Busy weekend.....

......and boatless for a while.

On Friday 3^rd we left our mooring at Pangbourne meadow to complete our stint on the Thames, passing through Mapledurham lock and then Caversham lock.

Caversham Lock

I spotted a fisherman who was taking no notice of us at all and who could blame him, he had a nice spot.

Mostly vast open river (compared to canals) with huge houses.

Lots of ‘PRIVATE NO MOORING’ signs I was honestly looking forward to leaving the Thames behind, it has not been my cup of tea at all.

After passing beneath Caversham Bridge Karl asked me to take the lead.

Caversham Bridge

We were soon turning right off the mainline Thames and approaching the Kennet and Avon, and concentrating on what was going on ahead the camera was forgotten for a while, into Blakes Lock the last under control of the Environment Agency, although it was on self service and one of the paddles was not working so it took a while to fill, then a right turn again into the loop and after mooring briefly and looking ahead we moved onto our weekend mooring alongside a Homebase store with Karl brested alongside me.

On Saturday my daughter Chloe and boyfriend Josh arrived and after a quick tour of the boat for Josh they drove me back to Surrey for a family BBQ which was lovely, arriving though I realised I had forgotten my camera! So just one picture of my gorgeous granddaughter splashing about, taken on the mobile.

Saturday night I went to stay with my sister and her partner and Sunday we had a lovely roast dinner at the Rose and Crown at Thorpe, I stayed again Sunday night and Monday caught the train back to Reading , thanks to everyone for a great weekend.

This morning we set off about 10:45 and joined the Kennet and Avon proper firstly ‘negotiating’ the traffic light controlled narrow section in front of ‘The Oracle’ retail park.

Like a pedestrian crossing, press the button and wait for the green light!

The Oracle, Reading.

We are now travelling against the flow of the river and what with that and weirs and short lock landings it makes things a little more, shall I say, interesting, compared to the still canals with only lock bywash water flow to contend with, but given a day or two I have no doubt it will feel ‘normal’.

After the first CRT controlled lock County lock I took the lead again and the river soon took on a more rural look. So with Karl following I thought it was time for a mobile phone ‘selfie’.

On through Fobney and Southcote locks and passing many residential moorings now with Karl back ahead.

We had already decided today would be a short ‘taster’ and our mooring was to be at ‘The Cunning Man’ pub, getting in position proved a little bit of a challenge with the flow and overgrown banks but Karl managed to snag a spot and I brested up alongside.

 An interesting first day, it was muggy weather and we were both quite relieved to call it a day around 2pm.

Tonights mooring

Totals today: 5 miles : 3 locks