Damply down to Goring

It was only supposed to be a bit showery today, according to the Met Office forecast for Benson, but it’s been persisting down most of the day.

We set off just before nine this morning, and had a brisk, if damp, run to Cleeve, where we spent quite some time refilling the water tank. I’d started a washload of socks on the way down, Sheila being occupied at the back, but realised after the machine had filled that there wouldn’t be enough water to do the rinses. (The wool programme uses a lot, of course.) So I paused it after it had washed, then we restarted it once we were filling.

We got to Goring just after half eleven, and once more had a good choice of mooring. It gave us a chance for a natter with Ken Nelson on Ultima and Thule. Ken told us he’s been persuaded to organise the Historic Wharf at the National, and we heard with interest about what he plans for there. It should be quite spectacular.

Speaking to Elanor later in the day, she mentioned that Mitch Gozna, this year’s WRG camp leader, is planning to do food from Friday night this weekend, as part of the pre camp fencing session, so I’ve dropped her an email to confirm that we will be glad to partake. Previous years, catering has only been available from the Saturday lunch, so this is a welcome addition.

We only have a short run planned for tomorrow, to Pangbourne Meadow, so it means we don’t have to leave here before I get a chance to get bread and a paper. This saves a wet walk this afternoon, for which I’m grateful. We’ve spent the rest of the time catching up with various computing jobs; the Braidbar Quiz is in its final form, hopefully.

Wonderful Wallingford

Today is our wedding anniversary; 39 years ago, it was persisting down in Aberdeen, and people told us by way of consolation that it meant “money in the marriage”. Turns out it means a great big boat in the marriage, but I’m fine with that.

We’re going out for a meal tonight, so had planned to eat on board as usual yesterday. This plan was thoroughly rearranged by Edmond and Brigitte of Anna, who suggested we come for a drink with them and Simon from Josephine. Both these are real Dutch barges, one (Anna) having been built in 1927, and the other a brand new Piper version.

One thing led to another, and we had a splendid evening in the John Barleycorn, talking boating and computers, mostly. After a couple of pints, Edmond suggested we have some food there, so we did that, and very good it was too.

As a result, there are now two double portions of liver casserole in the fridge to look forward to, but not tonight.

We made an earlyish start today, getting away at eight, and working up Goring and Cleeve Locks with a nice brother and sister pair on a small narrowboat whose name I did not spot.

There’s a good water point above Cleeve, so with the tank full, we plodded gently up the beautiful reach to Wallingford, arriving just before eleven to find the new moorings deserted.

The lido in the park alongside is doing great business, it being school holidays, and the weather continuing fine.

Sheila’s new MacBook arrived at Elanor’s this morning, hooray. I’d tried to buy it from the BT on-line shop, who had one cheap, but they mucked up debiting my credit card by not responding to a cross check from the card issuer, and by the time I’d nominated an alternate card, it was out of stock.

Instead, I went back to Apple, who turned the order round in 24 hours; it’s worth paying list price to get such effective service.

We've had a great day here, shopping and buying some second hand books in Oxfam who have one of their seriously large boaters' libraries in the town.

We’ll potter up to Abingdon over the next two days, in order to rendezvous with Elanor there on Friday. We’re looking after Sally, her dog, for a week, whilst she attends a WRG camp on the Basingstoke.

A brief voyage, and a brief blog

We’d been expecting the weather to break today, but all that happened was that we had some rain overnight, and another glorious day today. We’ve come up to Goring, a voyage of all of three quarters of an hour.

Lots of mooring here, albeit on a wall, but perfectly useable. The village is great, with interesting shops and old houses to rubber neck at. We’ve had a cup of tea on Anna, a 1927 Dutch barge, one of the early luxemotors. It’s a continuous source of satisfaction that most boaters are so friendly towards one another.

You see a far greater variety of vessel on the river, of course, instead of the unending stream of narrowboats on the canals.

We had a good old natter about the iniquities of the various licensing systems, and Edmond had a rummage in his bits boxes to see if he had a possible replacement for a cabin hook which has broken on Sanity Again.

I’ve got a story to tell about trying to buy a new laptop for Sheila, but we’re still in the middle of it, and it’s very hot, and I’ve a meal to prepare, so it’s going to have to wait!