Runnymede

It’s been REALLY hot today. An early start, then stop when it got too hot, was the plan for the day. It gets difficult to find good moorings after about two o’clock anyway. So we had breakfast and were away before eight. We soon arrived at Boulter’s Lock in Maidenhead. This is the subject of

Cookham lock

As usual we made an early is start. Through Henley again and down the regatta course for the second time. The arrangements for all the corporate hospitality were well under way. I wonder how many of the people in there will be watching the rowing?! On down to Marlow where we stopped on good local

Above Marsh Lock

A trip to Tesco to stock up then back up to Sonning to drop of the Downs family. Unfortunately it rained most of the way! The rain had stopped when we had got there. Lunch of sausage and mash was readily consumed then it was time for them to go. After they left we went

Henley on Thames

After breakfast we took two very excited girls for a ride, chugging slowly down river. They were most keen to feed the ducks and geese. We had said earlier that they shouldn’t feed them bread, but  grain instead. They had brought a large bag of wild bird food for the purpose. Unfortunately the birds hadn’t

Sonning

An early start as we needed to find a suitable place to meet Nik, Paul, Izzie & Roxie. As we came through Reading there was a new pedestrian bridge being built. It is a suspended design, and they are building out across the river in sections. As we came down through Sonning bridge we could

Just south of Wallingford

We left Oxford at around 7:00 am, the weather all day has been lovely and warm. We worked the first two Thames locks on our own as the lock keepers don’t come on duty until 9:00. The flower beds at Iffley lock were looking really great: A stop at Abingdon for breakfast and some shopping

Still in Oxford

A day of culture today. First we cycled to the Oxford Botanic garden. This is great, we really enjoyed it. The herbaceous flowers  were at their best – really impressive.   We stayed here all morning and ate our lunch (just a sandwich from Boots!) in the grounds. Back on the bikes to go back

Oxford

3 miles and 3 locks boating 6 miles cycling 3 miles walking We set off for the short trip to moor just above Dukes lock. We have moored there before and it’s convenient to go out onto the Thames via Duke’s cut. But when we got there all the available visitors space was taken. So

Kidlington

A long day. We hadn’t intended to get this far (20 miles & 12 locks) today, but the weather was good so we carried on intending to stop at Thrupp, but there were no free moorings. So it was about 6:00 before we stopped. The day didn’t start too good. We had only been going

Just south of Banbury

Yesterday we drove to Monks Risborough to celebrate our son in law Paul’s birthday. A trip to Tesco.com this morning to top up with provisions for the London trip. I completed the engine service, changing the oil and filters. Rather than stay in the marina we decided to move out into Cropredy village and moored