were to go no further. The water was running so fast
that they had put up red warning boards and we were
advised that it would be very dangerous for us to try
to make it up the river any further. We would have to
wait where we were until the water went down and the
stream slowed.
...and so we learned to love Teddington. Well sort of.
The thing is, if you're going to be stuck anywhere for
two months, Teddington's a pretty civilised choice.
The trouble was, we had no electricity (no lights,
etc.), no toilet, no washing facilities... So while
Teddington was very civilised, we looked like
something out of the dark ages and were shunned
accordingly.
It was very peaceful though, living by the woods,
listening to the lapping of the water against the
hull, and the sound of the birds singing (well except
for those bloody geese!). To be honest, just a few
minutes of Eastenders would have been lovely, but
that's just me.
A moment at this point to mention just how lovely
Sally Woodward is. Sally and Tony have a Humber Barge
called Daybreak which they have moored at Staines.
They restored and converted Daybreak from scratch, and
have converted her to sail so they often take her out
to sea and sail around the coast. Anyway, Sally came
to visit early in January, bearing cake and words of
encouragement. It wasn't until she came that we
realised just how much we needed those words,
everyone's been great but it takes someone like Sally
who doesn't look at you like you've lost the plot to
bring back a sense of normality.
Saturday 24th February
So today we moved the boat up to Penton Hook Marina at
last. Hurrah! The trip up river from Teddington all
went very well really. Only bumped into a few things
on the way into the locks (that's why they put up
those wooden barriers surely) and we managed to get
into the marina almost perfectly with the help of some
crib sheet copies of Edward Burrell's drawings.
We had some marvellous friends to help; Richard and
Ray came along again to finish the trip they began
with us at Grays on New Year's Day. Also the Wood
boys, Tom and Tom joined us on our adventure.
It's so lovely here. We have electricity (without the
noise of a generator), water, showers, wifi internet
access and the ability to curl up on the sofa together
and watch a movie, which really helps to make it feel
like home.
We even have a cooker, which, OK... we can't actually
use yet until we can get the gas plumbed properly, but
we have one, donated (can you believe it) by Carl and
Debbie who have a fabulous barge, "De Hoop Concordia",
moored just around the corner. We also have lovely
neighbours and now we can start the process of sorting
out the living accommodation, which was all a bit
tricky at Teddington.
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