Our journey south to the IWA National Campaign Rally at Brookwood (Basingstoke Canal)

(Sorry, no pictures until we find a faster data connection)

17th May – Beale Park to Sonning Lock. Washing machine playing silly-billies. Its time to find out why the mains breaker trips when the washing machine starts up. Meanwhile plenty to see such as fields of Llamas, black ones and white ones. Wonder what they taste like. Stopped at Reading Marina for bottle of gas, paid £15.99 and although this is not the most expensive how come they only pay a fiver in Cyprus? Late morning saw us shopping in Tesco. Left the boat outside. Couldn’t get the trolley to the landing stage so abandoned any plans to throw it in the river.

18th May – Henley. Good job the brass was clean and shiny, wouldn’t want to lower their standards.
Arrived at Marlow in time to visit the shops. Good hardware shop here. There are first and second class moorings in Marlow, first class has a repaired, smooth edge to the river bank and somewhere to tie a rope and charges for the privilege.

19th – 20th May. Bourne End, Maidenhead, Eton, Windsor, Runnymede, Staines and Chertsey Meads – our last stop on the Thames.
The flag was flying on Windsor Castle so we waved towards Her Majesty. We’re used to seeing “No Mooring” signs on the Thames so it wasn’t a surprise to see “Crown Estates, don’t even think about it” signs all along the castle’s river bank. The best one we saw said “Sorry, no mooring please”. So polite.

We treated ourselves to a meal at “The Cyprus Donkey” a Cypriot “meze” restaurant just 2 minutes from the Thames at Runnymede. We literally fell off the boat into the restaurant at the other end of a footpath between the houses. Haven’t a clue how you get there by road but by river you land at the free 24 hour EA moorings before Egham. Excellent food, excellent service and surroundings and wicked prices.

21st May – Our grand entrance to the River Wey or Wey Navigation as it likes to be known since 1653. Friendly lock keeper, he did all the winding and opening stuff while we hung on to ropes. Out the other side and off to explore National Trust country.
After the “Can use our canal” at the entrance to the Wey we encountered the “Can’t do that”.

Can’t catch fish, can’t moor near the bank, can’t pass other boats without running aground, can’t use a normal windlass, can’t see the sun (the worst rain since our records began a month ago) and worst of all can’t use the facilities at Pyrford Marina on a Tuesday because it’s their day off. But many, many thanks to the manager who, still in his night clothes, supplied a pump-out token which enabled us to empty the waste tank just so we can fill it again over the weekend.
Now all we have to do is sit tight (no reference to the empty waste tank) and wait for the green light to enter the …… (drum roll here) ….. Basingstoke Canal.

Looking forward to meeting friends and family at the Boat Rally (amongst them - Roger and Babs, Roger, Richard and Liz,

Our journey south to the IWA National Campaign Rally at Brookwood (Basingstoke Canal)

‘Fraid it’s a summary only because we’re limited to 1G mobile ‘phone.

19th April - Left Raynsway Marina going south. It rained. That’s normal. There were no incidents to report as we passed through Leicester and that was during school holidays, so there.
Noted an unmarked water point south of Limekiln lock, not a lot of people know about this. Look for the bench seat on the left after the canal arm.
Stopped at Kings Lock to see Tony and Julie after having missed their live radio broadcast on Radio Leicester over Easter. Must drop in here on a Sunday afternoon for the live music.
Met a BW operative at Blaby and discovered that earlier suspicions of alien spacecraft were only lock monitoring devices – thanks Richard.

21st April - our first visit to the new Bridge 61 pub at Foxton with entertaining dialogue by Tony.
Turned right at Norton Junction (can’t help wondering what’s the connection with motorbikes) and then turned left at Braunston to moor at our favourite spot near bridge 103.

24th April met nb.Queen of the May – another Sandhills boat, in new hands (Peter and Heather, a lovely couple and a lovely boat).
Bumped into Roger and Babs in nb.Megan up from the Basingstoke canal. Swapped family news and noted moorings on the River Thames for the next leg of our journey. See you both at Brookwood.

27th April met up with Mike and Pat on nb.Hyperion at Stockton. Swapped stories, like you do, and discovered Alan and Jo on stealth boat nb.Valhalla. Lovely boat, a mean machine, ideal for fishing cruises at night.

28th Climbed Napton flight and entered sandbag country.

1st May – stayed static while Bank Holiday traffic goes crazy in both directions on the Oxford Canal, nb. Director’s Cut amongst them heading south (see their Blog). Tightened the drive belt on mains genny and able to finish the job when Thursday’s Child stopped to lend an 8mm Allen key. Made a note to repay the debt when we next spot the distinctive pink hulled steel cruiser in the Nantwich area.

2nd May - arrived Fenny Compton and walked into the village, don’t know why, only found one shop there and someone’s nicked the Post Office.

3rd May – the sun is out – hurrah. Moored at Cropredy and explored the village. Note, there’s a May-Fest here in four days time.

5th May – Stopped at Banbury. “Moor here, not there”. “I wouldn’t” - says he. “It’ll be alright this time of year” said another. We stopped next to the park and enjoyed the smell of fresh baked bread all night.

6th,7th May – Al and Kass joined us for a cruise to Cropredy’s May-Fest and back. Two little fishes popped out of the canal one evening followed by one huge monster (thanks Al) the next morning.

9th May – back to serious cruising. Met a back-packer walking from Matlock to Spain !! Spotted nb.Granny Buttons doing nothing at Aynho (read A.D’s Blog).

11th May – through Duke’s Cut and onto the River Thames - what a contrast to the brown muddy channel of the Oxford Canal. Moored at Osney Bridge, Oxford, within a stone’s throw of town. Discovered five WiFi signals but couldn’t crack the codes!! We’re in the market for Sat-Coms internet access, any recommendations?

12th May – moored at Abingdon. Free 5 day moorings above and below the bridge. Only previously seen the town from the A34 side and wasn’t overly impressed but what a delightful place this is with plenty to do in town, wide open spaces along the river for walking and a bonus of Dragon Boat races this Sunday.

15th May - moored at Wallingford. Hardly any mooring space here and charges apply at night but a great town for that little bit of extra shopping. Pity it isn’t as welcoming as Abingdon. Thanks to nb.Mucky Duck for the tip – moor in the trees for free.

16th May - Beale Park. Plenty of free moorings on a wide expanse of river. Getting here has been a pleasure through manned locks and in sight of millionaire homes on the river banks. The water is green, the boats seem miles away and it’s 9 out 10 on the relaxation scale.

Summary

This River Thames cruising is too easy, it’s the mooring that’s a problem. And if its water, loo and rubbish disposal then you’re better off on canals but the scenery is all trees, fields and smart des-res. We could get used to this.
Next Blog – entry to the River Wey and Basingstoke Canal, with pictures we hope.