Our day started in Cookham, the original plan to hook up with kids from a local school but Health & Safety got in the way, so we set off for Cliveden…

That’s a great bridge to get a full view of the Gloriana, up close and personal!

First lock Cookham which I had to do by hand because it was before 7am when the power kicks in!

The Mrs drove the first leg…

It’s very wide and lots of trees… very Amazonian but the temperature was not quite in the 90s!

This shot was us going up stream the day before… I’d been advised to moor up off Cliveden and use it as a back drop… that’s not really going to work… we’re not expert skippers and there was no obvious mooring place… the weather was cold & wet and we weren’t wearing sunglasses… what’s plan B?

Full steam ahead Mrs… let’s head to Maidenhead and see what we can do about getting a shot around there… perhaps pop in at The Waterside for lunch 😉

Boulter’s Lock… locks allow boats to go over hills, the water level being higher or lower in the next section depending on the geography… can you guess if we are going to go up or down on this lock children!

Correct, we’re going down towards Maidenhead with the flow of the river… that really does make a difference to your speed!

Maidenhead Bridge looks very smart from this angle, I wonder…

Figured let’s moor up and see what the view is like… great shot of Gloriana coming under the Brunel Bridge and towards us… his first I believe! Problem was the broadband around there was technically pants, bouncing between 0 and 1 bar… we need at least a consistent 3 for this video streaming to work… we cruised down river but it remained drizzly and there was no where obvious to moor up for the public… Bray offered the best broadband with 4 but where to park?  Best plan, get down to Windsor and set up for the Sunday, that makes the most sense…

I got parked up right next to the sandy beach area where they planned on bringing the copy of the Magna Carta ashore… you can too…

What a great location, fantastic view of the castle from my patio… I could moor up, the crew could go ashore and do her thing while I sat back and enjoyed the river for 24 hours…

Rag & bone on the river… a bit Mad Max esq… not seen that before! Think I’ll take a wander into town…

The George is celebrating with some Magna Carta on tap… hurrah… The George Inn in Eton has recently been taken on by Windsor & Eton Brewery, their first pub… the bunting is out and the town may be celebrating this more than Magna Carta!

Local school was holding its summer fair… found me a good book to read and an interesting sewing basket which would work very well as a tombola box for the Windsor Business EXPO on 25th June…

This lady must be part of a Morris Dancing team, forgot to ask… but I did love the hat… Windsor Castle’s Round Tower!

These chaps were promoting cannabis oil as a cure for cancer, I’d been reading something only a few days before about a young lad who’s mental condition had been cured through the use of cannabis oil… Google it…

During the afternoon boats rowed down the river… were they heading for safe harbour or to prepare for the gathering at Runnymede on Sunday?

What a great view in the evening after a few pints of Magna Carta and dinner at The George Inn… you can enjoy this very view…

What a great view in the morning for breakfast as the Windsor Triathlon starts preparing for their early morning swim… this was 5am!

For a few hours there was a constant flow of competitors taking to the water for the swim… must have been blinking cold… weather forecast said sunshine with a 20% chance of rain… I should have put a £5 on it… reminded me while I never listen to the weather and just look up 😉

More boats rowing past, must been heading for Runnymede for the gathering…

Plenty of boats going by… there must be so many planning on accompanying Glorianna through Windsor that the extras are pushing on to Runnymede…

Obviously not… and we had to wait 1 hour before the landing boats arrived… I’m sure I wasn’t alone in expecting more and since the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead council paid the lions share of the flotilla costs, it would have been nice to have more of a spectacle?

These boats brought the Magna Carta ashore…

The Magna Carta was created by Mark & Warren from www.warshankbhogunscott.co.uk

There was a poetry joust…

Music was played…

The King addressed the Bishop and the barons and then headed for his launch…

Windsor Boys School rowed Gloriana down to Runneymede

It was an interesting and historic weekend, I only wish the flotilla had been more of a flotilla than a random procession of boats doing their own thing.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures…

Thank you.

Jon