Well, It Was Quiet!!

Hmmm... Windsor we thought! Seems like a nice place to stop! But more of that in a minute, now where were we? Oh yes, Marlow, it already seems a long time ago. Lots of activity this morning, rowers everywhere, I suspect the statue of Sir Steve here is responsible for some of them and most of the overnighters are leaving the moorings, as are we! A short trundle to the lock, and what's this? It's a queue!! Not seen one of those before. The lock filled, gates opened and out poured about 100 canoes, whatever happened to portage for such craft?

Anyway, in we went, lockie joking about Universes and the like, no idea why? And down and out we went, no sign of any damage to the bottom gate which was hit by my Tom last year. Passing the Longridge National scout boating centre we find our first regatta, rowing races, dragon boats, you know the sort of thing, then what looked like a 1000 canoes, some sort of army canoe marathon going on, then some sort of music festival at Cookham with many plastics in attendance, there was one raft of 4, had we known we may well have come here too, not that I'm a fan of Rick Astley, but I'm sure some of the others would have been worth a listen, maybe we'll take a look next year?

So, Cookham lock and another queue, not sure I like this, but down we go and along Cliveden Reach, I was born about a mile or so from here, the reach has some islands with the most idyllic mooring spots, really quiet and peaceful.

Looking along Cliveden Reach:

And before we know it Boulters Lock, probably the first lock I ever saw, and guess what? No queue!! A bunch of boats lock up, the gates open, the gates close again? There's a bit of commotion and rushing about, the gates open again and 4 or 5 boats come past, but one at the back remains? It transpires that the guy fell in and was now in his boat changing into dry gear, why his wife, who was driving the boat as it went past us couldn't have done this while he changed I shall always wonder, still a bit of excitement for once and a report for the lockie to fill out no doubt.

Onto Bray, passing another regatta and all the expensive houses, the Waterside Inn, Monkey Island Hotel and much more! Straight into a nearly full Bray lock, well it is now! and onto Boveney where we encounter a bit more confusion, no self service board up and no lockie!! I was signalled in by another boater to join the 2 plastics, big ones at that, a bit of a worry that we might no fit, but there was acres of space, well a couple of feet anyway.

Went for water at the bottom to find a pump-out and no tap, than looking behind saw it was in the weir stream at the side of the lock, so a bit of nifty reversing (or lucky if you prefer) against the stream and we topped off the water.

The final bit to Windsor, passing some wildlife:

And so to Windsor, we tie up on the Island just before the railway bridge, lots of boats of all sorts going up and down and all over the place, lots of people in the park on the island picnicking and stuff. great to see it busy.

One of the types of boat:

Off we go into town while it's all still open, about a million tourists to navigate around, but I cope quite well with them, do a bit of shopping and get a jacket I was after from Cotswold Outdoor, didn't know there was one here - honest! £40 off too!! Back to boat to find an enormous family camped out by the boat, a bunch of others shouting rather loudly, and as all the boats go by, well, we were rocking constantly, I was getting a bit fed up with it all, but eventually it all calmed down, people went home and normality is restored, I'll rethink any plan to stop here in future, a nice town, but on a sunny Sunday?

And to cap it all we incur our first mooring fee, not bad I suppose for our fifth day on the river, but £8 a night!!!

Today:    12 miles -     5 locks -     5 hours
So Far:   98 miles -   45 locks -    45 hours

23 Years? You Get Less For Murder!!

First thing today is to turn the boat round and head back downstream, this having been done I see our first parrots of the trip!! More parrots than kingfishers now. There are some menacing black clouds in the vicinity, but these soon morph to dark grey, light grey, white and then clear blue sky. It's quite windy making us crab along a bit from time to time, but quite manageable.

Soon enough we see Marsh Lock and the keeper taking off the self service board, perfect timing yet again!!
We cruise slowly through Henley and take careful note of the sign telling us to keep right and cruise along the regatta course, I was paying particular attention to this because when we came this way last year there was a bit of an altercation with a rowing crew, I wanted to avoid another one.

It was quite difficult as the wind was blowing across and I was trying to keep to one side to allow the two racing eights coming up behind as much room as possible.

