A Day on the River Thames with Captain Mary

I was woken up by movement in the main cabin at 7 a.m. Sara got up early and walked into Windsor to sort out the car ticket problem and buy bread from the bakery (for the swans!) and Sunday newspapers (for us humans!) Breakfast consisted of tea and a Melton Mowbray pork pie covered in mustard - David's favourite. We actually grazed on fresh fruit. At around 9.30 a.m we weighed anchor and set off up river towards Marlow negotiating several locks in the process. Tom and Mary (and I) had a turn at the wheel and Tom and I assisted with the mooring ropes through the locks. We were certainly "learning the ropes" today! This is a particularly lovely stretch of the Thames with some magnificent and clearly very expensive (and expansive) houses on its banks. We moored at the Ferry Inn at Cookham and had a light lunch - in my case tagliatelle with crab and tiger prawns. Sara had a chicken salad and the children a pizza. Another boat pulled up with a member of the crew dressed in a naval captain's dress uniform and cocked hat insisting that he was an admiral. Not sure he appreciated being put right on that! We motored up river and finally, at about 3.30 p.m. moored up river at Marlow Bridge for the night. After tea and ginger cookies everybody either had a nap or read or, in my case, set about writing up my blog for yesterday and the events of today so far and finished reading my ironic book "Sink the Belgrano". After another half an hour of "chilling out" we locked up the boat and strolled along the river and through the adjacent park where Christy got a glimpse of her first cricket match and took some photos. We found an excellent Indian restaurant - The Tiger Garden - in West Street. The restaurant was actually closed when we arrived at 5.50 p.m. but as they opened at 6 p.m. they let us in and showed us to a table. The portions were very generous and the food excellent. After the meal was bid Sara and the children farewell as they stepped into a taxi to be taken back to Windsor to pick up the car. From there Sara would drive back to Winterslow. In fact they got back to Windsor at 8 p.m. Lee and Christy went off on their own to explore Marlow whilst David, Andrea and I walked back along the High Street and past the church where the congregation were coming out after evensong. The church looked absolutely beautiful floodlit in the twilight - such an attractive spire. We walked a little on the chain suspension bridge - one of only two still in existence built by the engineer William Tierney Clark in 1832 (the other one spanning the River Danube between Buda and Pest). We returned to the boat all feeling very replete and tired. We sat in the main cabin reading books, newspapers and chatting until Lee and Christy returned. Then bed.