We woke to the sound of rain on the canopy but it wasn't heavy and the forecast suggested it would soon stop - and it did. We were on our way by 9:15 with a slightly ambitious plan of making it back to our marina on the other side of Reading by sunset.
Our plan was soon scuppered though, there was a queue of boats waiting to go through Culham Lock, headed by a hire boat from Le Boat (Consul 22) with a crew who didn't seem able to manage the boat very well at all. It took them an age to get from the lay-by and into the lock, with a fair bit of bashing the lock entry on the way. The 2 narrowboats next in the queue managed much better but there wasn't enough room for us to squeeze in as well. There would have been if Consul 22 had moved up a bit but we weren't about to make their lives more difficult by suggesting this. Once the lock was empty a narrowboat coming the other way came in and we helped operate the lock for them. It took 20 minutes to fill (I believe this is the slowest lock on the Thames), then the narrowboat could leave and we could make our way through. This put us back a good half an hour if not more.
 |
| Culham Lock |
Once we were through Culham Lock we motored on through Clifton Lock and Days Lock without any delay although the gusty wind tried to catch us out a few times. There are some fantastic houses along this stretch, if ever my numbers come up on the lottery . . . .
Before long we were approaching Benson Lock (on self-service), the boat ahead of us was in and as we were coming down the lock cut they closed the gates! I gave them a toot on the horn to make them aware we were approaching, someone looked up but carried on closing the gates regardless. I tied up in the lay-by and wandered down to speak to them. I could have guessed, it was Consul 22 again, the Le Boat hire boat. There they were in a huge lock, by themselves with us and the narrowboat Angonoka waiting in the lay-by that could easily have gone through with them. The skipper on Consul 22 claimed they didn't see us, I'm pretty sure they did, unfortunately they are just the type of people that give the hirers a bad name.
While we waited it was nice to chat to Judy from Angonoka, their narrowboat is named after the very rare Angonoka tortoise from Madagascar where her husband Don had spent several years breeding them to go back into the wild for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. It's amazing how many interesting people you can meet while boating.
With this additional delay any chance of making Reading by nightfall was now lost so we made a new plan to stop at Pangbourne instead. Cleeve Lock was next and on self-service, it's only a 2' 3" drop though so doesn't take long.
 |
| Cleeve Lock |
Next up was Goring Lock, also on self-service, fortunately there was a boat wanting to come through the other way after us and they managed the exit gates for us which made our passage a little easier.
 |
| Looking across towards Streatley from Goring Lock |
We were soon past Beale Park and on arrival at Whitchurch Lock it was a pleasure to see a lock-keeper there ready to help us through without delay. Pangbourne Meadow was on our right as we exited the lock, we motored down a little way to find a nice spot and to distance ourselves from the railway line a bit as we know it can be noisy.
 |
| Moored on Pangbourne Meadow |
We wandered into Pangbourne, more for a leg stretch than a need for anything. It's such a hectic little place, lots of traffic and a busy railway line, but it's worth a visit just to have a browse at the car sales place - Lamborghini, Bentley and Aston Martin by the shed-load! Well when I win the lottery and buy my Thames-side house who knows!
 |
| This would probably do |
Back on board we set about eating whatever perishable leftovers were in the fridge and washed it down with a nice Sauvignon Blanc while we watched the sunset.
Less than 2 hours to go in the morning, then we'll give the boat a good clean and head home ready to go back to work on Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment