I tend to bang on rather about how lovely it is round here on the south coast of England, with Chichester Harbour, the River Hamble and the Isle of Wight and everything, so yesterday was a total change.
Langstone Cutters took Gladys to meet a bunch of people from Hamble River Rowing to row up the River Itchen.
Now, for most of its length the Itchen is indeed very lovely. It is a noted trout stream burbling gently through chalk downland. But when it reaches Southampton it gets very urban and gritty.
Someone said something about how horrible it all is, and Steve riposted: "How can you say that, with this wonderful view of the allotments?" Then he looked over his shoulder and spotted the vast piles of rusting garbage at a scrap metal quay. "Just when I thought it couldn't get better....," he muttered.
The main picture, supplied by
Hamble River Rowing stalwart Andy Cunningham, captures the ambience. That's Gladys at the extreme right.
And here she is again, moving away from the slipway after lunch. Lunch was a surprise. We went to the
Junction Inn on the recommendation of
Port na Storm blogger Graham Neil, expecting not much from a pub stuck between the railway and the river. But it was great - a superb selection of real ales and a home cooked menu at very reasonable prices.
The prize for most attractive boat on the river goes to Myfanwy, a
Swallowboats Osprey owned by Glyn Ffoulkes.
On Saturday the St Denys Sailing and Rowing Club in Southampton had an open day in their lovely boathouse on the River Itchen. They have a great collection of antique rowing boats, so Langstone Cutters took the antique Solent galley Bembridge along to meet up.