A very posh day launch overtook us, in it was a picnic basket with the lid open, showing us the anchor butter and tesco packaged meat, didn't quite live up to the initial expectation. We caught it up again in Hambledon lock, a bit nervy jockeying 20 tons of steel in close proximity to a wooden day launch!!

Below the lock by the old Aston Ferry, (we used to launch our canoes here in days past) there was a cruiser looking for something, no idea as to what, it just kept running search patterns with boat hook on standby. We trundled on quite slowly to Hurley lock where we were signalled in to join a much larger cruiser, I didn't think there was room for the two of us, but there was, keeper always knows best!

Then the short run to Temple lock where old school acquaintance Dave Hemingway was on duty, then in no time at all we were weaving through all the rowing crews to try to get over to the moorings in Marlow. This done, I cleaned assorted wildlife droppings from various parts of the boat and gave the port side a good wash.

The view from our side doors:

Off to Waitrose to replenish stores yet again, we (well Penny really) also had to check out most of the clothes shops in the area, there were quite a few!!

Around 7 our friends Stephen & Tessa appeared, we were off to the George & Dragon for dinner, and very nice it was too. It was also their 23rd wedding anniversary!! Congratulations to them.

Found it a bit tricky getting back to the boat in the dark, one of these days I'll remember to take the torch!!

Today:    10 miles -     4 locks -     4 hours
So Far:   86 miles -   40 locks -    40 hours

Or Worse?

Another double post, don't stop in Goring if you want a good connection!!

Thursday 14th May

Well, a lot of rain has been forecast for today, so we have a number of plans, one of them, as the weather actually looks ok at the time of waking up, is to set off for Goring and reassess the situation there, so set off we did, in pretty overcast conditions, but no rain, and to Goring we went. There was a space on the (quite limited) moorings there, so we tied up, had coffee and watched the rain start, not as heavy as we were led to believe, but persistent nevertheless!!

The view from our side doors:

So, what to do? Only one thing for it, walk up to the station, umbrella in hand and go and kill some time in Reading, we wandered about, bought some bits for the boat that we needed, and some we didn't know we needed!! Had coffee and returned to Goring, it was still raining!! It only eased off and stopped as we went into the evening.

Today:      5 miles -     2 locks -   2.5 hours
So Far:   59 miles -   31 locks -    29 hours


Friday 15th May

Woke up to sunny skies, hooray!! A bit chilly though, had to put on my fleece and wear gloves. Some really good news though, all of the sticky tree sap stuff that we collected in Oxford has been washed off!! The port cabin side is a bit messy from where the rain was splashing dirt from the bank, but on balance a win I think.

A few more boats on the move this morning, I guess some are making up for not doing too much yesterday?
Still pretty peaceful though, cruising by Beale Park, I remember being taken there as a child in the late 60's / early 70's. Through Whitchurch lock, I see they've finished the bridge works here, then to Mapledurham where we made good use of the pump-out facility, and bought a spare card to prevent future occurances of the Abingdon incident. On down past Tilehurst and into Caversham, strange how yesterdays train took 15 minutes and today we take about 3 1/2 hours for the same!! Tied up above Sonning lock for a break and a spot of lunch, then onward.

Sonning Bridge:

Penny was looking out for George Clooney, just in case he was out mowing his lawn or something, but no sighting, didn't even know which house it was!!

We topped off the water above Shiplake lock and ended up of some fairly isolated EA moorings between Shiplake and Henley, just past Paul Daniels place, didn't know which one that was either!! Apparently some famous singer lives in one of the houses opposite, but the guy on the boat in front didn't know who!!

Shiplake Lock:

The houses opposite:

A quiet place, maybe a walk along the river in a bit.

Today:    17 miles -     5 locks -     7 hours
So Far:   76 miles -   36 locks -    36 hours

It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This!

Wow! What a superb day weatherwise, I'm feeling the sunburn now as I type.

But what a state the boat's in! We've been moored under a tree and now we're covered in sap and all sorts of muck, it needs a right good clean.

