The Odyssey 2009: Day 12

Saturday April 25th April King’s Lock (Thames) to Lower Heyford

The red boat's moored on a bend in the bridge - the hire boat's grounded; we got through without any drama - phew!

We failed, yet again, to drag our weary bodies out of the house on Friday evening so we came back to the boat on Saturday morning instead. Good decision – we got our planned cruising for the weekend done anyway and missed the Friday night traffic. That’s a luxury that won’t be available to us as we get further north but for now we’re still within 90 minutes drive of home.

We cheekily parked up in the ‘Trout Inn’s’ car park (by Godstow Bridge) and soon walked up to the boat with the two dogs and the rest of our paraphernalia. As expected, Indigo Dream had been fine at the King’s Lock mooring – I think it’s just too out of the way for troublemakers (or maybe there are no troublemakers in the area – that’s a nice thought!). We were entertained by a couple of hire boats approaching the lock, complete with one male crew member dressed as a female pirate. Sadly his many friends seem to have forgotten to tell him that they’d ditched the fancy dress – they were all in jeans!

The true meaning of a narrow canal....

Richard cycled back to sort out the car and I loafed around on the boat, waiting for the call to move. The plan was for him to leave his car in one of the numerous FREE park n’ ride car parks scattered around Oxford then cycle back to meet me at Duke Cut’s Lock.

Once I got the call to move, I reversed off the mooring and turned in the entrance to the Duke’s cut (having had a chat with Richard and a long internal debate about whether the lock cut was wide enough for a turn). In the end there was no reason to risk it – easy enough to reverse back and use the full width of the river.  Then it was back down Duke’s cut. Now it’s only a week since we were last down here but I swear it was much more overgrown than before. I couldn’t work it out – had there been a storm to blow the shrubbery into the water? D’oh – it was just everything riotously coming into leaf.  That made the cut seem narrower but there’s plenty of room, though sod’s law dictates that the only two boats I met were on a bend and in the narrows respectively!

Lovely locks - great entertainment for dogs

The boat coming out of Duke Cut lock heartily recommended Banbury, our weekend target, so we were off to a good start.

After my experiences of the very bottom (literally!) of the Oxford Canal last weekend, I wasn’t holding out much hope for the rest of it. But actually it was fine, and by Sunday I was prepared to concede that parts were very lovely indeed. The further north we went the friendlier the people became, which restored my faith in the canals. The stretch roughly between Duke’s Lock and Pigeon Lock felt very crowded and narrow, but then again, we’ve just spent 11 crusing days on the wide and empty Thames so maybe it’s just our perspective.

Having said that, the one advantage of seeing lots of boats was the chance to have a nose at the various gadgets on the

Told you it was a shallow canal!

decks and in engine compartments. We were particularly taken by the practical arrangement of one boat’s batteries, which were in an easily removable panel for access at deck level. I was impressed by a rotary washing line on the roof of another boat, with a wide stand to keep it all stable. How sad is that – with the whole of the Oxfordshire countryside waiting to be admired we’re admiring domestic gadgets!

But let’s get back to the cruise. Richard had efficiently prepared the first lock on the canal and left the bottom gate open for me as I turned out of Duke’s Cut. As I was nudging out of the cut I heard the faint sound of a horn and, sure enough, a narrowboat hove into view heading for the open lock. They must have thought their luck was in! I stopped and so did they, courteously letting me into the lock that Richard had prepared. I know it was ‘our’ lock but I still thought it was a nice touch – thanks!

Dramatic sight

So we said goodbye to the river and started the slow (literally) adjustment to the pace of life on the canals. It took us a while to get use to how slow the Oxford is. Where there aren’t any moored boats it’s shallow, so 1,000 revs was a good as it got, though we actually spent most of the weekend in tickover. We knew we weren’t doing anywhere near 4mph, but when we calculated our average for the day we reckoned we’d managed a useful 3 lock-miles per hour – better than we’d expected but then most of the locks were set our way. It’s fair to say, though, that if you need an accurate plan for your cruising on this canal, budget for no more then 3mph.

