How’s this for a pretty fine spot for our first night on the Thames, moored outside the gates of Hampton Court?
We looked around the palace and did the maze. The nearby village of East Molesey is well worth a look for its cafes and little shops, we were in no hurry to leave.
In the evening we were mobbed by hungry birds. Sadly, there just wasn’t enough bread to go round. Gulls are fast and daring, they swoop down to snatch bread before other birds can reach it; swans are vicious and grab each others’ necks in their beaks, they bully their way to the front of the crowd and hiss at you if you ignore them; ducks paddle away fast if they do manage to grab a piece of bread. It’s the coots I feel sorry for because they timidly stick to the fringes of the crowd – so I always make a point of flinging food in their direction. Coots are cool.
