Day 8. 18 miles. 8 hours. Long day.

Day 8.  Windsor to Walton on Thames, 18 miles and 6 locks.  Its been spectacular weather today. Wonderfully sunny with a cool breeze this morning, warm and cloudy this afternoon. However we have had a long day. Yesterday the Eton Excelsior Rowing Club were most helpful when we were struggling to find a safe place to leave the boat, however it was 2.5 miles upstream of where we were staying. So this morning we had to add 2.5 miles onto our days total row.  We managed to catch up, covering 18 miles overall, but it was a very long and hard day of rowing. We started at 9.30am, and finished at 6.30pm, with only two 30 minute breaks (other than locks).  We are now staying at The Weir pub in Walton-on-Thames.   

We rowed past Windsor Castle, under the M25 and under the M3. Inside the M25 the riverside has got noticeably more developed and urban.  The huge houses on the river banks in huge perfectly manicured gardens (the size of a field) have changed into the same but with slightly smaller gardens. There was not a lot of traffic on the river but the boats we did see are getting bigger and bigger.  The river still has a magic stillness end the wildlife endures.  We often see cormorants, swans, many types of geese, ducks, coots and moorhens - many with young chicks in tow.  

We have confused lock keepers all the way down the river by our nifty way of entering locks - we paddle in backwards. So what they see is a rowing boat approaching, then turning 180 degrees (this is the point they assume we are not entering), but then we bring in our blades (rowing speak for oars) and fold in our outriggers, before getting out a couple


of old canoe paddles and paddling in backwards (which is facing forwards for us as you row facing backwards).  The lock keepers are getting gradually more grumpy as we head down the Thames and they seem to find our strange antics ( paddling a boat backwards into the lock) more irritating than amusing. Dad still manages to win them all by telling them all about our mission and by the time we leave the lock they are smiling and wishing us well.  

Today we reached our Just Giving fundraising target of £1,000.  A huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored us and supported our row. Special thanks to the family, mum and Aunty June for their long-standing support of Dads challenges (and who are waiting for us tomorrow night at Chiswick), Uncle Doug (dads brother who has been superb logistical support) and Daniel and Aiden for living without mum for a week. Also, Thank you to Sophie for looking after the boys and Chris for charts of the tidal Thames and coming to support us with snacks galore yesterday.  

Two more days to go. We enter the tidal part of the Thames tomorrow. 


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