Dorchester

28.09.15
Today we left Wallingford and a slightly different mooring just downstream of the bridge on an open field, where Pete rescued Polly the dog, who had eagerly hurtled down the steep bank into the water, then realised she couldn't get back and was whining sadly. Pete then struggled to find her owner - a young boy with his rugby ball. Later we found out that Polly was being looked after temporarily by a family and they thanked Pete for rescuing her, saying they believed she had ADHD as she had boundless energy and little fear. That we know. We sat on this bank until dusk, when our neighbours commented on us all getting 'the last rays' before taking our chairs back on board. The weather has definitely turned for the best.

Our next stop was Dorchester on The Thame, a new one for us. We walked the mile into this quiet, pretty village and looked around it's 7th century abbey. Away from the river it was positively hot in the sun and again we positioned our chairs on the bank looking back downstream towards Days Lock and Wittenham Clumps on top of the hill. Another perfect mooring that we will remember for next time.

Night sky in Dorchester

Leaving our last neighbour in the morning around 11am.

More friends

26.09.15
Friends Jacky and Simon joined us in Pangbourne. We met them at the station on this warm sunny day, got back on board and travelled to Beale Park. We moored and had a leisurely BBQ - every small table we possessed passed on to the bank to set the food on. Pangbourne's butchers came up trumps once again with their Cumberland sausages and we'd successfully marinated some chicken with a tandoori style mix Pete had brought from home from his 'kit' of chillies his son had gifted him for his birthday. Yummy.
On to Goring in the fading afternoon sunlight, finishing our wine, we managed to get the last mooring going on the wall before the lock. Jack and Simon kindly agreed to get their train from Goring and Streatley station so that we didn't have to turn around and take them back to Pangbourne. This could have meant us trying to moor up in the dark, which wouldn't have been very clever. This is a lovely stretch of the Thames once again; grand houses with bowling green lawns sweeping down to the water, high banks of trees, kingfishers flashing, kites wheeling and swallows swooping the water. We rounded off our day in the pub before J and S caught their train at 8. Great seeing them and catching up and they are always flatteringly enthusiastic about the boat and our trips together.

Pete and I walked back to the boat in the dark, past George Michael's house (or at least we think we know which is his!), lit the fire and started washing up(lots of it). Pete couldn't get a TV signal for the rugby, so he returned to the pub to watch the England/Wales game. Meanwhile I discovered our fridge had been quietly defrosting itself, so had a fun time mopping puddles on the floor - this has happened before and is because our bank of main switches is on the wall as you come in from the stern- it is all too easy to lean on them without noticing. Obviously the defrosting this time a result of our inebriated swayings as we came in and out throughout the day, oops!

Fading summer

25.09.15
Not only are the leaves drifting down slowly and the first conkers on the ground and the daddy-long-legs inhabiting the boat but the weather clearly tells you we are into autumn - the river and it's banks mist at dusk and the air becomes chilly and damp. Time to batten down the canopies and snuggle in after a warm blue-skied cruise. The well kept lock keepers gardens are fading now too, more seed heads than flower heads. This is a wonderful time of the year to be out on the river.

Boat names - groan

Frayed Knot
P45
Peter-A-Cocup (if anyone can explain this to me, I'd appreciate it!)
Nat and Mrs Woman
Baseplate Oohdalalie (Miss Scarlett and the Rooster)
Rick O'Shea
Corrie D'or
Smile and Wave (which of course we all do!)
Rush no Moor
Rioja Bye Baby
Stougham Hall
Obsession Pays
Inheritance
Firkham Hall
Meand'er
Offerocker
L'eau Life
Costa Fortune
Maid of Ply
Wayfromit Owl
Staines Remover
#wtf
Knot Arf
Not now Kato
Gin and Bare It
Minced Moorhen
Piece of Ship (a tender)
Hair of the Petit Bassett
Aquaholics

And our next boat will be called Scotch Mist - that way we won't have to licence it!!!!

Family and friends

21.09.15
Pete dropped me off by Ravens Ait in Kingston so that I could visit Mum and pick up my car to drive to London to look after my grandson for the day on Friday. Pete turned back to Hampton Court to moor for the night.

After dumping a load of washing on mum (so kind of me) I set off at 4.30pm around the north circular to Haringay, a journey that on a good run takes 1hour 20mins, but took 2hrs 15 at this time of day. So good to see Olly Fran and Rowan at the end of it though.

