Back in Reading...
on our way upstream to Lechlade, via Oxford, to the end of the Thames
It's Thursday 25th July and were back on the Thames.
We pulled into the Tescos mooring just as we got on
the Thames. At the bank we tied the boat to two trees and went to Tescos to
stock up, again.
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| Leaving the mooring outside Tescos in Reading |
Shopping unloaded we set off up the wide waters of the
Thames.
Its pretty here, there's trees line the banks, lots of offices, people
everywhere and lots of traffic all around. Into Caversham lock we go and the
lock keeper does it all for us again! What a holiday!
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| Going under Reading Bridge... the grey clouds are really menacing! |
Reading bridge and
Caversham bridge, next and I spot the old Euphony building in the distance, now
empty and in need of demolition. This again is my old stomping ground, lots of
memories here. I worked and lived here on and off for five years so it all
comes flooding back.
We cruise on past the meadow of WOMAD and Reading Rock
festival and out into the countryside once again.
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| One of the trip boats making their way through the countryside |
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| The river's huge here, lovely tree lined banks .... |
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| .... and open countryside and hills |
Mapledurham lock is next, all
done for us again. we go a couple of miles outside Reading and pull up at
Pangbourne meadows.
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| We tucked ourselves away in this little corner of the meadows |
Owned by the National Trust, we're able to moor up here for
24 hrs and we find a little spot right in the corner of the meadow tucked away
under a lovely beech tree.
We walk Jack over the meadows and he has a couple of
swims, we have a quiet evening.
On Friday 26th July we wake up to a beautiful mist
over the river, looks eerie! Its going to be another hot day today!
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| Queuing up at the lock, boats all over the place |
After our
walk we set off towards the first lock where even at 10am there was already a queue. Past Beale Park, lovely place here, and we go on for another 5
miles to Goring Lock.
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| View from under a bridge .... |
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| ... and another |
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| A huge barge nestles in the bank in a lovely spot on the Thames |
The river is beautiful here, wide and still, hardly any
flow. Another mile and were at Cleeve Lock, and a lovely long stretch of 6.5
miles and were at Benson Lock.
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| How about this for a summer house then? |
All along the river people and dogs are swimming
and having fun, rowers and canoeists paddle past us looking up at the 17 tons
of steel slowly weaving around them.
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| Massive houses with posh gardens flow down to the river |
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| Wallingford Bridge, swimmers enjoy the cool water |
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| Heave, heave, don't let the boats clash! |
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| A steam boat approaches us from behind |
We look for moorings after Benson Lock, go past the big
pub moorings, these are £10 a night. Just around the corner we spot a place
just right for us. I have to turn the boat round to get the front in but all's
great and we tuck ourselves into the steep bank. After cutting away at the tall
grassy bank we can now get on and off the boat easily.
It's peaceful here, no walkers or cyclists, just a
grassy path for the odd dog walkers about.
We have lunch and go off to explore. Lots of walks
around here, all lovely grassy paths and fields.
We do get some entertainment here, in the form of a
narrow boat grounding on the shallow bends of the river. It was red bouyed off,
but some people take no notice of the warnings, and the boat was firmly stuck.
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| The boat cut the corner and ended up on the sand bank |
They
tried for ages to get off, it wasn't budging.
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| The widebeam approaches them from the back.... |
Luckily a widebeam Hotel boat came
round the corner and did the only thing they could do and that was to tow them
off. We were watching from the bank so couldn't do anything! They attached their
front rope to the stern of the stuck boat and put the boats in reverse.
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| ... and with a lot of poling and engines revving.... |
With
the help of several boat poles and hard revs on the engines they slid backwards
off the sand bank. There were some very relieved people on that boat!
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| .... they were free and floating once again |
After our bit of 'fun' we all went for a cool off in
the river, Paul and I don't need a stick to encourage us tho!
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| This Red Kite came down to the river to cool off too! |
After our swim we met a very distraught lady with two
dogs. She had lost her third dog, a Jack Russell called Jack. It was her dad's
dog and she was walking it for him. The dog had fallen down the steep bank into
the reedy edge of the river, she didn't know where, he couldn't swim and he
didn't make a sound! We scoured the river bank and eventually Paul spotted him
about 3' below the bank. We had to clear the undergrowth to get to him and got
blitzed by the nettles but we dragged him up the bank to be reunited with the
lady! Good deed for the day.
Enough entertainment for one day we head onwards to walk Jack in the hilly fields around us, then back to the
boat to catch some rays.
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| Beautiful meadows to walk, Jack had an amazing scurry in the fields, and got covered in grass seeds! |
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| Our little swimming spot on the Thames |
Saturday was forecast rain all day so we stayed at our
little spot. It didn't actually rain till 5.30 pm, it was a lovely hot day, and
we decided not to listen to the weather forecast ever again! Yeah, right!
