We've had a lovely week on the Thames. The weather has been wonderful, wall to wall sunshine every day, the scenery has been delightful and we've had company for most of the time. Our friends Sheridan and Ron on Ellisiana, with whom we met up last Thursday evening, have travelled with us and we've enjoyed their company. We've never travelled with another boat for more than a day, and it's been quite a novelty for us.

Friday, 5th & Saturday 6th August
First Trev fetched the newspapers. He had quite a little paper round, with fetching ours, and papers for Ron on Ellisiana and Alastair on Hepburn. Note the sexist way I wrote that--the papers were for the men...... Margaret and Alastair on Hepburn had breasted up to us last night, as there wasn't any space when they arrived. When we left this morning they moved in to our space. It's as bad as trying to park a car in town!

After five nights at Abingdon, we set off, but upstream. We had to go back up to the water point just above the lock so we went up through the lock with Ellisiana, who also wanted water. We all filled up and Trev initiated Sheridan and Ron into the joys of self pump out of their toilet. Up to now they'd always had it pumped out at a marina and had never done it for themselves. The jury is still out on whether they enjoyed the experience. Suffice it to say that they donned shoulder length rubber gloves before starting--no I'm only joking.....it was elbow length, wasn't it Ron? Then we went back down through the lock and were really on our way.

We were glad to be moving again. We did thirteen miles today and eventually moored up at Wallingford, with difficulty. The sides were very shallow and we took several attempts to get in. Then it was time for a drink and some nibbles to get over the strain of the day, before we hit Wallingford and had a lovely Italian meal together. We stayed here for another night. At weekends, moorings are like hens' teeth, and so, as we had one, we thought we'd hang on to it.

Sunday, 7th August
Off we set again, travelling through more glorious scenery. We passed some amazing houses, huge places with acres of gardens, which must cost more than most of us can ever imagine. Some had a boat house and boats and a Rolls Royce on the drive, tennis court, swimming pool, and that was just what we could see. Heaven knows what was inside!

We were hoping to moor at Goring, as Sheridan and Ron had relations coming to see them, but there was no space, so we moored up a little further on at Beale Park. This seems to be a country park, from what I could deduce from our mooring on the river. Next year, the Inland Waterways annual Festival will be held here, and we talked with Sheridan and Ron of the possibility of coming to it together. Then Ron decided that, if did come, he would like to come the long way round--down the GU (Grand Union Canal) and out on to the Thames at Limehouse and all the way up the Thames by boat. And I thought I'd done that trip once and for all! Now I've got to sych myself up all over again! Actually, I shall quite enjoy it, I think!

Sheridan and Ron entertained their relations and we entertained ourselves, me with doing the brasses on the roof.

Monday, 8th August
Up and off again, this time as far as Tesco at Reading. There are some good moorings here, and we were lucky in that a boat left just as we arrived and we could get in. We stayed here for the night and Sheridan and Ron went on further down to Sonning as they were going to dinner with their relations. I don't quite like these moorings. The towpath is used a lot and there feels potential for trouble. However, all was well and we survived the night unscathed!

Tuesday, 9th August
We travelled on together as far as Henley today, where we moored by the Regatta field. We moored here last year, and remembered that the "Mooring Fee Collector" seemed to arrive from nowhere in his boat as soon as we had one mooring pin in the ground. And, yes, there he was again! In fact, he's a cheerful sort of a chap, and I asked him where he lurked to arrive so quickly. He pointed out his narrowboat where he lived on the other side of the river.

In the afternoon we all flopped out, it was so hot, and I have a strong suspicion that some people actually had a kip! We had decided to have a barbecue this evening, and although this wasn't a perfect spot, it served its purpose. This was our last evening with Sheridan and Ron, as they're turning round tomorrow and we're travelling on.

Wednesday, 10th August
We said goodbye to Sheridan and Ron, and Trev and I walked in to town. Henley is a pretty place, and there are some good shops. We sat out in the market place and had a coffee. Whilst we were sitting there, reading the paper and doing a sudoku, an elderly lady came up and said, "You don't mind if I join you, do you?" Well, what can one say? There were several other empty tables, but apparently she wanted to sit with us! So she rattled on about her family and her holidays, and the funniest bit was when she said that it was nice to see the san! Trev said yes, we masn't gwamble, and I didn't dare to look at him, for fear of bursting out laughing! Sorry, if this doesn't mean much to some of you, but I think others will get the joke!

As we walked in to town in the evening, we saw some people with official looking Tshirts on going along to each boat. I asked them what they were doing and one of them said they were collecting mooring fees--GBP10 per night! We were about to go back to the boat and set off, as we had no intention of paying that sort of money when she said, 'Oh, it's OK, you're on the other side of the bridge, you don't have to pay!" Phew. That's a lot of money, the most we've ever paid is GBP5. I hope the man at Henley doesn't read this and get ideas!

Thursday, 11th August
We decided to turn round and go back upstream today. There isn't time to go as far as Cliveden. I want to be in Eynsham by next Wednesday, as I have a lift with Margaret off Hepburn and some of her friends to go to the NEC for a quilting exhibition. There's always another time. We shall almost certainly come down the Thames again next year. One should always leave something to look forward to. As a teaching colleague of mine once said, "Always leave the dining table feeling as though you could eat a penny bun!"