I was keen to get back to cruising after a day and a half, so off we went at 8.30, into Isis Lock along the Sheepwash Channel and onto the Thames, immediately faced with Osney Lock, time to change routine to the keeper operated Thames Locks, and of course rope throwing practice!! We were sharing with an Anglo Welsh rental:

We let the rental go at Abingdon as we wanted to water and stuff at the services there, water we did, but no lockie on duty to sell me a pump out card, good job we're not desperate!! After locking down we tied up for lunch and a visit to Waitrose.

Us tied up:

There was also a bit of wildlife about:

We also saw our first kingfishers of the year, but alas, no photo's!

After restocking of the fridge and the port cellar, we decided to press on for a good bit as the forecast for tomorrow is for the end of the world!! So we don't want to have to cruise too far if the world does happen to end!! We pretty much had the river to ourselves and ended up in Wallingford, a bit of a dodgy mooring, but there wasn't much space left at 6.00 so we had to make do, we also met up with the AW rental again.

Kebabs and stir fry for dinner.. yum!

Now to await the 500 inches of rain forecast for tomorrow!!

Today:    23 miles -     8 locks -   9.5 hours
So Far:   54 miles -   29 locks -  26.5 hours

And a Bit More Oxford

Just returned from our outing to the Jersey Boys, not really my thing, the singing was good, but I was disappointed as I thought most of the music was recorded, turns out it wasn't, the band was just kept out of sight, spoilt it a bit for me as I like to watch musicians strut their stuff!

No pictures today, it was interview day!! Had a laze around first thing and cooked the desired sausage butties with yesterday's market purchase. A really good train service to Reading from here made getting myself to aforementioned interview simple. I think it went well, but who knows? It's not me that has to think it went well!! Watch this space, I should hear something next week.

Got back about 4 to hear about Penny's tour of Oxford's shops, them off for a pre theatre meal and back to the start of the post!!

Some missing Spanish vocab from yesterday:
esclusar
puerta de esclusar
esclusaroesclusera - can't wait to hear my tutor have a go at this one!!

Finally, I can't believe there's been another quake in Nepal! I've spent time in Namche Bazaar too, really brings it home. I'd like to end with a note from my friend Mani in Nepal which I received on Sunday:

"Still we feel earthquake two-three times, everyday"

He is off to his home village as his home has been damaged, he, with his company is helping as volunteers with earthquake victims in another village. Please, if you are able, donate something to help.

Oxford

A slight change to our original plan! We were going to turn right at Duke's Lock into Duke's Cut and head upstream on the Thames to Lechlade, but owing to me having to attend an interview for a potential contract position at the end of June, we find ourselves tied up in Oxford so I can get a train to the interview tomorrow morning.

Set off at around 9 this morning, after a much better nights sleep. I really fancied a sausage or bacon butty for breakfast, but owing to us not having either in stock and me not being able to face any more granola, I settled for just coffee. A beautiful morning and a complete contrast to yesterday afternoon as we only saw 3 moving boats on the cruise from Thrupp to Oxford. Nothing really of note to report, other than we filled with water at the slowest tap in the world, still we were able to make coffee while we were filling. We arrived to our pick of moorings above Isis Lock in Oxford just before 12.

Looking towards Isis Lock:

After emptying the fridge of potential candidates for lunch, we set off for a walk, firstly along one of the Thames streams to Christchurch Meadows via Folly Bridge, then into the City proper.

Folly Bridge:

Christchurch College:

There really is some stunning architecture in Oxford, 99% is college related.

We picked up a few essential provisions, including a stunning looking pork pie from the market, paid our regular visit to the fudge shop, managing to restrain ourselves to just 2 slices this time. They were in the process of making a new batch, watched it being poured onto the slab to cool.

We passed the theatre, Penny bought 2 tickets for the Jersey Boys which is opening tomorrow night, we checked out the cinema, were off to see Spooks tonight, followed by a meal out! Well, we are on holiday.

El miercoles, iremos al Tamesis. Pasaremos cinco dias en el Tamesis, dirigiremos a Shepperton.
Algunos vocabularios:
el barco
los rios
los canales
el puente
la cuerda
amarrar
el pato
los patitios
el cisne
la oca

Today:      6 miles -   4  locks -   3 hours
So Far:   31 miles -   21 locks - 17 hours

Thar.. Be Treasure!!