We did a few jobs around the boat, Paul chopped some
wood for our wood store, I cleaned the roof and apart from walking Jack, we
didnt do much all day. But when it rained later on, it rained, buckets of the
stuff, heaving wet lumps of falling water!
On Sunday it was windy, really windy. Sunny with
showers. We walked Jack early and were off by 8.20am.
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| Hmmmm.... which arch shall I take? |
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| Mum and Mum bring their little one down to the river to drink |
We arrive at the first
lock before the lock keeper and while we're scratching our heads trying to work
out the controls he's our knight in shining armour. Lovely lock keepers!
Out of the lock we've got a 2.5 mile stretch but its
so windy.
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| The view from the bottom of the lock |
The gusts are a bit menacing, we lost Pauls fishing net off the roof
today, just took off and sunk! Stormy clouds are brewing up all around and it's
not a nice day. After our cruise of 9 miles and 3 locks we arrive in a very
busy Abingdon. Lots of boats here but not many spaces. We go past all the
moorings on the meadows, both sides full up. So I turn the boat round and
squeeze into a spot too small, but the front end is in, the back end hangs past
the mooring spot.
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| We squeezed into a gap that was not quite long enough.... |
We later discover why no one was in this little spot when
Paul got stung on his arm through his shirt by a nasty wasp. There was a very
busy nest at the back end of the boat and the wasps were now aggravated by us
disturbing them. We had some wasp powder so stuck a load of that down the hole
and hoped they'd go away and die.
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| .... opposite the huge trip boat that turned around right next to us twice a day |
This place is busy. There's a huge trip boat that picks
up his passengers twice a day on the opposite bank to us and they turn the boat
round right beside our boat. It's a massive boat with two engines and its got
some wave power!
We went for a walk around the meadows and into the
town of Abingdon, Jack has become brilliant walking on the lead and you can now
take him anywhere with no pulling problems. So I'm very happy about that!
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| The heavens opened.... |
Back at the boat the heavy showers were interrupted by
the occasional sunny spell.
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| .... and then the sun came out |
But there wasn't many of those! We stayed in and
watched telly, at least we've got a telly signal and Internet and phone signal
here, all good.
We're moored opposite a pub garden, there's lots of
people around, walkers, boaters and cyclists. People swimming, rowers and
canoeists. It's a busy area, but there's not many towns on this river to stop
at, so everyone will probably stop here.
We decide to stay here for a few days as the weather's
going to be terrible, very wet and very windy (we listened to the forecast
again but surely they can't have got it wrong again?).
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| The rain kept coming, shoppers popping umbrellas up in Oxford |
On Monday we catch a bus
in to Oxford and have a lovely mooch around town in the rain. Tuesday it's wet
again and we do supermarket shopping in Abingdon Co-op.
Wednesday I had a hospital
appointment at the John Radcliffe hospital so I caught a bus, in the rain, and
attended my appointment while Paul stayed with Jack. All clear and back home we
get a chinese takeaway for tea, not the best I've ever had but also not the
worst.
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| Jack's totally oblivious to the beautiful sky behind him, but there's a storm brewing |
Thursday 1st August, the weather is apparently
changing today, its supposed to be a lovely sunny warm day, but very windy. We
leave early and have to turn the boat round just past the bridge to face the
right way again. The sun's shining but there's already a strong breeze. There's
also been more flow since we've had all the rain in the last few days but its
not that noticeable to the boat.
Past the mooring spot and a little way to the lock. It's
before 9am so we have to do the lock ourselves. It's a push button one which we
seem to have broken. The lock filled up but the doors won't open. I think I
pressed too many buttons at once in the wrong order! The lock keeper soon
arrived and turns out the electric trip had gone, and he pushed the buttons and
we were all ready to go.
We filled up with water above the lock and dumped
rubbish.
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| I think the aliens have landed in this garden |
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| And the sun keeps shining as we leave this huge lock |
On our way now, the rivers very wide and tree lined,
lovely grassy meadows around, very flat countryside.
Weve got 4 miles till Sandford Lock and on our way there
we go through what I can only describe as 'kingfisher alley'. They were flying everywhere
for about a mile stretch, swooping over the boat and resting in trees long
enough for us to have a great view! Maybe they were young ones out for their first
fly but there was a lot of kingfisher calling going on. Lovely, what a
highlight!
Arriving at Sandford lock, the deepest on the Thames
at 8' something, its still sunny but really windy. Onwards we go a couple of
miles to Iffley Lock and only a mile or so later we pull over just before
Donnington Road bridge.
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| There's someone missing from this rowing boat, and its upside down! Oops! |
Paul's found out there's a fishing tackle shop walking
distance from the river. So he sets off to find it and only 20 mins later he's back
with his bait in hand and a smile on his face. He's very happy he's got
maggots!!
