Gosmoor

A very foggy cold morning. But without a puff of wind, and no current at all. So we decided to venture out upstream again. The engine started up fine, but..

The switch for the tunnel light came off in my hands, which wasn't a particularly auspicious start to today's journey. But we borrowed a signalling lamp (Thanks Richie), and cruised ourselves up to Gosmoor (Near Marlow) to top up on supplies, without crashing into anything. There was a pea-soup fog all the way up to the road bridge, but just before the lock, it was ridiculously warm and sunny. Like a spring day. Grateful to be able to stow my hat, coat, scarf, and gloves while I enjoyed the winter sunshine, and put the kettle on.

Sheena returned with some tasty M&S sandwiches for lunch. Unfortunately, Sumo jumped up and pinched the unopened egg one, from off of the kitchen worktop. Severely not very impressed with him. But he thought it was hilarious. Tail up, Naughtiness.

Marina Dwellers

Exactly one year ago, today, we were sat here, waiting for the crane company to deliver the right strops. It's funny to think that we haven't moved an inch, since then. In a roundabout way, they did us a favour, by spannering our plans to move the boat up to Reading before we moved on board.

One year on, we take pride in the fact that we've been out and about on the river much more than all the other narrowboats, and that we now know the boat inside out. We're both glad we didn't take peoples advice, and try a weeks hire, before we took the liveaboard challenge. The fourteen hundred quid we've saved will buy us a large amount of diesel.

It's been an incredible year. Full of fun, new experiences, and challenges. Both of us are very glad we did it. And both of us are looking forward to another year afloat.

wOot for us!

Fog

Determined not to be just fairweather boaters, or stuck in the marina for the whole of winter, we ventured out into the fog. Great fun, even though the visibility was next to nothing.

Winter is here

Sorry for the lack of updates recently.

Winter has come. The chilly nights have drawn in, and it's fully dark by 5pm now. Sheena's sprained her ankle, and Sumo's been limping because he'd overdone it. For one reason or another, we haven't been out and about as much as we'd have liked.


The lock closure program is now in effect, and we won't be leaving the marina and heading upstream to Oxford until March, at least. But the good news is, most days, there's hardly any current on the river at all. It's nowhere near as severe as this time last year. Went for a jolly up to Marlow on saturday. It took us an hour and a half to get there, as the wind was blowing us about. But only thirty minutes to get ourselves back. We'd never been so fast on a narrowboat, and could easily have towed a waterskier.

Today we had a bit of a drama with the starter battery. We'd been relying on the alternator to charge it up, because the mastervolt didn't. The engine wouldn't start, and several attempts caused the battery to run flat. Steve discovered a fuse had popped, so he replaced it. Then he managed to jump start us by hooking up the domestic batteries to the starter battery. Thanks Steve. Everything is working fine now.

Delighted to be fully operational again, we took the boat out for some cold weather practice. We've done a night cruise back from Cookham before, but we didn't fancy mooring up in the dark tonight, and headed back after watching the sunset. Sheena brought us back alongside.

Windsor

It was a cold grey blustery day, but we wanted to see what Windsor was like, before the current starts up again, and the locks get closed for their Winter maintainence. It took us four pleasant, but uneventful hours to cruise 'dogma' down the river. Stopped for lunch by the racecourse, and negotiated the last couple of twisty bends into town, without getting rained on.

When we got there, there were hordes of swans, tourists, and trip boats. Not the sort of place we'd have a peaceful night at, so we turned around just past the Windsor/Eton footbridge, and moored up by the leisure centre. Where we found a big bag of smokeless coal, abandoned underneath a tree. Bonus.

Enjoyed a nice stroll around Windsor and Eton, but felt out of place with my scruffy clothes, Sumo, and wooly hat. The town centre was like everywhere else in the UK, except that it had a massive castle stuck in the middle of it. There were plenty of bourgeois 'bistro' type eating establishments all around, but nowhere evident that sold vegetables or "foodstuffs". No butchers, bakers, or greengrocers. We found it a bit pedestrianised, sterile, and dull. It boasted all the big brand shops you can find everywhere else in the UK, but it had no character left. We could have been anywhere at all. Thankfully, Eton (just across the bridge) with it's red brick buildings, art galleries, and expensive gents outfitters, at least, felt a bit more 'historic'.

Boveney lock was very picturesque, and the lock keeper was very friendly and helpful. But it's going to be closed from 1st to 27th of November, so it's unlikely we'll be coming down this far again.

Our mooring spot was very quiet and peaceful, despite the railway bridge being so close. There was a cat on the Dutch barge behind us, but thankfully Sumo didn't see it.

It was very cold in the morning, but the engine started up OK, and we enjoyed a lovely sunny cruise back to the jetty at Bourne End. Didn't ram into anything, or crash into any bridges. And we negotiated all the locks without embarrassing ourselves. So all-in-all, another successful voyage. Curiousity satisfied.

Wood Fungus

Cliveden Woods were full of fungi.


Never thought we'd find fungus spotting quite so interesting.

Orchid Anniversary

Today was our 28th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed it out on the river, which we had all to ourselves again. Sheena operated Cookham lock, while I steered the boat through the fiddly bits. There still isn't any current, so it was a great pleasure to just pootle along at low revs, and not worry about getting swept away downstream. Made it back through the eerie early evening mist, and tied ourselves up just as night was falling.