Saturday 9th May

Couldn't get any internet signal last night, so a double post tonight!! Can you take it?

So, Banbury, I quite like Banbury, it's got some interesting old buildings and seems to have a lot of history.

After breakfast we decided (it wasn't raining!!) to do a treasure hunt, we've had one on the boat for Banbury for a while now and today seems the opportune moment. For those that don't know, myself and Penny are quite fond of these (www.treasuretrails.co.uk) we find it a good way of exploring some of the towns and villages that we pass through, quite often getting to see bits that we would otherwise ignore, and no, we're not on any commission!! It was all pretty straightforward until clue 18, which turned out to be underneath the fruit & veg stall in the market square, so it was a bit of a thing, me crawling under the tables moving empty boxes about to get at the answer. Anyway, hunt successfully completed, we returned to boat for coffee and then set off. No problem through the lift bridge and lock, then it started raining rather a lot!! Penny retired to book reader and I put up the umbrella. It was heavy but didn't last too long and by the time we got to Grants lock it had stopped and the sun was out. Very windy though, making the boat handling a bit awkward, I was actually quite impressed with Penny's steering into a couple of the locks in the wind, she seems to be doing
things instinctively!! how times have changed!!

We stopped early, in the middle of nowhere, good views, nobody about, peace and quiet, lovely!! So, I set about continuing the works to our dinette, got on really well and it looks a lot better. Still quite a bit to do to get it right, including a trip to Andover in the hope that my good friend Chris will help me make a new table, I understand he's got every woodworking tool known to man, so that should make it a doddle!!

Some nice cod fillets for dinner, some wine, another good day with lots more to come.

Por mis amigos de clase Espanol, vi un barco se llama chubasco, que raro! El tiempo es muy variable, a veces hace sol, a veces llover!! Pasamos un buen tiempo, hasta pronto. Estaremos en Odiham el 23 y 24 de mayo estareis bienvenido venir alli. Espero comprender mi espanol!!

Somewhere I'd like to buy and convert to living accommodation:

 Some Goslings:

 The revised dinette:

 A typical Southern Oxford Canal Lift Bridge:

Today:    8 miles - 5  locks -  4 hours
So Far: 13 miles - 9  locks -  7 hours


Sunday 10th May

Neither of us slept particularly well last night, no idea as to why, so inevitably we eventually fell asleep and didn't want to get up!! Get up we did only to find that one of our aquatic friends had spent the night on the back, literally spreading muck all over the place!! So job number 1 was to clean up.

Mysteriously, the lift bridge we were moored near had been dropped overnight, I wonder why? As I was getting ready to go, I noticed a boat approaching, so, perhaps naughtily? rushed to get going in front of it, after all Somerton Deep lock was just around the corner and I didn't want to wait while we turned it round.

A bit windy and overcast this morning, but no problems with the boat handling. A few more boats about today, but straightforward cruising..... until pigeon lock where we arrived to find 3 boats queued to go down, where the hell did they all come from?? There was no room on the lock landing so we had to hang around alongside a moored boat, when we moved onto the landing we took advantage of the delay and had a bit of lunch. There were a couple of boats waiting to come up at Bakers lock, and all of a sudden the canal felt very busy, lots of boats about. Nearly had a bit of a moment on the twisty bit of the Cherwell below Bakers with an oncoming rental that didn't see us, they went aground and we sailed off into the distance.

Arrived at Shipton Weir lock:

An unusual shape, built like this to allow extra water into the pound below, as the next lock is much deeper.

Arrived at Thrupp, there was a bit of an incident where I thought my foot was going to get badly crushed when we tried using it as a fender, but no harm done, a reminder that care must be taken at all time though, canals can be dangerous.

Tonights mooring in Thrupp:

Penny took me to Annies for cake, the nice sounding coffee & walnut was so nice there was none left, so I settled for double chocolate. Some dark clouds about now, but it still hasn't rained, I even had to water the petunias.

No works to the dinette tonight, a quiet night in, looking forward to gammon steaks for dinner, no Spanish for my classmates either, maybe tomorrow!!

Today:    12 miles -   8  locks -  7 hours
So Far:   25 miles - 17  locks - 14 hours