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| Boathouses line the river banks as we approach Oxford |
Off we go again onwards to Oxford.
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| Approaching Folley Bridge in Oxford |
We go past the
public moorings and under Folley bridge.
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| Round a sharp right hand bend... |
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| Houses line the river banks now |
A sharp right hand bend takes you through the built up areas,
the houses and parklands, boats moored up and narrow channels overgrown with
trees leaning over the river.
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| In the queue at Osney Lock |
Osney Lock is next and then the low Osney bridge,
the one that stops all the high and mighty plastic boats getting any further!
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| We've got spare head room under here but this bridge stops many boats from going any further |
We get under comfortably and were on our way out of Oxford.
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| Cows take a relaxing cool down on Port Meadow |
The river opens up
massively here, very shallow banks, sandy and beach like. You have to stick to
the middle here, there's a massive meadow called Port Meadow on the right,
hundreds of cows and horses graze the fields. On the left is lovely beachy bits
with families out picnicking and the children splashing in the shallow waters
edge.
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| Leaving Godstow Lock with the ruins of the nunnery on our left |
We get to Godstow Lock next, and we moor up just above the lock in a
'free for 24 hrs' spot right by the old Godstow Abbey, formerly a nunnery. Built
in the 1200's its ruins still stand.
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| Our mooring for the night, outside the ruins of the old nunnery, Godstow Abbey |
It's a lovely place, the walks are right on your
doorstep, lovely empty cow fields kept short by hundreds of rabbits! Jack loved
it, his best ever place yet!
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| This was a lovely place to get into the water and have a swim |
We went swimming in the river to cool off, so did
Jack! It was lovely and quiet, few people wandering about, few people sitting
about chatting, a couple of lads swimming. Jack loved it, so did we!
On Friday we went for a great walk with Jack, no bunnies
were safe! Well, actually they all were cos Jacks too slow to catch them!
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| Jack plays in his garden for the evening |
We left the lovely nunnery by 10am and a mile upstream
we got to Kings Lock.
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| We met this stand-up paddle boarder on his way to London from Lechlade, in two days and nights! |
This is the first manual lock on the Thames, all the ones
before have been easy electric. The lock keepers have to work hard for their
money this end of the river! It was a tiny lock, only 2'6" deep.
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| Kings Lock, the first of the manual locks , the lock keeper has it sussed tho with this pole technique! |
Out the
top of Kings Lock on our left we passed the entrance to the Oxford Canal, but we were continuing up the
Thames on to Lechlade.
It's really windy today, bubbling grey clouds are all around
us threatening rain, nasty day to be out on the river!
The river twists and turns all over the place, shallow
corners and silted up sections are coned off with red and green marker buoys.
The river is wide here but there's only the centre that you feel confident
enough to cruise without grounding! It's like a slalom course!
It's so rural, not a soul about, not a sign of civilisation.
We go through Eynsham Lock and it twists and turns even more, but little did we
know what was ahead!
The wind was making the river choppy, unpleasant. We
went through Pinkhill Lock, manually operated again by lock keepers and found a
great spot in the corner of a lovely meadow only one other boat near (they
leave soon after we get there, they were waiting for their cat to return before
they could be on their way).
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| Moored up in a beautiful spot just above Pinkhill Lock |
Absolute peace and quiet, not a soul about, no houses,
cars or boats! Ha!
The walks were great, lots of grassy meadows. Jacks
really happy now, plays outside with his toys. We saw a muntjac and were really
close to it!
The wind is still gusting all around us, it's enough
to blow your wig off! Its chilly in the evening so we sit in and watch telly,
get all cosy in our little boat.
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| Leaving our isolated spot on a windy day |
We left early on Saturday as the wind is getting up
again today. It's not so breezy thismorning tho, there's even a bit of sunshine
coming through the ever present clouds.
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| Overgrown trees make the bendy twisty river tricky to navigate |
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| Paul's on 'look-out' patrol, he's got a better view from that end for oncoming boats |
The river changes again to hairpin bends, twists in all directions and its through a wooded area. The trees are overgrown into the river and the tight corners make it tricky to navigate. Paul spent most of his time at the front ready to warn me of oncoming boats.
We arrived at Northmoor Lock, we were too early for
the lock keeper so Paul did the lock. It's another manual one, but easy, he
said!
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| Holiday homes and plastic boats line the banks here... |
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| ... and there's a camp site in amongst the willow plantation, looks amazing |
Camp sites spring up along the river banks, twisty turny once again.
Just
before Tadpole bridge we saw a spot we thought would be great to stop at so
slowly I went towards the bank and before you know it I'm coming to a
standstill on the bottom. We've grounded on a sand bank and the boats not
budging. So using the pole and the engine in hard reverse inch by inch we get
the boat off the bottom of the river and luckily we are on our way again. We go
under Tadpole bridge and although there's a note in the map book for moorings, there's nothing in sight.
