Is it a car that floats or a road-going boat? In fact, it’s both. The Gibbs Aquada is the brainchild of New Zealand entrepreneur and art collector Alan Gibbs. Journalist Simon Carr, who knows him, has care of the amazing vehicle for a while and took it out on Tuesday for its first trip on the Thames. I was lucky enough to be taken along for the ride.

Infinitely the best part of the jaunt, from Binsey up to Donnington Bridge and back, was the smiling encouragement from people on the towpath, the majority of whom whipped out their mobiles to capture the moment. Images were soon being posted on Twitter and the like.

Though the jet-powered vehicle is capable of 35 knots, our speed on the river was only a fraction of this (but that on land achieved earlier by Simon was more than double).

For more information (and some astonishing footage of the high speed amphibian in action) go to www.gibbstech.com. For further head-turning sights see some of Alan Gibbs’s sculptures on www.gibbsfarm.org.