Thames Bliss

We had a very relaxing night, courtesy of Reading Gaol, and this morning, before setting off we walked into the shopping centre for a few things. Getting back to the boat, we got the anchor ready and cleaned the bird poo off the roof (yes we moored under a tree!) and then set sail for the Thames.   We should say a quick ‘hello’ to the crew of nb ‘Marpessa’, who passed us just before we got to the river and who shouted to us that they read our blog!  Thanks guys – it was nice to see you and we wish you have happy cruising. 

Caversham Bridge on the River Thames, about 1/2 hour after setting off, more or less marking the start of our voyage to Oxford where we planning to meet up with friends Bob and June (and guide dog in training Phoenix) on nb ‘Autumn Myst’.

Leaving Whitchurch Lock, with the weir on the left.

A tree loaded with mistletoe – quite a common sight in these parts.

There are some very nice houses on the banks off the Thames – these in Pangbourne are no exception.

We enjoyed a wonderful leisurely journey today.  Although there are no stream warnings on the river the water flow on some stretches was quite fast but we set the engine revs to about 1600 and sat back and enjoyed the trip.  We spotted dozens of Red Kite above us and a lot of Great Crested Grebes (below us),  quite a few Cormorants and even some Egyptian Geese. It wasn’t as cold today and the wind not so keen – all in all a super day.

There are some fantastic, wide open stretches of water to be experienced.

Quite a lot of white water coming out of the stern today!

We saw a few boats today so we didn’t feel quite so alone.

Here we are this evening mooring in Goring (at the bottom of George Michaels’ garden).  The flow, at these very good moorings, was the most we’ve experienced today so we’ve roped up well just in case.

Doug took all the windows out and cleaned inside the frames while James sealed a small leak in the shower and did some more cleaning of the paintwork.  After that it was a glass of wine and a chat to a passer by before dinner.  A Lovely day.