Our first and only lock today was Culham Lock and the keeper arrived just as we were getting ready to operate it ourselves which made it nice and easy.  A few more red kites and herons but little else moving on the river.  This gave us lots of time to set up selfies!

We had decided to get a pump out at Abingdon and used the Abingdon Boat Centre just before the bridge.  Very nice thorough and pleasant service if a trifle expensive at £19.  It’s a good job we did not need diesel as their price averaged out at £1.15.  We topped up the water while waiting.

Although there are lots of moorings in Abingdon there were not all that many vacant spaces but we found a most acceptable spot on the right bank as we look at it.

We wandered into town for lunch and had a decent meal at The Broad Face before a walking tour of the locale.  Part of our walk took us along the side of the river opposite Oliver and gave us an opportunity for a picture we are rarely able to get.  On the way back we returned over the weir and lock.

We had a good chat with the lock keepers who take a pride in the appearance of their lock and seem to get lots of fun enhancing the garden with interesting carvings.  They have obviously had trouble with some boaters lacking understanding of rudimentary navigation.

Today’s plan was to stop off in Wallingford (aka Causton in Midsommer Murders), do some shopping and a bit of site seeing and then find a nice country mooring.  There are plenty shown in Pearson.  But on this stretch of The Thames Pearson is about as much good as a chocolate teapot when it comes to moorings.  They may show lots but they simply do not exist and many of the banks are very shallow in the edges.

So the first part of the plan went very smoothly.  It was a lovely day.  There were very few boats and we almost had the river to ourselves.

We had a relaxed lunch on board while moored in Wallingford and then started to meander our way along the river.  We passed yoghurt pot heaven at Benson the home of Le Boat.

Wallingford Bridge boasts 17 arches but only 5 span the river and I could not manage to get any more than those shown below in one picture.  I think I managed 11.

At 15:15 Romy experienced, what for her, has been the highlight of the whole trip.  She saw the first kingfisher she has ever seen.  This highly cooperative bird actually made a circuit of Oliver just for her.  We also saw quite a number of red kites and a couple of herons.

We were happy in the knowledge that moorings were numerous until, one after the other, we realised that they were figments of someone’s imagination.  Passing Clifton Hampden we had visions of carrying on to Abingdon.

At Clifton Lock we struck some bad luck.  The lock was self service and the previous boat had messed it up so the electrics were not working.  It took a lot of turns of the wheels to work it manually but we managed.  While we were waiting Peter was looking at the possibility of mooring on the lock bollards after exiting the lock and to his great surprise and joy he found that there was an official 24 hour mooring with space for two boats.  A yp was already there but there was just room for Oliver.  It is a lovely mooring in a delightful well protected spot, probably one of the best of the trip so far.  We reported to the Lock Keeper, as there is supposed to be a charge for the mooring, but he said he was on leave!  He said if we leave early, which we do most days, we will be gone before the morning shift arrives at 9am.

The hickory smoked beef bought earlier from Waitrose made a very tasty dish for dinner.

We left our mooring at 8:20 this morning with the somewhat infamous Fobney Lock a few hundred metres ahead.  Toby performed an immaculate pick up at the tricky exit and we were on our way to Reading.  It was early enough in the morning for the crowds to still be in bed and we hardly saw any gongoozlers.  One press of the button and the traffic lights turned to green and at Blake’s Lock we caught up with a boat that had passed our mooring earlier in the morning. We have some nice little pieces of GoPro video of this section which may eventually see the light of day!

The turn onto The Thames brought a completely different feel to the day and a change to the scenery.  We were into deep wide water and soon there were some elegant waterside properties to admire.  At Caversham we met Toby’s friend Praveen and his wife.  They declined our offer of a short trip but kindly supplied us with some very tasty and spicy bread.

We had considered mooring at Goring (wonderfully poetic) but it seemed that other boats wanted to race, in a competition to get any available spaces there.  We just relaxed and let them play silly whatsits.  Toby and Sarah had to catch a train or bus back to Oxford and Goring was the best choice for that so they helped us through the unattended Goring Lock and departed for the train.

