22nd July '15

We went over to the pub last night, as it was there and I had the worst beer I've encountered on the trip. It was called Same Again, and I can only say not for me thank you very much! I tried John's and his wasn't too good either. Shame but there you go.

Just to prove to myself that I really did see their boat!

This is Woolhampton Bridge that has to be raised (after traffic has stopped, not as much fun but safer) after you get through the lock. Doesn't look so scary now somehow.

We were getting ready to leave this morning, when a boat went past and asked if we wanted to share the lock. We did and continued to share with Simon and Ali through all the locks. We did 6 miles, 6 locks and 6 bridges (various) today in 4 hours so it was a good partnership!

 

The river becomes very bendy, green and narrow around here. Hard to believe that it's a wide beam navigation. The branches practically meet overhead in places and I had to hang onto the aerial that we keep on the top of the boat at times.

Some of the locks were quite busy, although the waterway has been remarkably quiet all day. The sun was out right up until the moment we moored, so my lovely white cotton bedding is having to dry under the pram cover at the back rather than blowing in the breeze, typical!

I was very taken with their Buckby can. I've been supposed to be painting one for us for a couple of years - I actually bought it on the Buckby locks 2 years ago, but somehow it seems to be taking forever. Then I see one as beautiful as this and I get a bit despondent. I think mine will be, let us say, more rustic! I certainly couldn't emulate the beautiful kingfishers on this one.

Here they are following us around the corner just before Sheffield Lock, where, miraculously, there were moorings for us and to spare! This means that tomorrow we can have a relatively easy ride down to Reading and then I shall go by train to visit my Mum on Friday. Excellent.
We had a chat with Simon and Ali when we moored and have agreed that our methods of dealing with the locks are very similar and so we shall travel together tomorrow as they are going onto the Thames, when we head into Reading. Lovely.

Shame about the weather or we might have had a BBQ. we have all the kit and the path is wide enough here to mean we're not obstructing anyone....but it's not to be.