The destination was Caversham: to be exact, the Tesco emporium. We had friends Maire and Alan coming to stay for a couple of nights, so the larder is in need of replenishment. Unusually, we managed to tie up close to the entrance. Probably owing to the fact that there will be nothing very heavy to carry.
The lovely thing about boating is the time scale. No simply driving to the shops but two days of travelling in each direction! No matter, the wildlife and the scenery make any journey along the Thames a pleasure for us, the modernistic, cantilevered glass summerhouse near Goring and the Art deco house nearby keep the interest alive.
At Whitchurch, there is a very large herd of Alpaca, in reality, merely giant sheep with a long neck. At Pangbourne a few very nice looking proper, wooden boats - you know the sort, nice lines and the ability to move at river speeds without creating a bank eroding wash as do nearly all of the plastic (sorry Duncan, fibreglass) ones.
We moored at Gatehampton and watched from inside the boat as the heavy rain hit the water, good timing again.
Next day saw us above Days lock and moored between the trees with a good view of Dorchester. We had a leisurely day as Alan and Maire would be joining us late morning next morning, Saturday.
SATURDAY
Loaded with food and with friends, we moved off, stopping for lunch in Culham reach.
Having eaten, the sky looked full of rain clouds and dressed in waterproofs, I stood outside steering as everyone else went inside. Hmmmm. Ten minutes later, there was heavy rain which turned to a deluge of biblical proportions after Culham lock. I was glad of my Barbour hat as the rain was coming down in large drops mixed with hail: the weather was inclement to say the least. As the visibility was very poor, I was pleased that I managed to miss the three idiots in a Canadian canoe who decided to cross in front of Martlet when about 50 feet away. Martlet weighs 17 tons, but when you grab a handful of revs in reverse, it stops quite quickly! By the time that we reached Abingdon lock, the rain had stopped, we went through and moored above, dodging the showers to walk back into the town centre.
SUNDAY
Better weather today, a good run to Sandford lock and through Oxford. We always enjoy the open space of Port meadow, being Sunday, it was a bit busier than in the week sharing the water with rowers, anglers, swimmers, sailing boats and us. We threw a couple of mud weights into the river's edge above Kings lock and stopped for the day.
MONDAY
Retracing the trip to Day's lock under an overcast sky which cleared at lunchtime to produce clear blue and hot sunshine. We stopped again in Culham reach, this time for supper; moving down once more to Day's lock to take our leave of Alan and Maire at 7pm. We had a very enjoyable time chatting to them which went all too quickly.
