It was great to be back on board Life's too Short and better still to be joined by friends for a trip along the Thames. Rather than try to cater for 10 people on board we all met at The Crown for dinner, it's just along from the marina and was an excellent choice, the food was fantastic.
After a long, lazy lunch we made our way to the marina and onto the boat. Somehow with a bit of shuffling around we had everyone comfortably seated - spread out between the cockpit and cabin. The boat sat very low in the water at the stern, hardly surprising though! As we left the marina and joined the Thames it was immediately apparent that our steering was adversely affected by the weight (or weight distribution) but with concentration it was perfectly manageable if a little zig-zaggy at times!
We headed downstream and through Sonning Lock. The river was incredibly quiet, we hardly saw another boat! Maybe Reading Festival was attracting people the other way? There were even plenty of moorings available upstream from Sonning Lock, very odd for a bank holiday weekend!
Things were different when we got to Shiplake, a queue of boats waiting to go through, so we decided to turn around and make our way back. As we did this a number of boats came out of the lock and a couple of others left their moorings on the island - suddenly the river seemed to be a bit busier! I don't know what the hurry was but all the other boats were very keen to get past us (we were bang on 8 kph of course), maybe it was a bit of a race to find moorings on The Lynch or Hallsmead Ait as that's where they headed after passing us. Either way it was a bit unnecessary and I don't think the fishermen or kayakers appreciated the wash.
Trouble free passage through Sonning Lock and onto the home straight where we were soon greeted by a very odd sight - a few people sat in what looked like a paddling pool, drifting down the river!
When it got closer we noticed it was in fact being propelled and steered by someone swimming behind. They were not alone either, a trial of various inflatable followed including a number of unicorns, a bouncy castle, armchairs and a golden goose! What a wonderful way to enjoy some time afloat, they must have been having a right laugh!
We arrived back at the marina at about 6:00, tidied the boat and headed home, tired but happy.
