It's the people

It's the people you meet that make a trip down the river specially enjoyable. We ran into Mushroom Paul at Penton Hook lock, in his amazing home-built liveaboard canoe. He has built a long tall cabin on a standard Canadian hull, complete with wood burner, and stabilised it with a platform and a float. The mast carries a jib, and it has the largest centreboard I have ever seen - a huge circular sheet of plywood pivoted between the main hull and the platform. He explained that he didn't know how big a centreboard should be so he made it as large as possible.
Paul's unusual profession in his home in the Cotswolds is carving giant mushrooms with a chainsaw, as garden ornaments. To finance his trip down the river, he was whittling small mushrooms with a Swiss Army knife. I bought a magic mushroom ("Hippy types love them!" he said). His Facebook page is here.
As we arrived at the campsite at Chertsey, a trio departed in a Canadian canoe they had bought on eBay, picking it up in Oxford and paddling all the way down to Richmond, where one of them lives. The aim was to sell it when they arrived, thus scoring a free holiday. Given the extortionate cost of living in Richmond, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they succeeded.
I was very concerned about the weight of all my gear in Snarleyow (not to mention myself hem hem) but they succeeded in cramming all three of them and a mountain of stuff in this one canoe. The only thing they couldn't fit in was a six-pack of beer, which they had to leave with us. That didn't last long...

Rowing down the Thames with the Home Built Boat Rally

A rain-sodden fleet arrives at Reading

So the HBBR rowed, paddled and very occasionally sailed from the Thames Boat Show at Beale Park, near Pangbourne, downstream to Walton.
The first leg was miserable, in the teeth of an easterly gale of wind and rain, but we had to do it because campsites with moorings are rare on the lower reaches of the river and we couldn't afford to mess about. So we got soaked, although we still managed to light the barbecue at the first stop in Reading.

Watching the girls row by at Henley

The next couple of days were fabulous. Sunny weather to Henley, where we pitched in the grounds of Upper Thames RC and watched the girls practicing for their regatta this weekend.

Paul Hadley shelters from the rain under a bridge

Then down to Marlow where we stayed at the brilliant Longridge adventure centre, which was heaving with kids climbing, kayaking, dragon boating and generally having a great time. Next stop was remote Boveney Lock. Then the weather turned nasty again for a drenching row to Chertsey where we stayed at a campsite for monster motorhomes.

Damp but cheerful at Chertsey

Finally, a gentle amble to Walton where we pulled out and took a minibus back to Beale to fetch our cars and trailers.

HBBR rafting up to pull out at Walton

It was brilliant. More later.