely meal in great company, at a certain Chinese restaurant in Cookham High Street, whose name escapes me and a rather pleasant return trip down river on the Sunday, with what I calculated was about 2 Knots of flow on the river.
Just hoping we get a warm DRY summer, so we can all get out and about on the river more than last year.
Darren.
The plan for the weekend was for a trip up to Cookham, where Ms DogsBody was having a birthday celebration with some friends. So after re-commissioning Unwinder and gingerly turning the engine keys both engines sprung to life first time with nothing more serious than a dripping water pump (which soon stopped) and a non working rev counter (which after a burnt finger - found a short circuit - and swapped gauges was still not working), not bad by our standards.
While I was busy doing all this Ms DogsBody had gone into Windsor to spend some of her birthday money, so by 1400h we were underway.
Off up river we went and through Bray lock with no problems, all gauges looking normal (except the rev counter) and only a gentle flow against us on the river. We were soon heading up towards Maidenhead, some expensive houses along here belonging to some famous people I believe although I've never seen anyone I recognise in any of them.
A little while longer and we'd made it as far as our second stop of the day Boulters lock. Lovely sunny day and warm under the canvas but chilly when on deck - good job I'm the helmsman!
There has been a lot of pictures posted of this lock recently, showing how it looked in years gone by, so I thought I'd post a couple showing how it is in 2008. Note the EA's new "Lock Unmanned" rising sun sign - which replaces a sign which used to say "Lock Unmanned" and when the keeper was due back - oh well, thats progress I suppose.
This was actually taken on the return trip but as its of Boulters, I thought I'd put it here
There was a post on here the other day about this restaurant. It is in a good place, although we've never eaten in there - put of by the prices and poor menu - but to make it work that landing really needs replacing and some dredging is needed to allow for proper boats to moor.
Having strained to work ourselves through the lock manually (pressing a couple of buttons is hard on the fingers in cold weather), we pushed on up towards Clivedon, one of our favourite stretches of the river and very busy in the summer months.
This is about as close as I got to the almost obligatory "Wake shot" (and a chance to fly the flag for BCC).
Our travelling companions for the weekend, just entering Cookham lock near the end of our epic voyage of some 4 miles.
Thats it for the photos, we had a lovely meal in great company, at a certain Chinese restaurant in Cookham High Street, whose name escapes me and a rather pleasant return trip down river on the Sunday, with what I calculated was about 2 Knots of flow on the river.
Just hoping we get a warm DRY summer, so we can all get out and about on the river more than last year.
Darren.
