Monday 18-4-11 to Tuesday 3-5-11

Monday we left Marlow and heading for Windsor to collect Luke and Harry, who were coming for one night and a day, from Heidi who had taken them camping for a couple of days, but on Tuesday before we reached Windsor it was decided that it was best to collect them from Bourne End as they were camping near there.  We took them to Cliveden, a NT house and grounds, and after lunch there we went on to Windsor to meet Sam who was coming up to collect the boys.  We stayed in Windsor until Saturday morning and took a guided tour of Eton College as we were so near.  Our next visitors arrived by 11.00am….Lyndsay & Chris.  We took them back to Cliveden House as we had booked a tour on the Sunday.  As the house is a working hotel the tour was quite short but the grounds were excellent and very extensive and Margaret was able to get her annual fix of Bluebells.  We walked a lot of the grounds during our 2 day stay at Cliveden  before taking L & C back to their car at Windsor.  By the end of the day  was feeling unwell and I had a cold developing which was causing a tooth (which is due for extraction) to give me a lot of gip.  Interestingly we met another Goldsborough boat owner, who knew our previous owners, and got chatting to him.  He had taken his boat down the River Severn from Sharpness to Bristol, something we want to do but in the other direction.  He had to have a pilot which is not cheap unless you can go in convoy and share.  He also went out of the Thames estuary and onto the River Medway at Gillingham and down to Tonbridge, and even took it across the wash ending up 9 miles out at sea!!  Tuesday to Friday I was fitting shutters near Woking with Sam and he stayed over with us as it was so near.  Meanwhile Margaret spent most of that time in bed with a temperature and swollen glands.  Friday still in Windsor, watched the wedding while we waited for Amy & Tim to arrive for the weekend.  As it was Emmy’s birthday on Saturday we had decorated the boat with balloons and a union jack for William & Kate.  We took them all to Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed.  It was lovely weather still and the children had a great time on the river bank and we even played party games.  We took them all back to the car at Windsor on Sunday evening after a great weekend.  Monday I caught the train and bus back to the car to get some keys that we needed and Tuesday we went to Windsor Castle which was brilliant and very palatial and we finally left Windsor and headed off to London stopping at Runnymede again for the night.  All these stops are costing a fortune as we are having to pay at a lot of places compared to the canals which are mostly free.