Three Men in a Boat

In total, we have raised just over £700 for Myton Hospice + the collecting pots we had with us on the journey.

If you haven’t yet donated, we are still accepting sponsorship.

We made it.

We set off from Runnymede at around 9.30am, after being given tea, and a kind donation from a canal boat at the neighbouring mooring.

Excited for the final push to the finishing line in Walton-on-Thames, we rowed out of Runnymede, into Staines, and through our penultimate Lock before the scenery changed as we saw the beginning of Walton-on-Thames.

In the final mile after our last Lock, we rowed into the bustling town of Walton-on-Thames and saw Tom Balm from Thames Skiff Hire waving us into the landing stage. We had arrived.

When we arrived in Walton, we spoke to Tom Balm from Thames Skiff Hire about the oar which had fractured on Day 1. He was extremely generous. He decided that because we were raising money for charity, he wouldn’t charge us for the repair of the oar.

Overall the trip from Oxford has been eventful, but overall, it has been a great success - especially since we have been able to raise money for Myton Hospice.

We had a slightly easier day today, having made excellent progress over the last three days.

We discovered when we woke up that we had been moored just meters from Dorney Lake, the setting for the 2012 Olympic Rowing tournaments. We were even lucky enough to observe a Team GB early morning rowing session.

We set off slightly later today at 10am, and rowed into Windsor, mooring up just before Romney Lock.

We spent most of the day in Windsor, collecting donations, and exploring the hostoric town.

At around 3pm we left Windsor and travelled the 9 miles to our mooring for the night in Runnymede (just outside Staines).

On our way through Old Windsor Locke we had a slightly close call, when, while one of us was conversing with the Lock Keeper, the other two inadvertently drifted off, and had to paddle back to collect the third man.

Today has brought us within spitting distance of our final destination in Walton-on-Thames - only 8 miles to go! - hopefully we won’t have any mishaps tonight or on the way tomorrow morning!

We woke up later this morning, having made excellent progress yesterday.

We set off from our mooring between Wargrave and Henley at about 9.15am having aranged with Tom Balm from Thames Skiff Hire to pick up a new set of rowing blades in Marlow at around lunch time.

We rowed through Henley, and made a record time (haha!) of 20 minutes down the Henley Regatta Course - the Skiff World Championships having been held there the night before.

We continued to row on until just before Hurley, where we spotted a boat with a giant ice cream on top sporting the slogan ‘The Ice Cream of the Future’ so we decides to pull up for a quick ice cream break. After receiving a generous donation from the owner we were underway again, and soon reached the pretty town on Marlow. We picked up our replacement oars at Marlow Lock and contued on our way at much quicker pace, now with our full complement of oars.

We travelled through Cookham, and then headed into Maidenhead, with two off us rowing at over 6 miles an hour.

At Boutler’s Lock in Maidenhead we met a group of extremely friendly motor boaters, who gave us some provisions, and a canal boat who gave an extremely generous donation.

We rowed on through Eton and moored up just outside Windsor for the night at about 8pm.

We have again made excellent progress, having planned to stop in Windsor tomorrow night.

We had another day of great progress today. We woke up at 7am to pack away the tent and repack the boat and get away as quick as we could. After a hasty breakfast, we set off amongst a group of skulls, and rowing boats from a local rowing club, and did our best to keep up - that didn’t last long!

After a half day of rowing we had moved through Moulsford to Goring. At Goring we moored up outside what we were informed was George Michael’s home, and two of is went to get matches for the stove and provisions.

After a hasty lunch of ham and some bread we rowed on through Whitchurch-on-Thames, Pangbourne, and Purley, traveling past what seemed like a never ending river fair.

We entered Reading way ahead of schedule, at about 2pm, having expected to spend the night just past. We saw some school colleagues on the river bank at the festival, and had a brief conversation. As we moved into central Reading the wind and the rain started up causing us too come perilously close to capsizing. After this close call we decided to moor next to Caversham bridge, and put the cover down to escape the wet. After about half an hour we noticed that the clouds were being replaced by a beautiful blue sky, so we decided to move off in another ten minutes.

At 4pm we left Reading, passing stopping off at the riverside TESCO - a very exciting stop!

Soon we were again underway, and were mixed up amongst huge vessels and more rowing boats and skulls, who enjoyed watching us struggle to keep up, but eventually they pulled away.

After another two locks, we passed through Sonning, and Wargrave - ending up at Henley-on-Thames for the night (after half an hour searching for a mooring - the best ones having been taken!). This had initially been our stop for Lunch tomorrow, so we really are making good progress!

We set off from Oxford at around 11am and made excellent progress, travelling 20miles (5miles more than anticipated). We had an interesting time getting used to the boat and the locks, but we have settled in well.

We had a flighty unfortunate mishap, when a fallen tree, lying just beneath the surface of the river caught one of our oars, and caused it to fracture. Having discussed our options with Tom Balm from Thames Skiff Hire, he suggested that we continue on our route using only two oars until monday.

Even though we have suffered this set back we managed to arrive in Wallingford, Moor our boat, and set up the tent by 7.30pm; ready to get a good night of rest, before we travel to Sonning, and then past Reading.

In August myself and three others will be rowing from Walton-on-Thames to Oxford in aid of Myton Hospices.

We will be updating this blog before and during the journey.

To find out more and donate visit http://www.streeten.me/threemeninaboat/ or e-mail threemeninaboat@me.com

We welcome any donations by paypal (you can use the widget below), or if you want to send a cheque to us just e-mail threemeninaboat@me.com for details.