A lovely slow glide from Walton on Thames to Teddington today, passing Hampton Court Palace on the way. Poor old Wolsey, building all that and then having to give it to Henry VIII.
We're moored just above Teddington Lock tonight, with a passage booked down onto the tidal Thames at 7.15 tomorrow morning. We're very excited, and a bit nervous too. The books we've got all talk about how casual boaters (which I'm sure we are, very) should take extra care and make sure that they get to Brentford or Limehouse within the very narrow time-window prescribed or risk being "abandoned to the tideway" - which doesn't sound at all nice and makes me want to snuggle under a duvet with a teddy.
The dangers are illustrated with lots of scary stories about 'inexperienced' - or sometimes 'reckless' -boaters being swept away, and it seems that even the ones lucky enough to be rescued get a very stern telling off from the Port of London Authority.
I was thinking we needed to buy armbands and maybe even a small life-raft before setting off, but we've been moored here for two hours now, and have seen boat after boat come up through the lock. No-one's wearing life-jackets - not even toddlers, in most cases - and when I asked one passing skipper if there were big waves, he laughed at me.
So I'm feeling slightly more relaxed now - I still want to be careful, just not neurotic. London, here we come!
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