On the Royal river again

So here we are back on the Thames, hooray, hooray! We made an early start this morning, and I watched anxiously as Sheila pressed the button on the swing bridge. As I tweeted last night, it broke down again not long after I’d posted yesterday afternoon, and it must have been over four hours before the BW guy appeared to sort it.

We felt quite sorry for the boat that was kept hanging about waiting; they’d planned to eat at the Cunning Man last night, so it was a real bind not to get away until half seven.

We had an uneventful trip down the final seven locks, though the weather was nothing special to report; a fine rain on and off, and a gusty, blustery wind that made boat handling quite tricky at times. Indeed, the wind gave me more trouble than the water flow, though the river has come up a bit since we came up it three weeks ago.

There was plenty of room on the visitor moorings above Sonning Lock, and we were there in good time for lunch, after a bit under four hours boating.

This afternoon, we took a walk into Sonning village; we plan to eat at the Fisherman’s Bar in the Great House Hotel tonight, right by Sonning Bridge. We checked out the Bull as well, but it appears to do food only at lunchtimes these days.

As I said in a reply to one of Baz’z comments, I guess part of my irritation with the K&A is that it was the first canal we were involved with, being members of what was then the K&A Canal Society when we lived in Southampton. We used to drive over to Savernake, and daydream about the day we could take our own boat through the Bruce Tunnel.

Well, we’ve done it, and it was very hard work, but at least we can criticise the beast from a position of knowledge now. I can well see that it’s a very nice canal to keep a boat on, so that you don’t have to slog up all those locks in order to enjoy the good bits.

One other thing to mention; the 3 connection is a bit iffy here at Sonning, so I’m using the O2 modem for the first time. Very straightforward to set up, and £2 for 24 hours and 500 Mb. It’s not hugely fast here, but much more stable than 3.

Another great day on the river

Another very pleasant day’s boating in blazing weather; the river is looking quite low for the time of year, a complete contrast to this time last year.

We set off quite early, and found ourselves sharing down the locks with Priston, whose crew keep her at Honey Street on the K&A, and who were a fount of local knowledge. We got to the Reading Tesco mooring just after twelve, and had to breast up to Priston, it was so busy. Shopping and lunch done, we took their advice, and rather than overstaying on the Tesco mooring (two hour limit, technically) or try to grab a space in the Gaol Loop, we’ve come on down to a bankside mooring above Sonning Lock.

This is the first place where the 3 connection has been unusable, but the T-mobile one is just about holding up; just shows the benefit of having two strings to the bow.

Priston has come down here too, and they're joining us for a drink tonight. We’re all planning an early assault on Reading tomorrow, aiming to get through and away before there are any problem children about.

Meantime, Sheila reckons she’s solved the mystery of the skull Sue presented Bones with the other night; it’s a badger according to this site.

Wallingford Church as seen from the Park moorings

There must be a proper term for this continental type spire. The bell had a very sweet tone, too.