Hallmark is serviced and sorted

I had checked with 4Marine yesterday and the work on Hallmark was finished and the boat could be picked up after lunch.  Great................  So it was a question of getting the car at Molesey and then getting to Laleham by public transport.  This would make getting home after the trip so much easier.  I turned to http://www.traveline.org.uk/ for help and it seemed that a bus to from Molesey to Chertsey taking just over an hour and then another to Thorpe Park then a walk along the river would do the biz!.

The buses all worked out brilliantly in fact and I got to Harris Boatyard before Paul was back from his morning delivering a houseboat to the junction of the Wey Navigation with the Basingstoke Canal.
I got the covers off Hallmark and prepared for the three hour cruise back to Molesey.  As there was time this also included a bit of cleaning of Hallmark's hull and some of the mud from travels on the Oxford Canal was finally removed.

Paul finally arrived and confirmed all the required work done. A full engine service has been needed because of the 120 engine hours had been completed on the Thames Ring and the red ignition light had been solved by a new alternator.  He had got Dave to convert one of the front lockers into a generator store but the lock is tight and will need oiling.
Paul offered to help with casting off and there was an delay while he moved a very large and heavy toolbox with the yard's tractor.

I was finally away around 2.00pm which meant with luck I would be through Sunbury lock before it closed at 5.00pm and tied up on the mooring before the light faded.

There were no other  boats around on the trip down to Chertsey and sadly no lock keeper on duty at the lock. But midway through emptying a couple of people arrived and they took over and this enabled me to cruise out leaving them to organise things for their passage upstream.
Once through the lock I passed through the wonderful stone bridge at Chertsey. The trip was going to be quicker downstream because of a slight current but it was already colder than I thought it would be.

Although I have cruised Laleham to Molesey many many times I  love it. There is collections of all sorts of things worth looking at.  Today a sparkling houseboat plus reflection ..............

The Thames downstream of Shepperton lock is a real junction but unlike canals there appear to be no special names for the turns.  Straight after the lock the River Wey and the Wye Navigation join the Thames  and there is the 'original' course to Shepperton village now a 'Thames backwater'. Here are some pictures of the junctions.

I took the 'short way' down the straight Desborough Cut passing first D'Oyly Carte Island passing under a vey high half moon footbridge.
It is then on to Walton Bridge where a new bridge sits alongside the wartime replacement and looks just as ugly.

At this point I always feel I am almost home.  Hallmark chugs passed some wonderful simple riverside residences which are frequently more like huts and camps rather than million pound dwellings.  The 'river for the real people'  is what I always think when I see the view below!

As the journey ends it seems to get colder.  I am glad of a hat but wish my gloves were nearer..........
Sunbury Lock opens as I arrive and the cheery woman lock keeper says how quite it has been all afternoon and that she will be glad to close down for the day.  She knows Hallmark is nearly home and hopes I'll get getting the fire burning brightly on the mooring.
I am soon back at Hallmark's home and after a big turn as close to the end of Platts Eyot I glide carefully on to the mooring and quickly tie up.  Sadly there is going to be no fire lighting! I need to get back to Acton before 7.00pm. I am coming back at the weekend so I decide not to totally clear everything up!.