TRIP REPORTS

MAIN SUMMER CRUISE 2006

Part 4 - Reading to Thrupp

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We resume the story with the boat on the Thames at Reading.

Unlike when we tied up here three years before, this time we weren't set adrift overnight. We set off at 9:55. Wendy had developed a migraine, so I steered all day and enjoyed giving the engine a good blow-out at higher revs than possible on canals. We overtook and then shared a lock with Paul Garner on Destiny II, who was making for Cleeve Lock to take on water. He had to be at Beale Park the next day when the scaffolding arrives. The moorings below Shillingford bridge were covered in vegetation that made the banks look high, although the few visible bits of campshedding seemed to suggest otherwise. But we found quite a good one a little way above the bridge on the south bank, with enough depth, reasonable height of bank, a convenient tree for the back rope and good hunting territory for the cats, who were immediately ashore exploring. We tied up there at 15:17.

Rain on & off during the night didn't deter the cats from going in & out hunting. We set off at 09:38, immediately after the boat moored behind us, Milford from Hawne Basin. It was windy but not actually raining. We reached our target, Abingdon recreation ground at 13:00. Milford was here before us and helped us moor in what appeared to be the last spot that was long-enough and narrow-boat friendly. I headed off to London via Didcot.

Wendy did some heavy shopping. The Ironmonger called Baker is still there, but much more given over to plastic toys etc. It was hard to find a recycling centre. The touristy information office said there was one in the car park on the far side of the bridge, so Wendy heaved a heavy collection of newspapers and bottles there, to find a rubbish point but no recycling bins. She searched three car parks without luck. Then she asked some young men with tree-surgery vans. They didn't know of a place I the town, but one of them took pity (and the newspapers and bottles), saying he'd pass a recycling centre on his way home. As a result of the time all this took, Wendy didn't manage to do all the domestic stuff she'd hoped.

We were to be joined for a couple of days by an American woman called Herlinda Lopez who'd been enquiring on the interned about narrowboating and who I'd invited on board. I made rendezvous with her at Didcot station on my way from London and hers from Bath. We arrived at the boat at about 20:00, in time for a dinner of trout fillets

We had an outdoor breakfast before setting off at 09:53. We had very little wait for Abingdon lock. Above the lock we stopped to take on water (for which we had to queue) and dispose of rubbish. Continuing, Herlinda proved adept at jumping off in up-hill Thames locks with the forward line. Above King's Lock we joined King's weir stream then, in rapid succession Wolvercote Mill Stream, Duke's Cut and the Oxford Canal. At the lock on the Cut, and subsequently on the three we passed on the Oxford, Herlinda had her first learning experience of canal locks.

We stuck in the top gate of Roundham lock and had to have a couple of snatches from another boat to get free. But then they got into the lock with little difficulty. Wendy tried to ring BW to tell them about the problem, but couldn't get through, and other boats came up subsequently, so the problem must have been a temporary one. We tied up at the Jolly Boatman, Thrupp at 17:29, finding a free mooring right next to the pub, where we later had a pleasant dinner, which Herlinda insisted on paying for. I'd been steering all day and was very tired.

Somebody called Stephen came at mind-morning to collect Herlinda and take her off to his pair of boats at Berkhamsted, heading for the Thames. By this time Tilly had decided it was time for a day ashore, and I was feeling pretty tired, so we stayed put for the day, with me catching up on transferring the cruising log into web pages ready to up-load when we're somewhere with a good connection. Mike & Chrystina Wooding came past on Draco.