Reading to Henley on Thames

Another glorious morning saw us leaving the less than salubrious surroundings of Reading, heading downstream on the Thames for London.

 Once again the scenery was beautiful

There is a distinct smell in the air around here, I think it’s called ‘MONEY’!!

We have ended up at Henley on Thames, further than we planned to go today as moorings were very scarce between Reading and here, but, as it turns out, well worth the wait, and a bargain for this area at £6 a night.  We are watching preparations for the Regatta, due to start on 30th June – good job we will be well away by then. 

 Entering Henley

 Henley Bridge

Our mooring at Henley

  View from our side-hatch – preparations for the Regatta

We will stay here tomorrow, we have a good satellite picture and we must get our dose of humiliation watching England play!!  Marlow and a visit by Emma and our granddaughters is planned for Thursday.

Another surprise visit…

On Friday we moved form Thatcham to Woolhampton, planning to stay until Sunday morning.  After leaving the phone on the boat while we walked into the village on Saturday morning, we returned to find a text from friends Richard and Chrissie Burridge (ex Ownerships nb Kinver) to say they were on their way to meet us in their newly acquired narrowboat which they have re-named Steliskir (after daughters Stephanie, Lisa and Kirsty)

 Out came the chairs, beer and nibbles and a great afternoon was had by all.  We all repaired to the Rowbarge for an evening meal.

We said goodbye on Sunday morning, Richard and Chrissie to return to their mooring at Frouds Bridge Marina, and ultimately, work on Monday.  Hard luck both!!  It was lovely to see you and your new boat, we wish you many happy hours aboard.

 Following us closely

 Saying goodbye

We continued on almost to Theale, where we found moorings for the night, beside a lovely lake, with just the towpath in between the river and the lake

 Windsong and Serenity breasted up in the undergrowth

 The view from our ‘patio’ for the night

We continued on to Reading on Monday.  We all felt a little sad to be leaving the K & A, a sort of ‘last day of holiday’ feeling.  We had achieved what we set out to do, but with more adventures ahead of us the feeling soon went away.

 We met a party of school children by Southcote Lock – better than being stuck in a classroom on such a beautiful day

 Shooting the Reading rapids on our way to the Thames

 Last lock on the K & A – 214 locks worked since the beginning of May

We turned back onto the Thames and made our way to the moorings beside Tesco for a big shop, and stayed the night.

Hunger(y)ford moorhen

We stayed at Hungerford on Monday and did a grocery shop – this moorhen seemed to know that we were well stocked again because it spent a long time hanging around our side-hatch.

We left on Tuesday morning to make the short trip to Kintbury.  The weather was much improved but there was a chilly breeze

Wire Lock – a very pretty setting

We moored at Kintbury on our outward journey and had hoped to eat at the Dundas Arms, but it was shut as it was a Sunday, so we thought we’d try again.  We arrived at lunch-time and got a couple of pictures of the horse-drawn trip boat leaving.

 Trip boat – the horse is hidden by the man on the towpath

We had a meal in the Dundas Arms – the food was good, but the landlord left a lot to be desired – he was very rude and unwelcoming, and proceeded to give Rog and Karen a lecture about everyone using credit cards to pay (they were using Debit cards!)  Not your usual jovial Mein Host, certainly.

Yesterday we moved to Newbury, and had a wander around the shops, I bought a couple of pairs of crop trousers and a couple of new T-shirts, and we all bought pies and sausages from the Newbury Sausage shop.

Today we have moved to Thatcham – the weather has really turned now, and it’s a scorching hot afternoon. 

 Surrounded by vegetation in Monkey Marsh Lock

Tomorrow the plan is too move on to Woolhampton and perhaps stay there for the weekend.

Crofton – Great Bedwyn - Hungerford

On Friday we moved to Great Bedwyn.   We found decent moorings and decided to stay for the allowed 48hrs.  We had a wander around the village and picked up a few things we were running out of, and then had a pint or two in the pub before returning to the boats.  We had a decent day yesterday, weather wise, so we had an early bbq in time to watch the England match on the telly.  A disappointing result, but not a total disaster.  Some little scroat nicked our England flag from the tiller some time during Friday night – at 2 for a quid, it wasn’t expensive, and he could have had our spare one if was so poor that he couldn’t afford to buy a couple!  This time we’ve all but nailed it down!!

We have moved to Hungerford today, and are moored beside the church.  At the moment we are being treated to the church bells summoning the faithful to Evensong.  The town seems subdued – the awful events in Cumbria a couple of weeks back have turned all the resident’s thoughts to their own experiences of when the same thing happened here some years ago.

We plan to stay here a couple of days and move on probably on Tuesday.

Windy day today….

We had a lovely meal in the Royal Oak last night, well worth the higher prices.  Today we moved on to Crofton, and are moored opposite the Pump House.  It was extremely windy today which made life a little difficult when queuing for locks.  We had planned to stay here a couple of days, but not sure now as the telly signal is not good and we’ve had to put up the satellite dish.  Internet is also iffy, and phone signal is almost non-existent.  We may move on to Hungerford tomorrow, but heavy rain is forecast so then again we may stay here.

Wooton Rivers

After our night at Pewsey on unsatisfactory moorings, we decided to move on today to Wooton Rivers, another nice spot that we saw on our outward journey.  This time we were lucky, the moorings were empty and we hastily tied up.  We had a wander into the village to look at the church and it’s curious clock, having ‘Glory be to God’ on it’s face, instead of numbers.

Wooton Rivers is the quintessential English village, with most of the buildings bearing thatched roofs

 Manor Farm House

 The Royal Oak, where we plan to eat tonight

O00 arrrrh, we be in Devizes again…

We came up the Devizes flight on Saturday, it took us much longer than the downward trip. We were behind another two boats all the way up so had to empty every lock before we could go in.

 Entering the bottom lock of the flight

We moored opposite Devizes Wharf again, and visited Morrison’s yesterday, then on Monday Karen and I had a walk into the town to look around and buy a few bits and pieces, and I had my hair cut.  In the afternoon we paid a visit to the Wadworth Brewery.  Unfortunately we missed the tour around as there are only 2 a day, but we had a mooch around the visitor centre, a tasting session, and both Rog and Ian bought some to bring back to the boats.

 The Wadworth Brewery (of  6X and Bishops Tipple fame)

Every day local deliveries of beer are still carried out by a pair of shire horses pulling a dray

 Monty

 The  drays

 Full-time job, polishing all the leather and brasses

We had planned to move on to All Cannings on Tuesday where, on the way down, we spotted some nice moorings out in the countryside.  Unfortunately, when we got there they were all full!!  So we had to continue on to Pewsey, getting soaked several times by the very heavy showers.  We found moorings of a sort, but we had our stern end sticking out into the canal as they are badly in need of dredging.