I returned to the boat the next day, Saturday. Pete had pootled down to Kingston once again and moored by the bridge. We took mum for a trip up to the palace, had lunch onboard and sat in the sun in the bow with a glass or two of wine. Lovely weather for a change, but the river was extremely busy with huge paddle steamers, barges, narrowboats, river cruisers, rowing boats (in a race) and canoes! Ani was rocking merrily on her mooring. Charlie the spaniel from the boat ahead of us was so desperate to get a ball from the water that his owner let him jump in from this sheer sided concrete edged bank and swim for it. A little nerve-wracking as he swam around the outside of our boat to get to the lower pathway to be able to climb out. He did it though, only to let the ball slip back in when he was back standing on the bank. Pete fished it out for him twice, to his owners gratitude. I think the shivering Charlie would not have gone in again.

On Monday, we travelled up to Chertsey lock and picked up our friend Sally in pouring rain. We travelled the great distance to Laleham and had lunch in the Three Horseshoes, meeting Stuart there. A bonus to have Stuart with us - he managed to get away from his work commitments for a couple of hours so the four of us had a mirthful get together with some very nice food and a pint. Great to see them both and they are a mine of information about this stretch of the river and it's inhabitants including the signal crayfish which they catch and eat from time to time, these non-native creatures being a pest in our waters, but apparently very tasty. They have to have a Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries licence to do so though, which sounds a little over the top!

We moored for the night in Runnymede, the rain still upon us for most of the night and into next morning which decided us to have a second cup of tea in the warm and dry and a slow breakfast before the next leg. It's so nice to not be on a tight schedule.

Gordon the cat

14.09.15
We moored behind Church Island on Llamas recreation ground in Staines - a new one for us and away from the town but near enough to pick up shopping. There was only one other boat with us for this windy wet night and we met their ginger cat, Gordon, who was extremely friendly and rolled over obligingly to be stroked as you said hello, as we did. He was very sensibly wearing his life jacket with his name and phone number on it, but this didn't deter him from attempting a leap at the litter bin which he didn't quite make as it had a sloping roof to it. We left him happily dangling by his front paws, just about able to see if there was anything edible within - an amusing sight in his dayglow jacket. Some animals just have it don't they?

The beautiful Thames

12.09.15

From a glorious mooring just upstream of Cookham on a field in the sun which cost us the grand sum of £6 to stay on, we moved on through Cliveden's beautiful high banks thick with trees and Boulters Lock with its scented angel trumpet bushes, through Maidenhead towards Windsor, but stopped short to be on another quiet mooring opposite grand houses by Dorney Reach: the Olympic rowing and canoeing venue. Far from the madding crowd once again.

A sponsored walk/jog/run of 100km was taking place at Cookham, it appeared to be for lots of different charities, probably of each individual's choice and it seemed to go on through the night. Brave people. Pete kept commented on them as they trudged past; "that chap was 18stone when he started" (of a slim whippet of a bloke) and "she had her hair done this morning" (of a woman with a wild windswept barnet)! A triathlon was happening at Dorney Reach, more sporty fit people. Us meanwhile, sit in the bow in the sunshine reading the paper! Oh, I should say, Pete paddles his canoe, I, meanwhile, do nothing!!!

If the sun shines (and it has been) this is a perfect time of year to be cruising these parts of the Thames. The trees are just beginning to change colour, the river is peaceful and not too full of boat traffic: the odd sailing club's boats floating back and forth in Cookham on a Saturday afternoon managed very adeptly by 10-12 year old kids and rowers and canoeists training. Everyone is happy and smiley and slow.





Alaska letting off steam in Marlow Lock





Taking a punt


Pretty little duck who was very shy


The view from our bow on Cookham mooring


Swan family by night


Mural celebrating Magna Carta at Bell Weir Lock, Runnymede

Away from the Hurley Burley

10.09.15

After meeting our friend Christabel for lunch and a good old catch up at the haunted Little Angel pub, which felt anything but haunted on this lovely sunny day, we stayed on our Henley mooring for a second night. C is recovering from a knee op and has some amusing tales to tell of her convalescence in a private somewhat dilapidated nursing home with it's very eccentric patients, kindly staff and extra expenses. Her small single room filled up with people on her arrival; one attempting (not very successfully) to block a wasps nest outside her window which ended in his staple gun breaking and exploding staples and bits of mechanism all over her bed, a cross nurse trying to take her details and fill in an endless form whilst another demanded to know what she wanted for dinner right now otherwise she would get nothing and her bemused friend who had kindly delivered her there and was given a £3.60 cup of tea for her troubles! Mind you, Christabel has recovered well, so they must have done something right.