Although it took us a while to adjust, the dogs immediately perceived the advantages of canal life. They were off exploring at every lock and swingbridge – it’s a marvellously isolated waterway and there are few roads to worry about. They had a wildly active day.

Note: There’s good dog rummaging at Roundham Lock. The railway is just over the lock bridge but the level crossing is well fenced/gated.

Rummaging at Roundham

This is a popular waterway with lengths of online moorings and many boats on the move. We saw lots of hire boats – many sporting crews of young people (mainly men) dressed in pirate or sailor suits. They all seemed to be having a good time and I guess that getting the young into boating, even if it is in silly costumes,  is the only way to ensure the future survival of the waterways 🙂 One peculiarity we did notice is that the normal rules seem to have been suspended and it’s not unusual to find boats moored on bends, in narrow places and under bridges.

We’d intended to stop at Kidlington for a bit of shopping but in the end it was just too nice a day. We had milk on board (for our numerous lattes), we had dog food, what more could we need? It was a glorious day – very warm in the sunshine with puffy white clouds frolicking like lambs over the vibrant blue sky. The wind was cool but I managed to avoid putting on my heavy fleece. Richard was trotting around in a T-shirt, but then again, he was doing all the hard work at the locks and lift-bridges. There were enough of both to make the canal interesting but not so many as to be onerous.

Pirates ahoy!

Just above Kidlington we kept a sharp lookout for Bones – she’s been seriously considering getting a dog and we hoped to catch her and introduce her to Blue and Lou. We were sure that they’d talk her into taking that last step and getting a hound of her own. As if happened we spotted Maffi’s boat first and stopped off for a chat with him. We had a pleasant chinwag and found out that Bones was out – apparently she was, at that moment, visiting a potential dog for her boat – Hurrah! We can’t wait to hear whether she got a dog – I hope she’ll blog soon. By chance, while we were chatting to Maffi, we met a dainty greyhound being walked with her owners. Given the large number of greyhounds we’ve met recently, I have to conclue that Oxford’s Retired Greyhound Trust is doing a great job. Shortly after all three hounds were engulfed in fuss from a crowd of young women dressed as pirates (it was that sort of day!). One of the girls came from a family who raced greyhounds – they had 15 (see Greygal, I knew we didn’t have enough!). The girl was careful to say that they kept every one of their racing dogs after retirement – excellent.

More random mooring......at least this was a wide bridge!

Maffi tried to persuade us to wait for Bones and we were sorely tempted, but we decided not to sacrifice an early finish on Sunday and moved on. We saw Bones the boat moored a little further up and hope that we’ll meet her on the cut another time.

Our next bit of interest was looking out for our friend’s boat, nb North Star, moored at Thrupp. We weren’t sure whether they’ve started on their summer cruise yet but hoped that we might find them on board. But when we spotted North Star she still looked wrapped up for winter. Maybe they’ll catch up with us later on – I do hope so.

We were interested by the lozenge-shaped Shipton Weir Lock – what a strange construction it is. Last time we came through here, we managed the feat of geometry needed to fit two 60-foot narrowboats into this odd space. I had it to myself this time and let Indigo Dream drift about in the negligible flow.

The famous Bones....

Shipton Weir Lock signals the first of the river sections. The Cherwell was quiet and benign today but I understand that it can pose more than a few challenges when it’s in spate. Today, however, it was stunning, with meanders worthy of the upper Thames. Along with the verdant countryside so typical of a river valley, this section also had a bit of interest in the form of a massive cement works on the left and a bank of radio telescopes in the distance to the right. The cement works looked derelict but just after bridge 221, on the left, watch out for an outfall from the works – hidden in the steep and densely planted bank there’s an unexpectedly attractive cascade of white water falling into the river.

