Wareham’s Bridge

We were expecting daughter Nikki, son in law Paul and their children to arrive at about 10:30. They called to say the M5 traffic was bad and they would be delayed, but in fact their alternative route was almost as quick and they were soon with us. The plan was to leave their car in

Above Shepperton lock

22 miles and 9 locks It had been raining almost all night but stopped at around 8:00. We set off at 8:15. For most of the day it was cloudy and cold, but after we had moored up for the evening the sun came out and it was really warm. We met more boats tooday

Cookham

The day started off cold and wet and not at all promising.We stopped at Shiplake lock to top up with water, and then carried on through Marsh lock and down the Henley Regatta course which was being set up for next week. We didn’t meet a lock keeper until Hambledon lock which we shared with

Sonning

This is the new C&RT logo launched today: Chosen, aparently, because  they are “repositioning the charity for wellbeing”. What utter gibberish. C&RT have completely lost sight of the fact that their primary role is that of a navigation authority, not a health promoter. We got up early and spent another hour or so with T-Cut,

Abingdon

We set off about 8:15, there were no lockies on duty until we got to Osney where  we handed over £64.40 for a week’s Thames licence. On the narrow twisty section between Kings and Godstow locks we unfortunately got caught by the current and ended up in the bushes. This has left some scratches down

Above King’s Lock

Another early start, we had showered and breakfasted and away by 7:30 under a cloudless sky. It has been very quiet boatwise. We passed four in the morning and then none again all day. It has been very hot, even the cows were standing in the canal to cool off.   Unusually there was some

Somerton

We set off today, but things didn’t go according to plan. I changed the oil filter on Friday and ran the  engine for a while after and checked that all was ok. Obviously I didnt check well enough! We had only gone a few hundred yards when an alarm buzzer went off and I noticed

Odd jobs 2

More odd jobs today. For some time I have noticed a slight problem with our fridge. Sometimes it keeps cutting in and out fairly quickly, i.e. every 10 seconds or so. I narrowed this down to low voltage. There can be 2-3 volts drop at the fridge compared to the battery voltage. So I decided

Odd jobs 1

We are due to set off on our summer trip on Sunday, but have come up today as there are a few jobs on board I want to do first. We unloaded all the stuff, bikes, washing machine, jerry cans, flowers for the  roof,  wine, 6 weeks of clothes etc and went back to Banbury

Home mooring

Up early and away in order to get back in time to drive home today. It has been cold and misty with hardly any boats about. We only passed three all day. Heddi got off at Broadmoor lock and walked along the towpath to the village to get the car, while I took the boat