Hampton Court and the trip continues

 We moved on from Kingston and made the very short journey to our next mooring. We managed to squeeze between two breasted up cruisers and a cruise ship the size of the QE2.

Okay--so it`s just a Dutch Barge but looking through our bow doors it appears enormous! The rudder was almost three quarters the height of NB Valerie.

 Not having a view forward didn't bother Jaq as this is a mooring she would not miss for anything. Yes folks it`s Hampton Court Palace that was built for King Henry VIII's favourite, Cardinal Wolsey in 1514. When the Cardinal failed to secure a divorce for Henry from his wife of 24 years, Catherine of Aragon, Henry took away Wolsey's palace and made it his pleasure house with his next wife--Anne Boleyn.


These chimneys at the side of the palace are quite fancy. I won`t say much about the Palace as Jaq spent 7.5 hours in there so I feel in the future a book length blog post will materialise.

 
 An American couple from Michigan U.S.A. needed a mooring so we had them breast up to us for the night. The wife had family in England which they visited each year. She bought the hire boat trip for her husband's birthday present, and they washed up next to us. Jaq enjoyed nattering with other Americans.



This is Molesey lock. As in all the Thames river locks we stay on the boat and the lock keeper stands under his sun shade and operates the sluices and lock doors.


This was our first water fill since being on the Thames. A large diameter hose is supplied and with good water pressure our tank is soon filled.

A quick stop here as we located a large Tesco behind some housing across the green and Jaq wanted Steaks for our grilled steak salad with Balsamic dressing, plus fresh crusty bread...yum. This is a perfect dinner for a sunny evening. If you want the recipe just ask--I'm sure Jaq will oblige.


Blog readers Lisa and David out on their boat Water Lark. They stopped by to introduce themselves. We enjoy meeting blog readers and hope to moor up near you one of these days soon and welcome you aboard for a cuppa and slice of cake. Lisa, start a blog because you know you like the idea!

We are also looking forward to meeting up with Alistair--another of our blog readers as we travel onward toward Lechlade, which  is as far as one can go on the Thames in a large boat.