We were sad to leave the Cherwell, but we know that there are other river sections to look forward to. I’m in ‘river’ mode at the moment, which is strange, because when I’ve been on the canal for a while my active imagination associates rivers with being swept to our doom over a weir. Then when I’m back on the rivers I switch immediately into a deep enjoyment of their freedom and touch of unpredictability.

Strange geometry at Shipton Weir Lock

Pigeon Lock marks the end of civilisation for a while. The lock itself is in a very attractive spot with predictably extensive residential moorings. It also has an appealingly eccentric canalside shop and cafe. But what most characterised this lock was what came after, miles of uncluttered canal surrounded by beautiful countryside.

Soon after Pigeon lock, the canal passes under a steep embankment on the right, wooded, green and lovely. It’s on the offside so we we were surprised to see that there were visitor moorings all along. These are superior visitor moorings, especially if you have a dog (or need firewood for your stove!). Apparently it’s only a mile to the nearest pub so that’s another advantage. But we wanted to be closer to a pub than that so we carried on, with a tinge of regret.

Beautiful views

Many times on the odyssey (and it’s only day 12) we’ve spotted some fine mooring spots but passed them by because it wasn’t the right time. I hope we get a chance to visit some of them if/when we come this way again.

As the afternoon drifted into evening we came to our first cruising target of the afternoon- Lower Heyford. This is another boating settlement and it was a surprise to be back among a community of narrowboats after having the canal to ourselves for the last few hours. There are moorings below Heyford Wharf Bridge, but they’re right on the edge of the railway line so we decided to move on a little further. It’s worth noting that the waterpoint is just below Heyford Wharf Bridge and that there’s a handy waste disposal point on the bridge itself.

Superior visitor moorings

We moved through the bridge and found that the towpath mooring was quite crowded. We slipped into the first available space but it wasn’t ideal – the towpath was only a few metres away from the railway line and separated by a rickety fence which we didn’t deem to be dog-proof. Richard scouted ahead on foot and found a perfect spot just after the bend in the canal, where the railway line suddenly peels away from the canal and is safely separated from it by the river. In attempt to dodge the boats moored on the bend I managed to ground Indigo Dream right around her pivot point so we could swivel round but couldn’t go forward or back – oops! At this point we abandoned the teaching of Malcolm (our tremendous trainer on the Helmsman’s certificate course) and resorted to brute force. Richard slipped down the gunwhales and applied a muscular boot to the tree (on whose roots we were stuck) to release us. Worked a treat!

We made the mistake of walking back to Heyford Wharf Bridge in order to get to the Bell pub. We’d have been better off

A fine mooring spot in Lower Heyford

walking up to the lift-bridge! Never mind, it was a great evening for a walk and dogs enjoyed yet another stroll. The Bell is possibly the most dog-friendly pub we’ve ever been to. It was full of dogs, and briefly full of barking every time a new pack-mate came through the door. But there was plenty of room and Blue and Lou soon settled onto their sheepskins. The local people were very friendly and we ended up talking greyhounds and boating for most of the evening. We had a particularly nice time chatting to the crew of nb Vanguard. They were fascinating – real boating pioneers who’d been boating since the eraly 80’s. They’d had many intrepid adventures along many derelict and barely open waterways that we now take for granted. Richard also fascinated by their boat’s construction – it has 10mm steel throughout! Maybe that’s what was needed when navigating the barely watered canals 30 years ago 🙂

We were well impressed by the Bell Inn – great atmosphere, good company, dog-friendly and delicious food – the perfect finish to a fine day’s cruising.

Photoblog:

A few more views and plenty of cute dog photos (of course!).

Cute artwork....

nb Ty Twt - hard to translate but 'ty' means 'house'; 'Twt' is exactly as it sounds really really. I'm sure my relatives will translate!

I'm tired now, and there's still lots of locks left to explore....

Radio telescopes (I think) on the horizon

That's a BIG nest....

