11th June '13

Mike wants it to be known that he didn't mean to jump onto the boat yesterday - all he did was get the rope and doesn't know how he subsequently ended up on the boat. This means he is no longer eligible for the Harman Bravery Award 2013.

It started off a bit murky today but that didn't stop us being ready for the off at 9am (yes that's right, we were early today) We were only yards from the lock but our departure was delayed somewhat by boats coming up.

...and these were some of them! It was a rally of self-built, self propelled boats cruising on up the river / canal. The one in the front here is going from Beale Park on the Thames all the way to Bath. Rather than row he has a sort of pedal attachment so he lies back and pedals his way along! He also has a canopy on the boat so he sleeps on it as well.....and people think WE'RE mad!

Here we are coming  out of the dreaded Woolhampton Lock - piece of cake! the river coming in from the right was a raging torrent when we came through before and now it's just like any other river flow - so Allison and Dave - no worries here, you'll be pleased to know. Since it was the main thing keeping us from returning I now think that we'll be back at some point.

Here's Lesley from NB Lizzie working the bridge for us, which certainly helped the whole procedure, but Mike said there was no problem stopping to pick her up, which was something we were all worried about - mostly Lesley!

We've come through 6 locks, 6 bridges and travelled 6 miles today and are now moored at Sheffield Lock again.

 

I had a great aunt Grace so this is added to the family names I've been collecting.

 

 

 

This is at Aldermaston. I was very proud of myself here as we came out of the lock (on the left) and I turned in to moor where Lizzie is in the photo (dark boat) and then I reversed back out and turned and moored to be where I am in the photo which is facing right ready to go under the bridge! It's the first time I've done any real reversing and I thought the space was large enough for me to have a good practise without fear of hitting anything. John stayed on the bank and left me to it. incidentally we stopped here because it's one of the few places to drop rubbish and get water on this stretch. Further down there are loads of facilities but between Hungerford and Reading (where there's nothing) they are few and far between. There's not a lot on the Thames either according to our map so I did some washing today before the water point, just in case.

 

The murky weather changed into very fine, but very wet, rain so we are staying here and moving on to Reading tomorrow - any ideas on getting the washing dry?