On sunny Thursday we travelled on to Hurley where we have never stopped before. There is a long bank of public open space upstream of the lock opposite Danesfield Hotel which we had supposed we could stop on, signs telling us we could moor for £5. However, the bank was so overgrown with reeds and the river so shallow, there was no hope. We abandoned that idea, stopped to fill up with water in the lock cut and Pete went to the keeper to ask if we could stay here. He directed us back and into the 'bathing pool' on the back stream of the lock island, suggesting we moor on the island side so that we could get off across the footbridge for the pubs in Hurley. A wise piece of advice! Apparently it's called the bathing pool for just that reason; people used to bathe here. I wouldn't! We moored on the end of the island, the campsite beyond hidden by trees so that we felt we had this little patch of land all to ourselves. Pete canoed in the late afternoon sunshine.

Hurley is expensively beautiful as so many of these villages are along the Thames. We had a beer at the Old Bell, but the horrible smell of muck-spread fields beyond it sent us back to the boat for our second. The sun set over our 'garden' and the temperature dropped off rapidly so of course we lit the fire.




tranquil bathing pool






A chance to get some washing dry




Long shadows on way back from pub!



Shutting down for the night

Rupert House School

On 9th September, a historical day, small children in exceptionally smart uniforms were spilling out from Rupert House School in Henley, either absentmindedly wearing be-jewelled crowns, or casually carrying them, along with their book bags and other paraphernalia. We overheard a mum asking her small son if he knew why they had made crowns today, he thought about it and said "I've forgotten". Oh well, Liz outdoing Victoria's long reign was clearly unimportant to this chap and I suspect most of his classmates.

Having been a TA in a primary school for a short time and involved in craft projects with little ones, I was struck by the superior quality of these pieces of headwear, the raw materials of die-cut card crowns and 'proper' plastic diamonds, rubies and emeralds all neatly glued in place a far cry from the kids' I worked with efforts, who would have haphazardly cut the crown out themselves and gleefully, with much thrown-around glue, decorated it willy-nilly with anything they could get their hands on from the art cupboard: sequins, glitter, shiny fabric, plastic shapes. I know which I would be more proud of my child presenting me with. But I dare say they too would probably not have noted just why they had made one!

Henners and the spook boat

08.09.15

Arrived in Henley at 1.15pm after a very late start from Shiplake - we didn't wake up until 9.45am, it being so quiet and dark, or was it the excess of wine we'd had the night before?! This mooring near Shiplake College and their rowing base was very pleasant on this sunny day, but had a slightly spooky feel, the towpath being narrow with a tall hedge along it behind which was what appeared to be a boggy wood obviously never visited. The land banks up steeply here and the college buildings and a pretty church are at the top, but can't be seen from the towpath. Just to finish off the strange atmosphere, behind us was a wooden boat: Feral Lass, covered in cobwebs, tree sap and general grime. A young fisherman told us it had been there for most of his life, (possibly about 20years guessing his age) and he can't remember ever seeing it being used. He told us there used to be a cardboard skeleton in the wheelhouse window just to add to the ghostly image! We had probably got it all wrong and the owners do still take it out from time to time. Apologies to its owners if that's the case. It could be a beautiful boat with some extra TLC and has obviously been looked after in it's time. However, despite having a lovely evening, a good meal and those glasses of wine, I still felt inclined to leave the battery light on in the saloon for comfort when we went to bed, I don't like complete blackness at the best of times and this was a spook too far.

After our late start we were further delayed at the Shiplake lock water point as everyone seemed to need water and there was a queue. You don't see another boat for days and then 4 come along at once all onto the same spot. Pete had a conversation with the people who owned a Pedro queuing behind us. He is interested in them and thinks we may buy one to use on the French waterways some fine day. I must admit they look very well suited to hot sunshine - hmmm, dream on.

On to our favourite mooring from last year on the Henley regatta course open field. It's nowhere near as hot today as it was when we were here last, when we bbqed in shorts and set our towels to dry in the sunshine. Never mind it's a lovely spot for £8 a night with a short very nice walk into Henley. Aren't we lucky.