Love the L-plates

Wonder if this balcony used to be a loading gantry from cargo-laden boats?

golf courses make for great vistas

busy, busy.....

Ooh, what's over there??

Me enjoying the cruise while Richard, Blue and Lou do all the hard work.....

Waiting for our ride.....

Enjoy the view while I try to get some cute dog photos!

Lovely scenery

Sturdy stone bridges (but no roads!)

We like this mooring.....

The Odyssey 2009: Day 11

Sunday 19th April: Lechlade to King’s Lock

End of the road - the Inglesham Roundhouse

We woke up to another cloudy sky but with the promise of the best weather of the weekend. I got up briefly at 6.30am and noticed that the swans were back on the grass – they were quite safe though, there’s no way that Blue and Lou would creep out of their blankets that early! When we eventually got outside at around 8.30am the swans had disappeared again.

We had a big day planned today as we needed to get back to Oxford by the evening. I was a bit sad to leave Lechlade – I could easily have spent a few days here. It reminded me of Bradford on Avon, both in the soft tones of the stone houses and in the homeliness of its inhabitants. Then I realised that we were actually in the Cotswolds and Bradford on Avon is less than 40 miles away as the crow flies. I still struggle to get my head round how far West we’ve come on the Thames.

We set off just after 9am and finished our trip to the feasible end of the canal. The guides mention a right of navigation

A last look back at Ha'penny bridge, Lechlade

as far as Cricklade but the local lock-keeper told us absolutely not to attempt it. So we cruised upstream under Ha’penny Bridge (so called because of the toll that used to be levied here) towards the Inglesham Roundhouse that marks the end of the navigation. It’s a suitably lovely spot with tantalising glimpses of the future. There are three channels here – to the left the Thames continues on without the benefit of narrowboats; to the right the River Coln exerts quite a push into the Thames; in the centre there’s the old junction with the Thames and Severn Canal. The Thames and Severn is currently being painstakingly restored – how marvellous it would be if the link could be fully reinstated – what a trip that would be. We’ll be first on the list when it opens!

We turned the boat and headed back down the river. Easier said than done – I turned the bow into the shallows with the intention of winding around it but the flow from the Coln kept pushing the stern back and no way would she come round. So, top tip here, the turn is counter-intuitive – poke your nose into the Coln and turn clockwise; just be sure that you don’t

Father Thames at St john's Lock - carved in 1858 for the Crystal Palace

ground your stern on the very shallow sandbank opposite. The turn gave us a close up view of a willow opposite the sandbank – we just missed it but it was entertaining to see the flashes of different coloured paints that other visiting boats had left on its trunk!

Of course, no sooner had we reached the end of the navigation than I just wanted to do it all again, right the way back to the Royal Docks! One year we must take a full fortnight off and cruise the Thames from end to end in one go – it’s such a great waterway.

We headed back downstream- I found that the tiller was much easier when we were going with the flow but after St John’s lock I handed the helm to Richard. We were due to pick up some friends in Radcot and the floor just had to be done. What a difference it makes – Indigo Dream looks so much nicer with a clean floor. I was wondering if I could sell fluff on the ebay ….. 🙂

The scenery looks even better in the sunshine

We retraced our steps, or should that be our wake, enjoying the scenery anew. We moored up in Radcot about three minutes before our friends arrived – great timing. So we were joined once again by Neil and Jenny, daughter Hannah and spaniels Max and Hugo. They bought generous gifts of chocolate so they were allowed on board! Blue and Lou just ignore the spaniels these days – I don’t think they can understand dogs that just keep going all the time!

