A short, hot trip.......

.....with an exciting finish.

At 9am Karl headed off towards Aldermaston Lift Bridge which is not operational in the rush hour, 8am -9am, while I called in to the chandlery and purchased a refill gas bottle (£26.25), meanwhile Karl set the lock and which is immediately after the bridge and when he spotted me approaching he opened the lift bridge and I went through and into the lock, Karl then went through the bridge and reversed back into position to close the bridge before entering the lock as well.

Karl leaving Aldermarston lock behind.

It was an uneventful cruise although very nice and bendy in the vicinity of Frouds Bridge Marina but not much worthy of a picture.

Shortly after we reached Woolhampton swing bridge and lock which is supposed to be the most difficult on the Kennet when water levels are high. The swing bridge is adjacent to the Rowbarge pub, so plenty of onlookers during opening hours but we were early. After the swing bridge and just before the lock entrance the river Kennet joins the canal and it is here that the fun can be had! I walked ahead to survey the situation and found a widebeam was coming down the lock, so when he was ready I opened the bridge and bought Quinquireme through and tied up, Karl followed passing the widebeam who had left the lock and went straight into the lock, well as straight as you can when the river is pushing you away from it!, I then closed the bridge after the widebeam had passed and went in to the lock myself, yes the current although calm had quite an effect and it was hard throttle and tiller over to avoid bashing the right hand side of the lock entrance,quite exciting, but I made it in ok......just !

Judging by the tyres along this permanently mooored boat it must get
side swiped quite regularly.

Leaving Woolhampton lock, happy.

The Rowbarge pub taken from the swing bridge.

After the lock we moored for a cuppa and decided to stay put, it was lovely and hot and I had a load of washing to get dry so that went on to the bow well deck J. I then went for a walk into Woolhampton village for some milk and squash. A nice little village but too hot to wander far here’s a few snaps.

Every village needs two pubs! The Angel 2minutes walk from the Rowbarge

On returning to the boat this little launch was moored behind me.

Totals today : 2 miles : 2 locks : 1 lift bridge : 1 swing bridge

A long hot day, and a good deed.

We set off around 10:15 in very muggy conditions. The Kennet is very rural at the moment mostly lined with trees one side or other and fairly high vegetation on the other.

We passed through Burfield lock (103) at 7 feet deep without any problem as the water levels are low and calm currently the weirs aren’t too much problem either.

 Passing beneath the busy M4.

Garston lock was the first turf sided lock I’ve tackled and although not a problem in itself the ladder placement and lack of lock side to walk along meant a couple of trips up and down the ladder until I was happy with my position and ready to fill the lock. no photos as I was busy!

Sheffield lock was a lovely little lock with scalloped sides and at 2’ 2” deep a pleasant distraction from the heat which was now beginning to build, without too much effort.

Karl sliding gracefully into Sheffield Lock

We then moved on through Sulhamstead lock (100) and various swing bridges, stopping at the service point before the swing  bridge and lock at Tyle Mill. After the usual fill and empty we worked out a plan for dealing with these two features which are close together and on a fairly busy road, I went ahead and set the lock then opened the swing bridge, Karl moved through the bridge and entered the lock while I returned to my boat, I then bought my boat through the swing bridge while Karl went and closed the bridge after me, we then dealt with the lock in the usual manner.

Then the little bit of excitement and the rescue, a walker on the towpath called out to me that someone had gone the wrong way, and as the stricken boat came into view I could see lots of smoke from her engine and realised  what had happened, the lady steerer had begun to go towards the weir before realising her mistake and getting herself wedged across the weir entrance, that was probably lucky for had she gone further she might have been in real trouble and out of view, any way I offered assistance which was gratefully accepted and with Karl videoing proceedings eventually got her out.

Wedged across the mouth of the backwater to the weir.

Dragging her out so she can head off the right way, on the right!

Karl did have to take evasive action as she headed towards him in reverse, but her engine was so smoky and noisy she never heard me telling her to put it in neutral J it all worked out though and she went on her way relieved and happy.

We stopped briefly on the lock landing at Towney lock (97) for a bite to eat, the heat and the longer than expected cruise was taking its toll and we needed fuel for our bodies! 

At 9’ 8” deep, big and wide with paddles half way up the gates this lock has a potential for problems, the flow is tremendous but with both of us watching boats carefully and diligent use of the paddles we got through safely.

By the time we had got through the next lock, Padworth (96) we were both ready to stop, it was hot and muggy and we were tired, we paid to moor overnight at Aldermaston Wharf stopping around 4pm and then had a cooling beer on a wooden bench in the shade! A lovely end to a lovely but hard hot day, of course it would not be England with rain, so we had a heavy shower for an hour cooling the temperature.

Totals today : 6 miles : 7 locks : 5 swing bridges

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

Moving down the Thames

On Tuesday 31^st Karl headed down from Abingdon to join me, he was pleased to come around the bend in the canal and see me moored up as it was raining steadily and had been for a couple of hours, we quickly got him tied up alongside me and had a coffee!

Wednesday was dull and misty, I walked into the nearest village, Dorchester for supplies, it was a wet walk across long grass to begin with, a shortcut I regretted taking L, the village though was lovely but I hadn’t thought to take my camera. We sat out the rest of the day.

Yesterday we set off at 11, it was a badly timed start as when we arrived at the lock there was a holdup, a cruiser was just tying up on the landing and we hovered midstream for a while.

Hovering at the lock

Eventually I tied up too and found out the electrics weren’t working on the lock gear so the lockie was hand operating, but we all got in eventually and were joined by two lovely little wooden canoes, one was peddle operated  and the owner explained that he could sleep on it as it had a canopy arrangement that simply pulled up over him, I never even reached for the camera, stupid man!

It was then a long uneventful journey through locks and under bridges to Wallingford, our intended stop, where the moorings were all full, so carrying on to find somewhere suitable,  a few pictures of the trip.

We finally moored at Pangbourne meadows around 4pm, 24hour free moorings and we decided to walk into Pangbourne and have a well earned drink, the first pub was not great and moving swiftly on neither was the second, we decided to give the third and final pub a go and found it was much better and as it did food we also ate a lovely meal there. Pangbourne was quite nice but so much traffic through the town centre with it's mini roundabouts continually busy, ruined it for me.

Our mooring at dusk that’s Whitchurch Toll bridge behind us with the two lights on.

Total travel: 16 miles : 5 locks