Traditional Boat Festival 14th to 16th July 2017

The weather was disappointing on Saturday morning, but the rest of the festival was in hot sometimes humid weather.

The most unusual boat I saw at the show was this Blacksmith’s! A well equipped work station.

An interesting collection of vintage boats were on display here – first three videos of the Royal Barge Gloriana arriving and a military boat arriving and passing the Gloriana.

The commentary during the Festival was professional and also very informative – next after the videos pictures I took of various boats during the show.  There also is an example of the houseboats that were popular at the Regattas in day of old.

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There was an interesting collection of military vehicles

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I am  always fascinated by old cars, and also enjoyed seeing some of these gems arriving on the Marlow Road, great so many have been preserved by enthusiasts.

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Bicycles were also there – amazing how much they have changed over the years

 

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There were plenty of stalls as well, selling and advertising wares

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Almost forgot the amphibious cars – also on Sunday saw my  acquaintance Garrett who always pops over via the river to display his vehicle!

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After an exhausting collection of photos taken over the three days here are some extra photos to celebrate Traditional Boats and old vehicles……….

I have got to practice panning aircraft!

Love Henley……………….xxxx

 

The First Evening at the Henley Festival – outside looking in

This evening the audio was very clear in Fawley Meadows, I also visited the end of New Street as well.

The Festival as you probably know lasts for 5 days.

There are a terrific amount of boats negotiating the river tonight and I took this video of action around the main stage.  It is expensive to see the concert but fun to watch people enjoying themselves. If I was more familiar with Jess Glynne’s songs I would have been able to have enjoyed myself more.

I also saw this gentleman paddling up the river towards the Festival stage! He had illuminated his canoe!

 

Here is a video from You Tube to give you an idea of what Jess sounds like.  The song has almost the same title as a song from the Beatles.

As I moved from New Street on my way to Fawley Meadows I took in the fabulous night sky.

I have made the rest of my pictures into a slide show, hope you enjoy watching it!

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It is good that so many lovely things happen in our town, and a pity that they do not make it cheaper for locals to attend. I think you can get a greatly reduced ticket to get into the site but you do not get to view the stage as far as I know. There were some lovely people watching the performance from the outside in (no view of the artist) The audio was so clear,  I heard on Radio Berkshire that they are hiring or using the same stage set up as Elton John used last year.

So there we have it, on the outside looking in – a great song as well………………….

 

Fawley Meadows before the start of the final day at the Regatta

I took a stroll along the river on the Fawley Meadows side of the Regatta this morning.

Below is a slide show of what could be seen this morning in Fawley Meadows. The catering staff were also queuing up to go to the Stewards Enclosure and Temple Island.

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Things seemed calmer on this side of the river.  A  perfect sunny day to be watching the Regatta by the riverside

Regatta Fireworks

The fireworks tonight seemed to be over very quickly.   Needless to say they were good, even viewed at a distance over some trees!

If you missed the show here are some short videos I took of the display

Hope you enjoyed them, part of the Regatta tradition, just one more day to go on Sunday

We end with the highlights of todays rowing from the You Tube channel

 

 

Regatta today

I visited the Regatta today watching it from a vantage point some way from the start.

The Royal Barge was moored up as usual – looking splendid in every way!

 

The crowds were there as usual to cheer on the competitors

One of the piling boats came past as one stage

Here is a slide show of the shots I took during one race this morining

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Plenty of other craft were taking to the water as well

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The usual narrow boat also tried to creep into the picture, but I think they look strange on the river.  Canal Barges are ok though.

This is the other race that I managed to take pictures of, sorry not sure what teams they were.

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On the Red Lion Lawn moorings was a boat that was used during the Dunkirk evacuations in the Second World War.

Next a slide show of the crowds at the Regatta and making their way from the station to the Regatta. One side of the bridge was out of order when I was there, due to a lorry colliding with it.

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The Regatta is not that popular with all of the residents, especially those that live nearer to the river.  I am used to crowds having worked in London, and enjoy seeing the event from a distance.  I have no intention of dressing up and pay over the odds for a ticket and drinks etc.   I hope that this post has brought you some of the atmosphere at this year’s Royal Regatta. Well from this morning actually!

Below is a typical traffic jam on the Marlow Road with views of the entrance to the Hospitality site on Fawley Meadows.  We need a pedestrian crossing here. I found crossing this morning very difficult with vehicles turning in and out of Swiss Farm, Fawley Meadows and also the Marlow Road.  It is dangerous normally but worse on Regatta days. 

You Tube are covering the whole Regatta Live – is the review of today’s racing!

It is presented from on board the Gloriana – well worth a view!

 

The run up to the Regatta

On Friday when we got off the bus in Hart Street we saw a traction engine and caravan parked up receiving some TLC from enthusiastic engineers!

I noticed on Sunday that they finally resurfaced the end of Kings Road – at long last!  What are the white dots for on one  side of the road?

 

On Saturday we had cyclists 0ut on our roads as usual, but there were some planned events going on in that field as well.  The Regatta Site was hotting up, and plenty of practice was taking place.  I was there enjoying the atmosphere as it developed.  I also noted that they had put scaffolding barriers up on the bridge, that will save accidents occurring, and make people feel more secure as they cross the bridge with the narrow pavements.  Hope you enjoy the slide show below, click to start it off. Pause if you want to look at a picture for longer.

 

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I also returned on Sunday and took some further pictures – these flowers are at the corner of Ravenscroft Road

 

 

The bunting cheers up the streets as well!

The Regatta starts on Wednesday, the streets are already busy with rowers male and female coming and going. The local supermarkets, as usual, are having problems maintaining stocks,  you would think they could anticipate this demand and keep salad and other items topped up?

Here is a brief explanation regarding the Annual Royal Regatta (from Wikipedia)

Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the three other regattas rowed over approximately the same course, Henley Women’s Regatta, Henley Masters Regatta and Henley Town and Visitors’ Regatta, each of which is an entirely separate event.

The regatta lasts for 5 days (Wednesday to Sunday) over the first weekend in July. Races are head-to-head knock out competitions, raced over a course of 1 mile, 550 yards (2,112 m). The regatta regularly attracts international crews to race. The most prestigious event at the regatta is the Grand Challenge Cup for Men’s Eights, which has been awarded since the regatta was first staged.

As the regatta pre-dates any national or international rowing organisation, it has its own rules and organisation, although it is recognised by both British Rowing (the governing body of rowing in England and Wales) and FISA (the International Federation of Rowing Associations). The regatta is organised by a self-electing body of Stewards, who are largely former rowers themselves. Pierre de Coubertin modelled elements of the organisation of the International Olympic Committee on the Henley Stewards.

The regatta is regarded as part of the English social season. As with other events in the season, certain enclosures at the regatta have strict dress codes.

Saturday

On the way to do our green grocery shopping I  walked down Bell Street and took a left turn into New Street.

Some lovely floral baskets on the wall of one of the homes in New Street looked lovely in today’s sunshine.

I got some pictures of the Womens Regatta as well in the Riverside

The zoom to get this was quite extreme and some blurring occurred!

 

 

Below is a panoramic shot of the riverside

 

After crossing the bridge, I took some shots of the river and the Angel Pub

Next the Hobbs boats on the riverside

Some competitors having a practice away from the Women’s Regatta

Then a walk down Friday Street

Into Duke Street, with a view of the old post office, now the sorting office and Laura Ashley

A view down the Reading Raod to Higgs and Co, the offices of the Henley Standard paper.

Finally turning back into town via Duke Street – we are so lucky to be living in such a lovely and picturesque town!