Beale Park

Pangborne meadow was completely stuffed with boats, many of them doubled up; so we continued on to Beale park. That too, was very busy by the entrance. Again, with many boats doubled up. But, a little further on upstream, just around the bend, it was completely deserted.

Lucky us.

Reading

We stopped off at Sonning, to visit our friend Chas (Nb 'Long White Cloud'). Then set off for Reading, and managed to get ourselves a mooring outside Tesco. Understood why there were so many boats moored downstream. It was a noisy night, with sub-bass rumblings drifting down from the festival compound, and many alcohol infused people wandering up and down the towpath. This morning, the whole of the park resembled this..

Moving on, as soon as possible.

Shiplake

We've travelled 11.53 miles today, and been through 5 locks.
Temple, Hurley, Hambledon, Marsh and Shiplake.

When we set off through Temple lock at 11am, it was pizzling with rain. By the time we'd got through Hambledon lock, and up to Remenham meadow, it was another beautiful summer's day. No wind, No stream. Sunglasses required.

Stopped in Henley briefly for supplies, and carried on up to Shiplake. There were plenty of free mooring spaces available, but we settled for a real gem, just before Shiplake islands.

Temple Mill

Said goodbye to our friends at Bourne End, and set off in the afternoon sunshine. Travelled up past the 'Cardboard Castle', through Marlow lock, to tie up alongside Higginson park, while we got some supplies.

It was very busy, again. And noisy, with people running their generators. But, we were lucky and found ourselves a space. Belly of Pork procured, we then set off for the peace and quiet of the free 24 hour Temple Lock mooring, which we were delighted to find was completely deserted. Don't mind sharing at all, there's space for two full size boats here. But it's always nice to have the place to yourself, with just the white noise of the weir for a soundtrack. Always get a good night's sleep here.

We're hoping to make it up to Wargrave tomorrow, without stopping at Remenham or Henley. Because as soon as you set foot on land there, the bloke will be knocking for his mooring fees. We've heard people moaning about him up and down the river, and neither of us want to make him any richer. Remenham is a lovely spot, but there are equally nice places to stop, just a short journey upstream.

Bourne End

Oh well, it had to end, sometime. Our unbroken run of free summer mooring spots finally ended at 9am in Maidenhead yesterday. A very polite gentleman knocked on the roof, apologised for waking us up, and (in exchange for money) gave us this..


Nowhere at all to stop at Cliveden islands, because they were completely stuffed with boaters out enjoying the summer sunshine and picnicing. Lunchtime was probably a dumb time for us to cruise through there, and expect to be able to find a 54ft space. But the journey was fun, in itself.

Popped into 'The Bounty' for a quick pint, and ended up doing an overnight at Bourne End marina. Peter the marine manager kindly shuffled boats around for us, so that we could squeeze in. Which we did, just about..

Alan & Sue (M/v 'Latitude') graciously let us moor up on the inside of them, so that we could hoist Sumo off of the front deck easier. Even though this meant they'd have to clamber on and off over our roof, in the wet. We're all very grateful.

Bumped into Peter (Wb 'Big Baloo'), who was just visiting, and was happy to bring him up to date with our travels so far. Funny to think, that this time last year, we were wary and trepidatious about setting off into the unknown for the first time. Thanks for taking us out, and teaching us how to steer, Peter. Much appreciated.

Bourne End has some lovely country and riverside walks, which we all enjoy very much.

Maidenhead

We're enjoying a couple of days stopover in Maidenhead, because the river is heaving with people showing off their wealth at the weekends.

Did an overnight at Dorney lake, but despite the heavy rain, the river level dropped overnight, and left us lumbered with a significant list to port. We were grounded on some submerged sandbags filled with concrete, and no amount of reversing would budge us off of them. Two blokes on m/v "Minus 13" took pity on us, and helped us wobble ourselves free. Cheers guys..

From there, we were going to travel down to Windsor, to top up supplies, but there was a queue of over 20 boats lined up to get into Boveney lock, and we couldn't be arsed with the wait (or the aggrieved whinging from the inconvenienced). Nobody was travelling upstream, so that seemed the most logical direction to head off in.

Windsor

We reluctantly left the luxurious surroundings of Shepperton and Lady Lindsay's Lawn behind us, and cruised ourselves up to Old Windsor in the pouring rain. But, when we got there, we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset. Spent the night tied up outside the 'Bells of Ouseley' pub. The owner of M/V 'Artemis' helped us to moor up, which was kind of him.

Some National Trust money had obviously been well spent at Runnymede, because there were several nice new narrowboat length pilings to tie up on, if we so wished. But after our long unbroken run of free mooring spots, we were feeling too tight to pay for anywhere, and pressed onwards.

Today was a similar story. Cruised ourselves up to Windsor & Eton in the pouring rain. Again, with looks of sympathy from canopied cruisers, and narrowboat owners ensconced within the dryness of their pram hoods. But we loved every minute of it.

Currently tied up on the Windsor leisure island, with our first fire of the summer. Still heaving it down. But now we're warm & toasty inside.