It was sad to see Toby and Sarah leave as we had had a great couple of days together and had really appreciated their help.

Now we are going to have to get back to working a lot harder!

We continued through Cleeve Lock, which was still attended, and found a delightful spot on the bank almost opposite the Leatherne Bottel after threading our way through a sailing race.  It was very hot and sunny so we sat and relaxed watching the wild life and quite a variety of boats passing by.

It seems we were lucky to pick a spot where the water was quite deep near the edge.  A passer by remarked that she had never been able to moor here except about five hundred metres further on where there was a gate, that they used as a marker, and the water there was consistently deep near the edge.

We left  Woolhampton at 8:30 with Toby providing boat handling tuition to Romy, and Peter and Sarah working the lock and swing bridge – all managed beautifully.

The lock at Aldermaston is a little unusual as it has scalloped sides.

Once we had passed the long lines of hire boats at Aldermaston we were out into some very pretty stretches of countryside, which we had very much to ourselves.  It was easy to imagine being in our own secret world for a while.

There was even time to take a rest at the locks which were so much easier and quicker with four of us on board.

Romy was now feeling very confident and helming us through locks all on her own even with torrents of water pouring through the gates behind her.

At Garston we passed through the second of the turf locks, a somewhat smaller lock than the one at Monkey Marsh.

We are looking forward to another day of speedy progress tomorrow thanks to Toby and Sarah .

Peter faffed about, as usual, trying to find the perfect mooring between Southcote Lock and Fobney Lock but did succeed in finding a really beautiful spot.

We remained on our mooring at Woolhampton today.  It was a great opportunity to clean Oliver and ourselves and tackle a couple of small maintenance jobs.

There was only one hazard.

The willow trees spread their seeds on the wind and seem to have as their favourite target the inside of a narrow boat!

During the day we helped four boats through Woolhampton lock and the swing bridge so we were well prepared for the start of our own journey on the following morning.

We rewarded ourselves with a restful drink in the garden of the Rowbarge and waited for the main excitement of the day arriving on the 19:59.  Bang on 15 minutes late Toby and Sarah arrived at Midgham Station (aka Woolhampton) to a rapturous welcome.

We departed Newbury a few minutes earlier than expected as we noticed a boat coming up in our first lock at 7:50 and felt we should not miss the opportunity of a full lock with open gates.

Walking around yesterday we had spotted a convenient place to top up the diesel and water at Newbury Marina just before bridge 56 and we pulled in there at 8:25.  We heard in great detail from the operator how the expanding community of permanent canal residents has been ruining the canal.  It all seemed rather harsh given the number of really nice people we have met.  We have, mind you, seem some boats we would have classed as uninhabitable!  One lady described them as unsanitary.

The waterway became very narrow through the Thatcham Reedbeds widening into the long cut.

We had been warned that the next swing bridge was very heavy but as we approached it was opened by a volunteer.

We then reached the unusual turf lock, Monkey Marsh Lock at Thatcham and there was the same volunteer offering more help.

There are only two of these turf locks in the country and we will see the other one shortly at Garston

We considered stopping at Thatcham but two passing boats said that Woolhampton moorings had emptied out earlier on so we decided to carry on.  The Thatcham moorings are right beside the railway and so rather noisy too.  We found plenty of space at the visitor moorings and walked up to the village shop.  We were provided with a rather fine, heavy duty cotton bag for our provisions.  There was a condition attached – we must always carry the bag with the picture of the shop and its name visible to passers by!

In the evening we had the pleasure of seeing a moorhen feeding her young.

Off again at 8am.  It’s become a habit.  Same old story of locks against us and just when we thought we had cracked it as a boat came towards us we found the next lock had instructions “please leave this lock empty” so we were out of luck again.  Several of the locks looked in rather poor repair, had large gaps between the gates and significant leakage.

