Today Is Tomorrow's History
The annual Swan Upping event on the River Thames, started on Monday at Sunbury Lock in Surrey. I grabbed my camera, jumped on my bike again and followed the flotilla on the first leg, through to the Swan pub in Staines.
Today is the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British & Allies soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. The British Admiralty requisitioned privately owned pleasure cruisers to shuttle evacuees from the beaches to the waiting battle ships. They aimed to evacuate 20,000-30,000 troops, but ended up rescuing over 300,000, which gave a major boost to the British moral, leading to the coining of the phrase “Dunkirk Spirit”.
Over 60 Little Ships set off from Ramsgate this morning (May 21, 2025) heading to Dunkirk for this anniversary crossing, the first for ten years, as COVID put paid to the 80th anniversary in 2020. Sadly, this is the first crossing that won’t feature any veterans of the war.
I came across these paragliders, down by the coast a couple of weeks ago, and watched in awe as they took off around me. I like to keep my feet firmly on the ground so could only admire them as they jumped off the cliff, with only a big sheet to keep them from crashing into the rocks and sea below!
We were lucky to have two of the London 2012 Olympic events take place in Surrey, and the Men’s Road Race was equally as well supported as the Time Trial. I once again I grabbed my camera, jumped on my bike, this time accompanied by Mrs Doug, and followed the River Wey to Byfleet, where the road race crossed over the M25 (via a bridge.)
Read on to see more photos, and to find out how my wife ended up as “pacesetter” for the Men’s race.
When I heard that a man was sailing a charity box that he had converted into a boat, from Henley-on-Thames to Shepperton, I just had to grab my camera bag, hop on my bike and go and see what this was all about.
The annual swan upping event on the River Thames took place again in July, where hopes were high for an improved count over last year, when avian flu had badly affected bird numbers. This year, however, the flooding and high river levels will have washed away many nests, although some may be rebuilt later in the season, resulting in a lower count than might be expected, but still improved on last year.
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