Taken to Wallingford

We had a lazy start as David had a little hangover so a bit of breakfast was in order. We waited for the sun to come out and then set off towards the lock as a boat waited for our spot on the meadows..
We got to Whitchurch lock again and then took things nice and easy, the Thames was like a mill pond.

David came to the stern and then took the tiller.

It was lovely for us both to be cruising with someone else in control of Derwent6.

We chilled all the way to Goring lock and just managed to squeeze in with the boats that had passed us.

At Cleeve Lock we weren't so lucky and had to wait for the next lock to become available..

David had the tiller again once we were out and we then cruised all the way to Wallingford..

Lucky a boat moved forward for us and we managed to get in, albeit on a water outlet which made a splashing noise like a water fountain..

 We all had a bit of a cat nap in the afternoon, as the tennis turned out to be a bit one sided..
All refreshed, it was then time to party again, so we went into town on the hunt for something to eat.

We ended up having a few beers and then going for an Indian at Delish Brasserie which we can recommend.

Back to pick up crew!

We set off from Beale Park at 9.15am after seeing a couple of boats go past which were moored at Pangbourne Meadows.

 

We saw the same lockkeeper at Whitlock lock and then had a good pick of the moorings.

We sorted out telly and got the chairs out and chilled waiting for a phone call.

David was finding us today and he soon came marching across the meadows..
He had brought with him some 6.2% cider and that warmed us up for the BBQ we were going to have a bit later.

 Al walked up to the local butchers, who's meat is to die for, and Del lit the coals..

It was very pleasant in the hazy sun and we all chatted and caught up on everything..  David, being a chef, did the cooking and the marinated steaks were amazing.

We thought it would be nice to go up the pub and sit outside for a couple of beers and also David got to see the place a bit.
Yep we struggled back in the dark and jumped into bed thinking about where we go tomorrow..

Overdoing it!

We left Theale at 6.10am and were very quiet as we worked the swingbridge and entered the first lock.

At the second lock a guy was moored on the lock moorings and apologised by helping us down.

 We then got on our way for a bit through some lovely early morning countryside..

We pushed on to Reading and pulled up on the traffic light mooring to get the all clear to hit the town centre.

It was nice and quiet through the town..

At the last lock we prepared ourselves for the Thames.

It first appeared to be very empty and we could see the Tesco moorings had spaces. As we moored up there boats soon arrived, we must have just caught it at the right time.

Al spent an hour round the store and then we set off again. Our next stop was Better Boating and a boat was just pulling off the moorings there as we pulled up.

We filled with Diesel which had lasted nearly three months this time, with our batteries and solar.. We got to the first lock and paid for our licence for the week, which came to £76.00. We wish now that we had got a gold licence this year, but originally thought we wouldn't be on the Thames that long, never mind......
We then carried on up the Thames towards Pangbourne and Mapledurham lock.

There were no mooring available to us here, so we went through the lock and moored in the reeds at Beale Park. We were exhausted after 10 hours but we felt it was worth it... We enjoyed the K and A again, even though we couldn't get very far. We had been on there exactly a month to the day.
We watched some tennis and then crashed out as it was so warm and very humid.. 

Just a hard work day!

We left Woolhampton just as a boat was leaving behind us, so it was good to save water and also help was at hand. This boat crew were a little bit rusty, but it was good company.. We got through the swingbridge and then made our way towards Aldermaston.

 On the way their were some tricky obstacles to navigate.

 All the services were out of action at Aldermaston
due to the something out of CaRT's control so we pushed on to the next lock.

We ended up waiting for an hour while two hire boats on a stag do got into some difficulty turning and were unreachable by any of the stag crew on the bank..... it was a bit of a joke watching, but of course they did it in the end......
We then carried on through the electric lift and swingbridges to the next lock at Tyle Mill which also had a swingbridge.

 Just the other side of this was services for water and pumpout, but just as we opened the bridge a boat came along and pulled up on them.

This is a slow tap to fill and we couldn't do our pumpout till they had finished, so we sat down and had a good chat with them both..

We chatted about Beta engines and had a very interesting conversation about problems their friends had had, resulting in a new engine being fitted, and also about the modified clamp they had bought for their engine as a precaution. We were there another hour before we got away full of water and waste tank empty..
We then had a boat across the canal at Sulhamstead lock and then had a boat join us who didn't want to do anything to help and Al ended up doing all the gates.

We've got to be honest we were pleased to get moored up at Theale.

In fact we managed to get a spot where we got a telly signal and could then watch the tennis all afternoon and evening...…..

EnJOYed!

We have enjoyed the last couple of days chilling out watching some tennis and eating and drinking of course..  We have even took a break from boat work, and just relaxed in the Woolhampton area..
We have however used the pub, and popped up there for a steak burger as they had the BBQ grills working.

We also used the train and went into Reading again as the tickets were only £3.50 return and met up with Joy and Steve again for breakfast.

We have not had to run our engine as the solar has been so good and the light evenings still give us all the power we need. We still can't believe we haven't had to fill with diesel yet, we used to have to fill up once a month but we are already two and a half months and we still have a 1/3 of a tank left..

So we have enjoyed our stay here, but it is time to move on..

Friends at Woolhampton

Wow it was another lovely day and we set off nice and early to beat the heat and then we could enjoy it later..
We had three locks, two swingbridges, and three miles in mind.

This would hopefully get us a mooring at Woolhampton again as we like it there..

It was a nice relaxed cruise and the weather was so good the batteries were charged in an hour..

When we arrived at Woolhampton there were three moorings available to us and we picked the one where we thought we might get a good telly signal for the tennis..

For Tooty, it was out into the cool bushes and a sleep by the river, but for us it was a quick shower and out to meet friends Joy and Steve for a lunchtime meal in the Row Barge Inn.
It was even too hot to eat outside in the shade so we picked a table in the comfort of the air conditioning. We can recommend the food as we have eaten here twice now and will be going back again at some point I'm sure..

Afterwards we went back to Derwent6 and had more refreshments before they left for home.

Thanks guys for a lovely lunch with you both...
We then relaxed in the cratch listening to music as the temperatures dropped and it became very pleasant again.