It was a rather dull day but very enjoyable.  There was a fresh smell in the air, the birds were sounding cheerful, there was hardly anybody else around and we could potter along in the middle of the canal.

Much of the towpath was damp, muddy and gritty.  This made our ropes a bit messy and necessitated a complete wash down of Oliver’s roof after we arrived in Newbury.

We reached Newbury just after 12:00 considered mooring above the electric powered swing bridge but found some better moorings just below it so settled on the latter.

We attended to our on board duties, had a snack lunch and then a wander around the town which we found quite attractive and full of useful shops.  The canal really does run right through the centre and has parts of the river joining it here and there.

We enjoyed minted lamb steaks on board for dinner tonight.

Leaving early has definitely paid off when it comes to finding mooring so we left Hungerford at 8 am.  We seemed to have rather bad luck with the locks being against us most of the time.  Romy did get some help from one of the grass cutters at the second lock which was nice  but the grass cuttings over Oliver were appreciated a little less!  It was a short but enjoyable journey to Kintbury.  This rather grand looking house is the first thing we saw as we entered Kintbury.  We discovered that it is owned by the author Robert Harris.

We found another good spot on the visitor moorings but Peter decided to cycle down to “The Wilderness” to check if there was anything better near there.  There wasn’t so we stayed put.  He did however manage to find a good selection of wild flowers and presented Romy with a bouquet.

By evening all the moorings were full.

We had thought we would eat in tonight but remembering the stories about the pizzas at the Blue Ball we weakened.  What a good choice that turned out to be.  We armed ourselves with umbrellas as we braved our first rain and walked to the pub.  We had great pizzas and some interesting conversations with two live-aboards, who were moored near us, and the landlord.

We also spotted the similarity in the painted design on Oliver’s bow and the boat facing us at Kintbury.

A song for Sarah

A picture for Sarah

We spent a lazy day relaxing in Hungerford.  We did some laundry – well actually someone else did it for us while we did our shopping, had our lunch and enjoyed ourselves.

Another coincidence today.  While we were sitting watching the world go by The Stoker came and moored in front of us so we had a nice chat with Tim and Chris.  They told us that Sarah was an enthusiastic early riser while Toby remained in bed.  We were amazed.

We also had a relaxing evening eating out at the John O’Gaunt Inn, a 16C pub and microbrewery.  We economised on desert by having raspberries and cream with madeleines back on Oliver.  Must be time for a rest now.

There was a little light drizzle when we tackled our first lock this morning as we left Crofton just after 8 am.  We went through 6 locks before finding one set in our favour and only saw 3 boats travelling in the opposite direction all day.

As we looked back we could see the pumping station billowing large volumes of smoke as it prepared for another day of steaming.

We noticed quite a few of the locks leaking through the top or bottom gates and sometimes both.  Perhaps that was contributing to  yesterday’s low water at Crofton?  Some of the gates were also pretty heavy on this section.  Between locks 70 and 71 we crossed from Wiltshire to Berkshire.

Hungerford Marsh Lock was particularly interesting as there is a swing bridge across the middle of the lock.  The bridge had to be moved before we could enter the lock but could be closed as the water went down before we had actually left the lock.  A rather unusual arrangement that made for a fun picture.

There were a few short showers as we made our way towards Hungerford but the weather was generally very good with a fairly strong breeze particularly in the afternoon.

We saw several Red Kites circling overhead but none that came close enough for a decent picture.

Just after arriving in Hungerford we met Jan and Steve who had been advised by their friends Jane and Richard from Casual Water to look out for Oliver on their way to Bristol.  Purely by chance we moored just in front of them before lock 74.

In the evening we had a short walk around the town to see if we could find laundry facilities and a suitable establishment for two deserving pensioners for a Monday evening dinner.  We found one of the most interesting antique emporiums we have ever seen.  The copper jelly moulds were amazing but at £250 a trifle expensive.