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| Tadpole Bridge, all mooring reserved at the Trout Inn at Tadpole Bridge |
So we carry on in the wind and cloudy skies. More
manic hairpin bends and twists and curves for another mike and we get to Rushy
Lock. The lock keeper told us there were moorings on the meadow just above the
lock, so we went through and he was right, lovely meadow with a good bank to
tie up to. Not only that, it was a sheltered sunny spot, willow trees shielded us from the
increasing winds and the sun shone just for us!
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| We had our own little corner of the field again, big willows sheltered us from the winds |
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| Jack had fun in this huge garden we had for the night |
Jack had loads of fun in his new front garden and
played like a puppy! The walks were great, round meadows that reached on for
ever!
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| Fresh water swimmers on a swim towards Rushey Lock |
There were swimmers and canoeists and a 'family of 4 and a dog' rowing down the Thames on a wild camping trek, all their gear stored in one rowing boat that they all shared.
The evening bought us some entertainment in the form of a farmer and his dogs rounding up the sheep in the opposite field, two collies doing the work and a springer spaniel, just like Jack, sitting on the back of the farmer's quad bike!
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| This could almost be our Jack on the back here, hitching a ride |
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| All the sheep rounded up and the Springer is still hitching a ride on the back! |
We had a very quiet evening, everyone tucked away from
the wind in their cosy boats, not a sound from anything.
Sunday 4th August more high winds today. After a
lovely walk with Jack we set off early again as the winds get worse during the
day. We've got a twisty turney mile and a half to the next lock but this bit is
slightly easier as its all open fields around and we can just see over the
meadows for oncoming boats. The river is wider here, there's not many trees
about to fall and lean over the river channel, but there's high banks and very
shallow edges. We don't meet any boats and we get to Radcot Lock by 8.30am.
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| A hedge sculpture at Radcot Lock, I'm sure there's a name for that? |
We've
got jumpers and coats on today, the weather is horrid, windy and dark.
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| Skies threaten rain all day, making it a very dull grey day |
Paul does the lock and were soon out and on our way
again. its taken us an hour to go one and a half miles and do one lock, its
slow going but the bends and twists in the river means you cant go at any speed
at all!
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| Twisty bendy river now, but at least its a bit wider |
We pass several camping and caravan sites, lots going
on. The river straightens up a bit and we get to put the revs up a tad.
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| Waiting in a lock for the lock keepers to open the gates for us |
More
right angle bends with bridges to line up and hairpin bends and we get to
Buscott Lock, busy with day boats and gongoozlers.
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| Waiting on the Lock landing stage for my instructions of when to go in |
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| Sharp right angle bends, hair pin corners and 'z' and 's' bends to negotiate |
Another mile on and we get to St Johns Lock, the last
on the Thames, only 2"10" deep, very pretty gardens with minature
houses dotted around and a huge statue of Father Thames at the head of
navigation, there to bid you a safe journey.
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| Father Thames sits at the head of the River Thames, St John's Lock, bidding you all a safe journey |
Through the lock we go and another
half mile just before Ha'penny Bridge we get to the moorings on the meadow.
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| Looking towards Lechlade as we come out of St John's Lock |
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| Moored up on a £4 a night mooring, just before Ha'penny Bridge in Lechlade. |
Well,
its actually a field full of cows! It cost £4 to stay here per night but weve
got no choice really cos if you want to stop in Lechlade, this is the only
place to stop!
Ten minutes after we pulled over on the cow field the
heavens opened, the wind was battering the boat but we were safe and cosy
indoors.
We had reached the end of the Thames, 130 miles and 45
locks! Done it!
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| Boats all moored up at the head of navigation on the meadows in Lechlade, we're second from the front.... |
We found lovely walks and meadows for Jack and Paul
went off to see what the village of Lechlade was like and to get bread and
milk. He came back very happy as there was also a fishing tackle shop so he
could get maggots!
We had a quiet evening, no traffic noise from the
bridge and we were safe and cosy out of the terrible weather. We decided we
would sit out the wind and rain that was due tomorrow so on Monday we had a lay in, was disturbed only by the
farmer coming to collect his mooring fees, £8 for two nights.
We walked Jack and explored Lechlade, lovely little
town, very touristy and quaint. There was a lovely 'farm shop' where we bought
Lechlade Sausages and local produce.
We chilled out all day, sheltering from the wind and
rain. In the evening we out to the Riverside Inn in Lechlade for a celebrationary meal, great food, loads of it.... we're stuffed!
Tomorrow we leave Lechlade, the head of the Thames navigation, to go back to Oxford where we join the Oxford Canal and head north
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Last entered 8.8.13 @ 16:59.
