Odyssey Begun..

..sort of.

We left Bourne End on sunday, which was unfortunately, also a ridiculously busy day on the river. The massive hireboats of "Le Boat" and "Caversham cruises" were out in full force. We were lucky to find ourselves a spot at Gosmoor, because past the lock at Marlow, all the public moorings were completely stuffed with boats. Later, 4 other narrowboats turned up, and Gosmoor turned into a narrowboat enclave. Much to the consternation of 20+ large plastic boats that travelled up through the lock, and then had to turn back.

The cargo of tobacco we were expecting hasn't turned up yet, so we've decided to hang about downriver from Bourne End, on the stretches we know. With so much traffic on the river, it's a worry not knowing if we will be able to tie up or not at the end of a day's cruising. With the beautiful weather, it's no hardship revisting the the wide open spaces we enjoyed last summer. Yesterday, we travelled leisurely down to Cliveden, and tied ourselves up at "Poo Island", where we were delighted to discover a complete absence of goose poo. Remarkably different from the last time we were here.

Today, we're off down to Windsor, to tie up beside the racecourse, and enjoy a bimble around the boating lake.