Thursday 8th
August 2019
We had spoken with our neighbours yesterday, Ken and Mary, both in
their mid-70’s who have lived on their boat, continuously cruising for 11
years. We had agreed to move up the river, doing the locks, together.
After a couple of trips to Tesco’s, again taking the trolley right to
the boat and buying a new cordless vacuum cleaner, we set off. It felt
fantastic to be out on the Thames. At Caversham Lock, there seemed to be plenty
of colour and lots of people watching the boats. We were held for a while at
the lock with a queue of cabin cruisers ahead of us. It is necessary to hold an
Environmental Agency licence for navigating on the Thames. We had been told at
Blake’s Lock that we would be able to obtain one at Caversham, but the lock was
being manned by a volunteer who did not have authority to issue licences.
Beyond the lock was no doubt Reading’s better face and it looked
lovely from the river. Reading Bridge was a particularly attractive bridge. All
the way up Reading’s river front, we noticed the same signs for mooring
payments as caused the confusion yesterday.
The river was wide and quite spectacular. The river side properties
were gorgeous and must cost an absolute fortune. Most had huge gardens and
their own boathouse with accompanying boat, mainly cruisers. The Thames very
much met the expectation of affluence, as reflected by the river side
properties and the many posh cruisers we saw. Brenda groups cruisers into a
number of categories: yoghurt pots, semi-derelict homes of people one step from
being homeless; cruisers, well cared for and maintained day cruisers and gin
palaces, dripping money and most, towering above a lowly narrow boat. The
Thames cruisers, almost all, fell into the Gin Palace category.
The weir at Whitchurch Lock at Pangbourne dates from the 13th
century and the pound lock, from 1777. It was the first lock on the Thames to
be mechanised. It is operated by push button, but can also be operated using a
selector switch for gates or paddles and a wheel for operation of the hydraulic
pumps. The lock keeper was on his lunch break, so Brenda operated this
lock.
Manny steered the boat for quite a while on the last stretch, the
first time he has taken it this visit. One of the things we had to steer
around, a first, were a pair of wild swimmers, crossing the river ahead of us.
We presently came to Goring, where we just managed to moor at the end of the moorings, with the front of the boat overhanging the outflow from the mill. We walked into Goring village, a lovely place as would be expected from a Thames-side village. Looking for a place to eat, the “Miller of Mansfield” looked far too expensive to take the kids, the “Swan”, on the opposite side of the river was the opulent restaurant part of a hotel, refused to take in “walk-in’s”. We then walked back into Goring and found the John Barleycorn pub, ran by a friendly guy from Middlesbrough of all places, who directed us to the Bull, at the top of the hill in Streatly, meaning once again, crossing over the river and walking up the steep hill. The Bull turned out to be just the place we were looking for, reasonably priced with good food.
Weather: a lovely, sunny day.
Day Total: 3 locks; 11 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift
Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 4.5
Overall Total: 656 locks; 1147 miles; 49 tunnels; 57 Swing Bridges; 6
Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 728.8hrs
The house with the turret is our dream house , we used to say one day we would live there. Must buy lotto ticket....That stretch of river is where my sea ranger boat house was and the canoe club i belonged too and road behind with all the posh houses on is called The warren , i used to play there with my neighbor, there are chalk caves and cliffs , at the entrance of the road is St Peters Church where i was confirmed. I was grounded when my mum found out i was playing there a bit dangerous!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful stretch of river.
DeleteThink you might well need 2 lotto tickets though