Tuesday 12th May, Days Lock
I am making a diary entry today; one of the rowing coaches in his fast outboard powered canoe WAVED TO ME and called out Hello! I was leaning on the upstand at the time; otherwise I might have fallen from the boat. A round of applause for a fellow river user, who was from Oxford Brookes University.
We approached the bridge at Wallingford with the intention of mooring up at the town moorings for a shopping trip.
They were full up; one of the boats occupied exactly the same place as it did when we passed through on 30th April. We moored further upstream in amongst the trees and walked back from there.
A successful visit to a charity shop produced more reading matter and Waitrose did the same for our stomachs. I took a photograph of the Spire of St. Helen's Church, funded entirely by one Judge Blackstone 'of the Westminster Circuit' and was built in 1774.
We had a snack lunch on the move, pausing briefly to retrieve a baseball cap from the river. I had seen it blow from the head of the steerer of the boat in front and managed to hook it up before it sank too deeply.
I returned it to him in Day’s lock; he was very grateful as it was of high sentimental value.
We tied up on the meadow above the lock; the gusty wind once again had been the main weather feature today, perhaps it will moderate tomorrow.
2009 Totals – Locks 168; Miles 279; Bus pass uses 2.
