On the Wey.

From Teddington to Weybridge,

through Kingston and past Ravens Ait.

As an eighteen year old I was working on this island, it was then a training centre for the sea cadets and I was the cook, the top two windows are in what was the galley. The only time I've lived on an island.

We decided not to stop at Hampton Court, we've done it to death over the years.

Enough mistletoe on this tree to last a few Christmas'.

Garrick's Temple, it was built by the eighteenth century actor manager David Garrick to celebrate the genius of Shakespeare. It is beside the river at Hampton.

After the canals the locks seem huge and you need to master the art of lassoing the lock side bollards, we definitely need more practice. This is Sunbury Lock looming at us.

Some of the riverside gardens have rather odd inhabitants, I presume they are rich eccentrics.

At Walton on Thames they are building a new bridge, it appears that during WWII the Nazis were unkind enough to bomb the old one. In 1956 a temporary bridge was installed and they have now got around to replacing it, and I thought they were slow getting things done in Devon. Surrey also appears to know the meaning of "dreckly".

At Weybridge we hung a swift left and headed for Thames Lock.

We have paid our dues to the lockie, negotiated the rather fearsome lock and are now on the River Wey Navigation, opened in 1653.

Watch this space.............