This ruined mill was lurking behind the trees where we moored - it looks quite sunny - don't be taken in by appearances - it was another murky day but at least the rain kept off until after we'd moored.
John and Mick at Fobney Lock - this is the one that caused us all the grief on the way up. Luckily nothing untoward happened this time. It really has been a much easier return than I could have hoped for.
That is until we came towards County Lock which takes one into Reading. A boat went past us saying that there was another boat coming along. Naturally one supposes that they meant there was a boat in the lock with them and they were following. The lock is a tricky one in any case and although we'd all been warned, we sort of overran the moorings for it, expecting to see this boat emerging at any moment. Luckily both Mick and John managed to subdue the boats and we didn't end up going over the weir (not even close if I'm honest, but I wanted to add some drama) and it turned out that the following boat was still in the lock and so the one in front had obviously not done the decent thing and waited for them to share the lock but somehow had left them to do it on their own. Anyway we both got in the lock and John and Lesley did the business. There is a traffic light system here as it gets a bit narrow in Reading and so Lesley went to press the button, the light came on green and Mick goes out to pick her up and manages to get caught in the flow so left her on the side. She ran down and got on ours and the light promptly goes red! It's meant to be on a 12 minute timer so heaven knows what happened there. Anyway I managed to get John on and we cruised (at some speed) down through Reading centre.
Here we are careering down the Kennet after Mick!
This is the lovely old (and falling into disrepair) Huntley and Palmer's factory, or at least the part that's still standing, They used to employ a huge number of people in the town and there are small streets full of houses intended for the workers just south of the river. The moorings are just behind it and this is by far the best view.
We are back next to the gaol although there are signs everywhere saying no public mooring after 8.00am tomorrow morning. Apparently it's Readings Water Fest this weekend but since it's only on Saturday we feel secure here until tomorrow morning when we'll head off onto the Thames. We'll be saying goodbye to Mick and Lesley as they are going west and we are heading west. It's been lovely having the company, it makes it all so much easier - even with the early starts!
We've been into town this afternoon and I've finally found an Apple store and had my phone sorted after the people in Banbury changed the identity on it. Now I'm back to normal, phew!
No comments:
Post a Comment