Back to Oxford

Blimey Derwent6 has been in overdrive.. It was another early start as we watched the sunrise this morning. It was such a nice spot we had, it was tempting not to move, but it was another pleasant cruising day with the hazy blue skies and a slight chill to the wind making it very autumnal.

We started on the bends where the Thames winds it's way on to Abingdon with the Didcot Power station always in sight, passing through Culham lock on the way. At Culham there was a sign saying that Abingdon lock was closed due to a hydraulic problem, but the lock keeper said it may be open by the time we arrived.

Abingdon was again busy when we got there, with people taking advantage of the five day free moorings. We would rather have the fourteen days free in the countryside. At the lock the engineers had just finished repairing the lock and we got to try it. It was then on to Oxford, via Sandford Lock and then Iffley lock with not much hassle. We got to Osney and were surprised that not one boat was on the moorings here, so we had our pick. We then walked into town and picked up a few things and posted a letter before we had something to eat. Al had always wanted to go to Fire and Stone which does pasta and very different pizza's, so we treated ourselves. The Pizza's were scrummy! When we got back to Derwent6 we were knackered and fell into bed, an early night for us.

Pangbourne to Day's

We set of early again from Pangbourne and soon got through the lock. It was a hazy but windy day, but it was still very pleasant cruising. We took it nice and steady into Goring lock where it got a bit busier as it normally does over the weekend. The only drama we had was when we got out of Cleeve lock we had about ten plastics turning in front of us. As we approached they still thought they could just turn in front of us and in the end we had to go into reverse to stop us hitting one of them. We just stopped in time with about a foot to spare. "What the hell are you doing" we shouted. "Oh we're all members of the same club" he replied. "Don't you think that was a bit dangerous" we shouted back. "Oh if you don't like the rivers go back on the canals" he replied.

"Oh don't go there" we said. So if you see this mob again they don't like narrowboats on their river, Bloody snobs!!!

The river opens up a bit after this and gets a bit straight but the wildlife is fantastic. We passed through Wallingford, still with it's five pound mooring fee, and then got to Shillingford which is a pretty little section of twist and turns. After doing fifteen miles we thought we would stop at Day's Lock and found a nice mooring at the top. Here again the wildlife is great and it wasn't long before we had a Kingfisher join us. Del managed to polish one side of Derwent6 ready for the winter. It has still been warm and we haven't had to light the fire yet.......this is another good thing about being south.

An Early start for a mooring

We were up at the crack of dawn and the mist was still on the water and the skies were blue. Perfect! We crept quietly up to Sonning lock and got in just before a hotel boat arrived. It was then a slow trip down towards Reading. The plan was we were going to go to Tesco's but when we arrived all the moorings were taken and nobody seemed to be moving, so we ended up carrying on. We were also going to get diesel but made the decision that we had enough for the time being, saving money on the Thames prices.

The lock keeper arrived just as we entered Caversham lock which made it a lot easier. It really started to warm up as we came out the other side of Reading. We got to Mapledurham lock where suddenly seven boats had joined us in the lock. As we made our way to Pangbourne they all passed us and we thought we would never get a mooring on the meadows. We were surprised that there were quiet a few when we arrived, and most of the boats which passed us were queuing at the next lock. After making sure we had telly for tonight, we walked into Pangbourne as we had nothing to eat on board Derwent6. We picked up a load of BBQ stuff from the local butcher and salad from the Co-Op. It was a lovely hot day and Del did the brasses in the afternoon while Al read her book. It was nice to rest after the last few long days we have had. We lit the BBQ at 3.00pm and had just the best minty lamb chops and sausages we have had for a long time. Pigged out, we sat and watched telly in the evening including Strictly (yes it's back on!)

Marathon Day

The alarm went off at 6.15am this morning, yep we're on a mission... We left our mooring at Windsor at 7.00am and got through Romney Lock. We still tried to be clever and hold Derwent6 on the centre rope, it don't work!!!

It was all quiet through Windsor except for the sea of swans ahead of us. We wish all graffiti looked like this.... What a talent this fella had...We stopped at Boveney Lock where we got a pump out. We were a bit annoyed that the machine cut out while we were rinsing the tank, but at least we were nearly empty.

We pushed on to Bray Lock, one of our favourite spots, where the lock controls have now all been painted gold as a tribute to the Olympic winners, and were soon passing all the millionaire houses. It was nice to see a lot of the stars in at this time of the year, we even got a wave from some of them, probably was the housekeeper..

We got through Maidenhead and passed Cliveden house on the hill going through Cookham Lock. With things going well, we pressed on to Marlow just before the locky went to lunch. Even though there were moorings available we cracked on.

When we got to Temple Lock the lock keeper was at lunch, and to make things worse the power was out so we had to manually do the gates and paddles, with not much help from the other boat we had in the lock with us. Just round the corner from here is Hurley Lock and we had a queue of three boats in front of us. " No Locky, there is a power cut and the wheel doesn't work the gates manually, we've been here for a hour" Time for lunch we thought, but just as we went inside to make it, the locky turned up and funny the power was on. Hmmm

We had the strong wind in our faces and the sweat shirt was going on and off in the spells of sunshine, but we eventually got to Henley. We passed a massive wedding going on in one of the hotels and Henley was it's normal busy self. We were on a roll now and after going through Marsh Lock we passed the fancy houses of Wargrave, before we hit Shiplake, another of our favourite spots. We took on water here and then went on to find our secret spot, well it's not secret anymore because someone was on it. We had to reverse back to option number two, still a pretty, and free, mooring. While Del was jumping off his leg gave way and before he knew it he had one foot in the Thames up to his knee! With a wet foot we set everything up for the night, and after twenty six miles ( a marathon) and eleven locks it's no wonder we were knackered.

On our Wey to Windsor

We left early this morning and pointed Derwent6 into the sunrise, with the mist on the water. We passed the ruined abbey in the field at Papercourt which looked beautiful with the sun on it. After a 'tip off' from Carol & George on nb Rock & Roll, we spotted this boat with our surname on it, does anyone in the family have any clues?

We took in the wonderful scenery of the Wey at Mill lock with our bacon rolls in hand, and soon reached Thames lock where the locky was waiting for us. We then entered the Thames again with clear blue skies and turned into Weybridge lock. As we opened up the throttle on Derwent6 we were surprised to see one of our cushions go floating by us! It had blown out of the cratch and into the river. After a bit of reversing we managed to retrieve it.

We then pressed on through Stains and then onto Runnymede, it was glorious in the sunshine, with the planes and swans flying low overhead.

Al got a few loads of washing done on the way. The traffic going up didn't seem that bad, but it did appear busy going downstream. We made good time and managed to get on our free mooring at Windsor. We can't get telly here, so it will be a DVD tonight.