Our journey up the Upper Thames….

Friday 16th April

After our not very good start on Thursday when we got stuck in the mud, we had a peaceful night and set off up river on Friday morning.

The river crosses some very remote farmland – not a road or a railway to be seen, just the occasional farmhouse and livestock.  It is lovely countryside.  We reached Newbridge at lunchtime and, now aware of the difficult mooring conditions, decided that we would take advantage of the ‘reasonable’ moorings and stop for the day.  We checked out the Maybush Inn and decided to eat there on Friday evening

Newbridge and the Maybush Inn

New Bridge is a 13th C stone bridge.  200 years after it was built, Cromwell is said to have marched his army across it.  In the early mist on Saturday morning, it looked so atmospheric that you could almost hear the sound of marching feet, and the jingle of horses bridles!!

Saturday 17th April

With the early mist and the frost on the grass, it promised to be a beautiful day.  We set off in bright sunshine, and again we meandered through beautiful remote countryside – the river twists and turns and it’s quite hard work to get round some of the tight bends.  A couple of the locks were unmanned so Ian and I worked them – I wish all locks were this easy!

We had quite a long day (for us!) as we couldn’t find anywhere that we could get close enough to the bank to moor, but eventually found a lovely spot near Kelmscott,  We took the opportunity to barbecue, and watched the sun go down.

Reflections

Sunday 18th April

Another lovely day and we had a very short one and reached Lechlade before 12 midday.  The moorings here are much better, nice and deep right up to the edge.  We had a wander around the town in the afternoon, and then another barbecue in the evening.  Today we have been to do some shopping and both Ian and I have had our hair cut.  We are planning an early start tomorrow as we want to try to get back as far as Newbridge tomorrow so we don’t have to worry about where we can moor for the night.  We have enjoyed our cruising up the river, but would definitely advise other narrowboaters that it is very difficult to find moorings that are deep enough to get the boat to the bank, so if you see a spot, grab it, before a cruiser does!

Lechlade in the distance

Windsong and Serenity moored at Lechlade