WE RETRACE OUR STEPS

Wednesday, 11th August
Today we set off for Kingston-on-Thames, where we shall turn round
and make our way all along the Thames to its furthermost navigable point at Lechlade.
It's fifteen miles from Runnymede to Kingston,
and then it's one hundred and twenty-four miles from Kingston to Lechlade.
At Lechlade, we shall turn round and come back to Oxford.
That will be thirty miles.
At Oxford we shall leave the Thames and go back on to the canal system.

We also have a couple of diversions planned:
We have a wedding to go to in Warwickshire at the end of the month,
and a week's holiday with friends in Wales in September.
This holiday promises to be good fun.
Ross, who is organising most of it, is a railway enthusiast.
We met him and his wife Pat last year when we went on the railway trip to Scotland.
Ross asked us if we would like to join him and Pat on the holiday
they had planned for this year--travelling on all the narrow gauge Welsh railways.
We only needed to be asked once!
So we're renting a cottage for a week and dashing all over Wales
to do as many of the little railways as we can in the week!

However, I digress......
Today the weather is warm and the river is quiet and we have some of the locks to ourselves.
It took us about four and a half hours to get to Kingston, but, disappointingly,
all of the moorings were taken.
Mooring on the Thames is nowhere near as easy as mooring on canals.
I think I've said that before!
There aren't many official moorings, and there are lots
of very official looking signs saying "No Mooring" "Private" "Go Away",
well not "Go Away" actually, but they might as well say that!

So we turned round and started back.
Eventually we found a mooring just below Sunbury-on-Thames.
It was a lovely peaceful evening.

Thursday, 12th August
We're nearly half way through August, and soon the summer will be coming to an end.
This has been another wonderful cruise, well, it still is!
But I'm sorry that the nights are drawing in,
and the days of just putting on a t-shirt and shorts will soon be over.
Trev and I are both very brown, we look like people who live outdoors
all the time--maybe that's because we do!
We were in a shop the other day when someone remarked on our dark colour!

Winter is the testing time,
it's so restrictive for cruising and it's quite a hard lifestyle.
This winter, we're not taking a mooring and so will be on the move all the time,
if we're not frozen in!
I know it's the winters which cause some people give up living on narrowboats,
particularly if they aren't in a marina.
The lucky ones go home to their houses!
However, we masn't gwamble, we have a month in Cyprus
and a month in Derbyshire planned...........
We also have lots of good friends who invite us to stay with them,
but, kind as that is, it's not what we came on to the boat for.
Either we do it properly or not at all!

After that short homily, let us continue!
We set off shortly after 9.00 this morning, almost a world record for us!
We want to get on with the journey now.
We have Poste Restante mail to collect from Henley-on-Thames Post Office
and then we're keen to start on pastures new.
For the last three weeks, we've been covering the same ground as before
and are keen to see new places.

We stopped at Staines at lunchtime and visited the very handy Sainsbury's
Or Stainesbury's as Trev called it.
The weather was fine all day, though threatening to rain, it never did.
We bought fuel at Laleham, which is the cheapest on the Thames, 32p per litre.
We're filling up a little more regularly, after the recent experience.....

Today we travelled the most we have ever done in a day:
twenty-seven miles and eleven locks
--though the locks are all done for us.
We moored up at 7.30 just above Cookham Lock at Bourne End.



EARLY EVENING ON CLIVEDEN REACH

Friday, 13th August
Today we set off at the crack of 11.00 a.m.
We're heading for Henley-on-Thames and the Post Office.
We came past the splendid weir at Marlow,
where the water really rushes headlong.
After Temple Lock it poured with rain, and Trev gallantly steered
and sent me 'down below' to keep dry.
Eventually the rain stopped and we reached Henley-on-Thames.

But, unfortunately the only two hour mooring slot was taken by a very snazzy little boat,
all polished and varnished wood, with champagne in a bucket on the table!
So we turned round and went to moor along the meadow, where we reluctantly had to part with £5.
Last time we moored there, we had to pay £5,
and I wondered where this chap came from so suddenly after we arrived.
Then I realised--he lurks, yes, he lurks!
He lurks under some trees or behind a big boat, I'm sure,
in his little boat with an outboard motor, and,
as soon as anyone so much as puts a foot on the bank,
out he zooms with a "That'll be £5 please"!
However, he says it with a smile and gives us a big thank you.
He even remembered us from when we moored here before.

