Lovely Lechlade

We’ve made it to Lechlade for the second time, this time in a 70 footer. Sheila steered today, and swung the boat round the hair pin bends with great aplomb. She demonstrated in so doing that you don’t have to have loads of revs for these big bends, but you do have to pick the line, especially where the inside of the bend has a long tongue of sand and mud running out into the middle.

On the way up, we got presented with a duck egg by one of the lockies; apparently these Welsh Harlequin ducks just turned up at the lock one day, and have been hanging around ever since. What’s more, they are good layers. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with one, smallish duck egg, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

Other good news is that we’ve been seeing the odd kingfisher from time to time, so the winter hasn’t wiped them out altogether.

As usual, there was plenty of mooring here at Lechlade. It’s another mooring with cows alongside, but unlike the gang at Rushey yesterday, these are quite well behaved, except for a reputation for eating the flowers off the top of your boat. We’re told that the farmer has a daft dog that charges about round them, so they’ve just taken to ignoring all canines.

In addition, we’ve met a couple of boaters we know from other places; I suspect that if you moor at Lechlade for long enough, all the boaters you’ve ever met will turn up. Mind you, at £4 a night, it would be an expensive way of catching up with forgotten friends.

Lechlade has a lot of shops, but most of them sell “antiques”. There is, however, a Londis and a butcher come greengrocer so it’s possible to get most of what you need.

I walked Sally up to the round house at Inglesham this afternoon. It made for a good walk, and it would probably be possible to wind Sanity Again there; the lockie at St Johns told us that another seventy footer got round the other day, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Instead, we’ll wind above Ha’penny Bridge tomorrow, and set off back downstream.