LEJOG Rest Days in Marshfield (via Wimbeldon)
I spent the weekend with the daughter of my Dad’s best friend from school and her partner. It was great to meet up with them after a year.
After I arrived, we headed off for a couple of pints at the best pub in the village – The Catherine Wheel. This was followed by a great meal and conversation.
Back to Wimbledon
My hosts had tickets for Wimbeldon on Saturday. We woke up very early and headed off to London at great speed. The plan was for my hosts to meet friends from Melbourne at a pub in Wimbeldon Villiage called the Rose and Crown and to have breakfast and watch the Wallabies v British and Irish Lions game that was being played in Melbourne. As chance would have it, this pub is well known to my London hosts. They too were going to the pub to watch the game.
All readers of the post will know the result of the game. What a ripper!!! All looks good for the deciding Test in Sydney next week.
My Marshfield hosts headed off to the tennis and my London hosts and I stayed to watch the tennis in the pub. We were joined by a friend of my London hosts who is workings at a driver, transporting players and officials to and from the All England Club. This is a job with many ‘brushes with the famous’.
On our way back to Marshfield my hosts and I stopped off at the Brilliant Curry Restaurant in Southhall. The food was as the name of the restaurant suggests. The owner of the place is also ‘brilliant’ at self-promotion – check out his web site.
Sailing
The next day my host took me sailing at the Thornbury Sailing club. On the way I was asked if I had ever sailed. I told them about the Northbridge Senior I had as a teenager. I also told them that when I moved to Mosman I got to know the son of the designer and maker of the mast I used on the boat – he is Julian Bethwaite, the designer of the 49’s and 29’s classes. The former is an Olympic class. When we arrived at the club one of the first boats we saw was a 29er, prominently displaying the logo for ‘Bethwaite Design’.
Our sailing was done of a Seafarer 14 foot dingy. It was not quite big enough for 3 middle-aged men. It was also my first experience sailing in a tidal river. Apparently the Seven has the second greatest tidal movement of any river in the world. Sailing with, against and across a 3 knot tide is quite an experience.
We only managed one lap of the course before adjourning to the club house for an Ale. Our skipper told us of his plan to sail his 14 footer around the British Isles, stopping infrequently and sleeping onboard out at sea. Hmmmmm.
In the evening we had a BBQ in the sun the backyard of my host’s house. The end of another great day.
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Good Indian Food
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