By Monday we were off the River Lee, having stayed put on Sunday as it rained all day. We were hoping to come back into Limehouse Basin by a different route which would have taken us past the Olympic site but due to unfinished towpath improvements that way was closed until the 26th. Instead we moored up just inside the Hertford Union Canal and walked to the site instead. We could see the aquadrome the main stadium the velodrome, the basketball centre the Olympic village and it all looked very advanced.
They had what they called the View Tube. Which was a covered walkway with maps and plans and info on the site the layout and what was going to happen post Olympics and it was all very interesting and we both thought that we would like to be around during the event even though we hadn't got tickets to date. We got to Limehouse basin by 4pm ready for the trip back up the Thames Tideway in the morning. High tide at London Bridge was at 1.30pm and so we had to leave at 10am to get to Teddington Lock (the end of the tidal section) with the rising tide.
It was a beautiful day and very hot not a lot of wind and we were both able to relax more than on the trip down. We had to escort another boat as they did not have the required VHF radio.
The rest of the week was cold windy and quite rainy but we had to press on in order to get back to Reading and to the boat yard that we had chosen to leave Sammy Jo at while we travelled home for Margaret's ear op on Tuesday. We also went back through Henley again and with only 2 weeks to go before the regatta it was very different and busy. The rowing course had been set out down the middle of the river, with with posts and marker buoys and all manner of things in the water. Tents gallore boats everywhere and as it was ladies weekend there was even some racing going on.
So 9 1/2 weeks after the off we are back where we started, but now with the rivers Thames, Lee, Stort, Wey & Godalming Navigation all ticked off the list and also 100 mls, 157 locks and 2 tunnels under our belts. Sunday we all travelled to Roydon by taxi, train, underground, and train, where we collected the car and drove to Kent. Charlie achieved a first by going up the escalator at the Baker Street tube station. Monday Joe became World Squash Champion at his age group at the World Transplant Games. Tuesday Margaret had her ear op....all OK and Joe won a bronze medal in the individual golf at the WTG. Wednesday Margaret a bit spaced out and in the evening John had a cold starting..... with avengance as it turned out.
Thursday we travelled back to the boat arriving about 3.30 pm only to find out that we had left the boat keys at Amy's. At about 7.00pm Sue & Clive went past in Lady Godiva so we agreed to meet them in the morning at their mooring spot just by the pub.
On Friday Joe was on BBC Radio Solent featuring on their Time and Place spot at about 8.20 I also had to send my phone off for repair/replacement after it's dunking in the canal and would you believe it....2hours after backing it up my computer crashed never to start again on this trip. This meant I would not be able to reinstall the phone when I got it back, but luckily the repair co. said they would do it for me. We eat at the pub in the evening and made plans for the next day. Saturday we didn't go to far and ended up staying the night at out lunch spot as it turned out nice. I changed the oil in the engine and Clive had an open air haircut and we watched some tennis. Sunday we moved on to a pub recommended by Timothy West and had lunch with a world squash champion
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