Hedsor Water Cruise 2024

​Hedsor Water Cruise 2024

Report by: Sally Chiverton

At 10 am on Friday 7th June, Scotch Mist, Lady Farrington and Zephyr left Penton Hook Marina enroute to Baths Island, Windsor, whereupon we moored up and enjoyed a late lunch on the river bank in the sunshine. Tony’s initial concerns of having to cruise solo up to Windsor on account of Sharon having to work on the Friday, were resolved when Tracie and Nick offered to crew on Scotch Mist for the weekend.

After a lazy afternoon, we set off for a delicious dinner at Prezzo in Windsor that was further enhanced by Mandy’s Gourmet card which provided a 25% discount on all the food and wine. Thanks again Mandy!

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Our initial panic that this weekend was the Windsor Triathlon Competition with approx. 2.5K swimmers, was calmed by the subsequent discovery that though there might be a few swimmers from 6-8 a.m. on Saturday, the main event was on Sunday … phew!

We duly departed Baths Island and after a pleasant cruise, arrived early afternoon at Hedsor Water. The afternoon’s schedule had to be adapted to another riverbank lunch as the Lockie, i.e. he who knows the combination lock number for the gate to exit the lock island, had just gone to lunch!
All was not lost however, as we played silly games and made helicopters on the river bank which, I think, everyone enjoyed.

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Back on schedule, we dined on our
respective boats before gathering onboard Scotch Mist for Gin Tasting.
A variety of gins and palate
cleansers/nibbles were presented and everyone was encouraged to taste whatever they fancied, and score the gin either with emoji’s or numbers, according to it being:
❖ Horrible
❖ Drinkable
❖ Quite nice
❖ Delicious

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Ultimately, there were 9 different Gins, of which the two clear winners were Whitley Neill – Rhubarb & Ginger and the Commodore’s favourite which was the Gordon’s London Dry White Peach Gin

On Sunday, unfortunately, Lady Farrington had to leave Hedsor Water at 10 a.m. to attend a special family event, but everyone else set off for a delicious roast dinner at The Ferry in Cookham whereupon we were joined by Martin, Emilia, Edward and Tobi who then came back to the mooring to share our Afternoon Banquet of cakes and puddings.

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After we had said goodbye to our day visitors, we settled down for an evening of games on Zephyr.
The Magnetic Chess was the favourite.
Bright and early at 7.30 a.m. on Monday morning, Scotch Mist left Hedsor Water as her crew had to get home quickly to refuel and restock prior to their joining the South Coast Cruise on Wednesday.  ​

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Zephyr enjoyed a more leisurely start and left Hedsor Water just before 10 a.m. before reuniting with Lady Farrington who had been moored overnight at Windsor Marina, whilst attending the family event. The final stop was for lunch at the Runnymede Memorial Park.
All the boats were safely back on their home mooring at Penton Hook Marina by 6 p.m.