Wednesday, March 30
Boating on the Thames
On the Thames in Datchet there is an establishment called Kris Cruisers that offers boats for hire. We'd been having sunny days and decided to try our weather luck and hire a boat for the day. 
We did not have perfect sunny weather; but we did not get rained on and the sun broke through a few times.
We started off at about 0945 and headed towards Windsor and points beyond. We made it as far as Maidenhead by 1300 and stopped for lunch in a pub. After lunch we headed back down river. We were able to make it past Datchet to Old Windsor before we needed to turn back in order to return the boat on time.
If you were to look at a map of the Thames, you'd see we didn't go particularly far. These boats are cruisers, not speed boats. We did five mph tops. Though the speed was slow, it was very pleasant. I would not have wanted to speed up the river, though I'm pretty sure that a couple of members of the party would have been happy to have picked up the speed a bit.
We went through four locks, enjoying the process of filling on our way upriver and emptying on our way down. The lock operators quit for the day at 1700, so Steve and John got to do the last lock we went through by themselves.
It was a very agreeable way to pass the day. Perhaps some day we will be able to hire a boat for a week and make it even further upriver, perhaps in the fashion of Three Men in a Boat.
The photo included here is Windsor Castle as seen from the Thames (headed back towards Datchet). For more photos of the day, including a larger copy of the Windsor Castle shot, click here.
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We did not have perfect sunny weather; but we did not get rained on and the sun broke through a few times. We started off at about 0945 and headed towards Windsor and points beyond. We made it as far as Maidenhead by 1300 and stopped for lunch in a pub. After lunch we headed back down river. We were able to make it past Datchet to Old Windsor before we needed to turn back in order to return the boat on time.
If you were to look at a map of the Thames, you'd see we didn't go particularly far. These boats are cruisers, not speed boats. We did five mph tops. Though the speed was slow, it was very pleasant. I would not have wanted to speed up the river, though I'm pretty sure that a couple of members of the party would have been happy to have picked up the speed a bit.
We went through four locks, enjoying the process of filling on our way upriver and emptying on our way down. The lock operators quit for the day at 1700, so Steve and John got to do the last lock we went through by themselves.
It was a very agreeable way to pass the day. Perhaps some day we will be able to hire a boat for a week and make it even further upriver, perhaps in the fashion of Three Men in a Boat.
The photo included here is Windsor Castle as seen from the Thames (headed back towards Datchet). For more photos of the day, including a larger copy of the Windsor Castle shot, click here.
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