One thing I've learnt this week is that we can wash the boat using river water.
We never use canal water, it's filthy stuff!
And so I hadn't thought of using river water.
But we were moored up waiting at a lock and the man in front
dipped his mop in the water and started to wash his boat.
His boat was one of the "gin palaces" as they are called
by those of us who have a steel hull.
(Though I've just learnt that narrowboaters are called "Coffin Dwellers"
by the plastic boat fraternity!)
Well, I thought, if it's good enough for the gin set, it's good enough for me!
And it worked very well.
So, now, every time we're waiting at a lock, out comes the mop
and a bit more boat gets washed.

This mooring at Henley is an interesting spot,
there are all sort of boats coming by, even in the dark.



THE ANGEL AT HENLEY-ON-THAMES

Saturday, 14th August
We didn't wake until 9.30 this morning.
It's hard work, this narrowboating!
Trev fetched the newspapers--it's Daily Telegraph day today--
and we lazed around doing crosswords and reading,
until 1.15, when we set off.



ABOVE HENLEY-ON-THAMES

I'm looking forward to today, we shall be on new ground at last.
So we went through Marsh Lock, Shiplake Lock and Sonning Lock
past the junction with the Kennet & Avon and Tesco's,
and on to Caversham Lock.
After we'd gone under Caversham Bridge, the countryside opened out
and the scenery was glorious.
Rolling wooded hills and a wide river.
We were looking for somewhere to moor, but everywhere was taken.
Of course, it was Saturday night, and everyone with a boat is on the river.
We went on through Whitchurch Lock and eventually found a spot about a mile above it
on the bank, all by ourselves.
We slept with the back hatch and doors wide open, as we were so far from the bank
it would have needed an Olympic athlete to reach the boat!



MOORED ABOVE WHITCHURCH LOCK

Sunday, 15th August
We set off today for Goring, but in less than a mile, we saw the narrowboat "Whisper" tied up.
I was really pleased to see it.
Its owner, Andy, has given me so much help over the past couple of years,
although I've never met him.
I got to know him through a waterways newsgroup, and found out he had an Apple computer.
So that makes at least three of us in the UK!
He has helped me, with infinite patience, to connect up to the internet
via an iMac and a mobile phone,
and also with all sorts of other Apple related problems, all by email.
I must have asked the most stupid questions, but he always gave me a polite answer
and kept on helping until I got a problem sorted.

I had said to him that when we were in the vicinity of Pangbourne,
where he and his wife Jan live, I would repay my debt to him with a pint or two.
Andy was looking out as we came along and recognised the name of our boat.
He invited us to pull alongside, and we went aboard.
It was really good to meet him and his wife, and we spent some hours together.
First we had to inspect his boat, accompanied by coffee,
then they had to inspect our boat, with more coffee.
We were about to leave when it started to rain,
so we had to console ourselves with some wine and snacks!
So, about four hours after we'd arrived, we left!
We enjoyed their company, and I think they enjoyed ours!
Yes, of course they did!

So we set off once more for Goring, and found a mooring just below the lock.
We were able to take everything off the top of the boat and give it a good clean.
The brasses are now dazzling everyone.
Goring is a pretty little town, and we found a Chinese restaurant.

Monday, 16th August/Tuesday, 17th August
Trev walked in to Goring and found an old fashioned grocer's shop,
which he liked so much he spent most of the week's housekeeping there!
So we shall eat well for the next few days, and then it will be bread and scrape!
We had to move, as we were on a twenty-four hour mooring,
so went through Goring Lock, and moored up just below Cleeve Lock.
We had travelled all of half a mile.
These two locks are the closest together on the Thames.
There is a sign here saying "Mooring £3.50".
I wonder if it will be the same man who was lurking at Henley?
No, it wasn't. It was a farmer who arrived in a Land Rover.

We stayed on the same mooring on Tuesday as well.
We'd heard the forecast for wind and rain.
But in fact, Tuesday was a lovely day.
We walked back to Goring and did some shopping, and I went to the library and used the internet.
Goring really is a delightful village.
Everyone we've met has been so pleasant, it's like a screen set!
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