Thursday, September 4, 1887
This morning, before breakfast we once again wandered around Windsor, many of the shops were not yet open, but Woolworths was, so we took advantage of their restaurant and had the only shoreside breakfast of the whole cruise. We also found a few nicknacks that we had been searching for during our earlier sure excursions.
After Windsor the only real points of interest are the locks, of which there are, many and one is kept busy throughout the day handling the lines. The countryside was changing from the pastoral towns and villages to London's western industrial sprawl.
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Hurley Lock,Mile 22
130' 8 " long a width of 19' 11 " wide a rise of 3' 5 ", and a draft of 6' 2 "
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Close to Kris Cruisers, looking across the Thames to Windsor Castle you pass a prohibited mooring area which belongs to the Queen. As we cruised long side Ham Island,, cruising towards Old Windsor Lock we passed under Ham Bridge Which has a clearance of 15'-9 ",
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Old Windsor Lock, Mile 20.2
134' long ,17' 10 " wide, with a rise of 5' 9 " and a draft of 5' 6 "
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This lock is situated on the new cut, saving almost a half mile from the route of yesteryear, when one had to navigate the twisting stream behind Ham Island. It is encumbant on the visitor to remember the strict speed limit on the Thames as there is much new construction and those computer printed no mooring sign also mean that they are ill disposed to wake.
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Bell Weir Lock Mile 17.5
257' 7 " long, 245 " wide draft of 8' 7 " and a rise of 6'
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Bell Wier Lock has the Runneymead Hotel close by for those who have developed a shoreside thirst or hunger. It is here that both the M25 and the A30 motorways cross the river, again breaking the silence of the river, to which we had both come to love.
We now came to Staines which is close by Heathrow, where Edgar watched a Concorde taking off, it was only the second time that he had seen a Concorde the other time was on the ground at the airport when we first arrived.
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Penton Hook Lock, Mile 15
266' 8 " long by 24' 10 " wide, with a draft of 8' 5 " and a rise of 4'
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