Marlow Again

Today, we dodged the rain, and ventured up to Marlow to practice manoeuvering the tight angle required to enter into the lock. The lock keeper was friendly, helpful, and smiley. Which made the whole process relatively stressless. It's still not my favourite lock, but we were in and out of it within 10 minutes. Marlow weir was 'full on', the angriest I've seen it for a while. But it didn't tug the boat over, and we negotiated it safely.

A GRP hireboat we'd shared the lock with, whizzed off and plonked themselves right in the middle of the visitor moorings beside the park. But, with Sheena holding the bow rope tight, we were able to pull off a nice pivot into a tight space we wouldn't have attempted less than a month ago.

Enjoyed the leisurely cruise back to Bourne End. Again, with the river completely to ourselves, bar a few canoeists. Tied us up safely, without bumping into Derek & Gaye's shiny boat, just before the stormfront broke.

The weather has been kind to us this week. Not a puff of wind. Not been rained on once. And we've enjoyed some beautiful sunshine, with the river as still as a pond.