Under the dark trees looming behind us!




Autumn bonfires at Shiplake lock


Richard's?

Mooring signs

Mostly we easily find good moorings.
On Sunday, we had a great day with friend Dave joining us at Pangbourne, he is always so full of beans and enthusiastic. A joy to have with us. He drove most of the day too, which allowed me to be extra lazy and sit in the bow watching the world go by, bliss. We travelled back upstream and turned at Goring Lock then had a BBQ on the bank near Beale Park at lunchtime in warm sunshine (for a change) and headed on to Reading where Dave's sister came to pick him up. True to form, we had dawdled over lunch and arrived in Reading later then we'd expected to; around 6pm. Despite Reading doing "little to welcome visitors from the river" as our Nicholson map book informs, their moorings fill up and we struggled to find one where we wanted to be. We backtracked behind Fry's Island to the residential area there and moored on a scruffy bit of bank opposite Caversham Boat Services whose business is on the island.

The next morning there was a knock on the door and a young man from Caversham Boats was asking us to move off by 9.30 as they run their motorboat hire from where we were moored. We were fairly irritated by this as it would appear that this stretch is all public moorings, there is nothing to say otherwise and we said as much to this man and his boss. It became a little heated as we made the point that there should be a sign here and the response was that that was up to the council to do as they had paid them to be allowed to build the bank for their pontoon and the business. This suggested that they had permission to use the public bank, but we were suspicious. So incensed, I rang Reading council who told me they don't own that bank and therefore would not be taking money for development nor letting it to Caversham Boats. I could go further and find out through Land Registry who does own the land and to see if what we were told by Caversham Boats was correct.

This all seems a little over the top now that we are a few days on and have calmed down, but we still feel strongly that there should be a No Mooring sign put there by Caversham Boats if they want to stop people taking up 'their?' bank. Needless to say, we don't think we will be stopping to fuel with them anymore and we don't think we'd be welcome anyway!





The boys at the helm!


Reading Festival fallout - abandoned, shovelled-up tents - what a waste.

People

02.09.15

We meant to leave the Oxford canal mooring around mid morning but ended up talking to new neighbours who had arrived whilst we had been shopping. Tracey and Frank and their dog, Patsy Kline (?!) were jolly people and we shared information about various moorings and boaty things including the inevitable (it seems) discussion about toilets, pump-out versus cassette, and how to keep them fresh-smelling without damaging mascerators and plastic pipes. White vinegar apparently?! An hour later we set off only to be held back by a 50' boat attempting to wind in the so-signed 52' winding hole just before Isis Lock. Pete suggested they go through the lock and turn in the basin below which is just what we had done once when we realised the 52' sign was decidedly optimistic. You can't do it - the boat runs aground and gets stuck in the bushes opposite. It's a wonder there isn't a boat permanently stuck widthways there. There are signs forbidding turning in the basin which is the u-turn for the channel to the Thames, but you have no option. Pete helped them lock through and back and then we were on our way again. Needless to say as time was pressing on, we decided to stop short of Osney Lock on East Street's moorings by the pleasant Punter pub (any excuse to frequent a good pub). We had travelled the grand distance of 1 and a quarter miles! It was raining and cold so another reason for not continuing and we lit the fire.

Next morning we set off, buying our month's licence for the Thames at Osney (£146 now, phew.) We locked through with a couple of nice chaps who had come down from Lechlade and trundled on to Abingdon in some sun at last. Coming out of Sandford Lock, the smiley gentleman on NB Sally Slapcabbage (what a great name!) called cheerily "what a nice day! The second one we've had this year! " which made us laugh and feels pretty much true.

Further along a man was fishing off the back of his anchored boat with the daftest dog by his side, tail wagging madly, looking eagerly into the water as if to say "there's one". And every time the man flicked his line the dog jumped to catch the end. That game could end very messily.

It is customary to smile, wave, acknowledge other boats and we always do, however today I did so to a narrowboat passing on this very wide Thames and was upset by the skipper's po-face back at me. A face like a slapped bottom. His wife managed a weak smile. Trouble with this is, no matter how confident a boater you are, you spend the next few miles wondering what on earth you did wrong, analysing your boating etiquette to the last detail. I'm happy to say, I can't think of anything in this instance and my loyal Pete can't either - perhaps he was just having a bad day, but I wish he hadn't taken it out on me - he even looked back over his shoulder scornfully. Oh well.