The spaniels were full of beans after the car journey from Surrey so me and Jenny hopped off at Radcot lock and took the whole pack for a walk. It was a longer walk than we planned – Indigo Dream set off round the bends, appearing and disappearing as she turned around the landscape. At first we

The quirky narrow bridge at Radcot - this one build in the 1700's though it looks much older

managed to cut enough corners to keep up but we soon lost sight of them. No matter, the weather had fulfilled its promise and it was a lovely day. We strolled through the countryside with dogs mainly on leads even though for the most part the meads were empty of livestock. One exception was a field with a herd of young fresian cows – the path went right through them and we walked by quickly with eyes forward as the cattle turned and started walking curiously towards us. Even the dogs got the message and kept their heads down! Luckily the cattle soon lost interest in us and I was relieved to pass through the gate into the next empty field. It was a warm day but there were plenty of places for the dogs to have a cooling paddle. But not Blue, he’d managed to sneak a roll in some cow dung and didn’t want to wash off his favourite cologne 🙂

Hannah, in the meantime, had skillfully helmed her way through the meanders. Richard said she did very well and needed no instruction, though he did stay within grabbing reach of the tiller!  They took the boat through Rushey Lock and waited for us below. The landing stage there is made

Can't get enough of those views

of open mesh grill – fine for human feet but a trap for soft dog paws. The crew had cleverly solved this problem by laying down the rubber mats from the back deck onto the mesh so that we could get the dogs on board safely. All apart from Blue, that is, he was unceremoniously sluiced down with three bucketfuls of river-water (to get rid of his coating of cow dung) before he was deemed socially acceptable enough to be allowed back on.

We’d only walked maybe a mile and a half but that was enough for the greyhounds (and me!). But the spaniels were barely warmed up and carried on energetically patrolling the boat for the rest of the afternoon. We were considering stopping in Tadpole for lunch but the available mooring was about 10 feet too short so we lunched on board instead. The dogs appreciated this as they benefited from stray bits of bacon and hot dogs!

It was interesting having more people on board. With the exception of Hannah, who is very svelte, the rest of us are rather large people. At one time I was pulling Indigo Dream round a particularly sharp bend when a combination of wind, current and the chance distribution of three people on one side of the boat heeled us over alarmingly! We hastily redistributed the crew and were careful with our disposition for the rest of the trip!

We were very excited at one of the locks as the resident lockie has a greyhound! His gorgeous hound’s a bit shy but was very pleased to meet Blue, who was his usual excited self at seeing a proper-shaped dog on the towpath for a change. Then Richard let Lou out and she predictably chased the poor hound round the lock-cottage. We bundled her back on board and Handsome Pa (his racing name) emerged shyly for a cuddle. Ok, he’s not one of Blue’s half siblings but Blue’s grandfather is Handsome Pa’s great-grandfather – the infamous dog ‘I’m Slippy’ who seems to appear in just about every bloodline somewhere or other!

Handsome Pa

We rang round the lock-keepers yet again for more advice on moorings and finally decided to book a week’s space at King’s Lock. The only downside is that it has no vehicle access and is about a mile’s walk from the road. Not insurmountable but we did need to be bit circumspect as to what we were carrying home.

While we’re on the subject of locks, one of the upper Thames locks had a notice warning narrowboats to stay off the lock wall, especially going down. We asked why and there are a couple of reasons – the specific reason at that lock was because there’s a little gap between the bottom of the lock-wall timbers and the metal brackets that they sit in. Apparently (and I hope it’s only in theory) the slight rim round a narrowboat’s baseplate can get caught in the gap. The gap’s caused by the bottom of the timbers rotting away so hopefully a bit of maintenance will take care of that. In other locks the chamber tapers at the bottom though I don’t see how keeping your boat off the lock-wall can help if the chamber’s too narrow at the bottom for 2 boats side-by-side!

Knowing that we had a mooring we could relax and enjoy the stunning weather. It was still chilly in the shade but great in the sunshine – with the river twisting so much, it was like being slowly turned on a spit! I didn’t want it to end but with the flow behind us we got to Kings Lock in no time. The lock-keeper charged us a very reasonable £7 a night for the mooring and it’s a wonderfully quiet spot, hopefully far from trouble. There is good dog-walking on the left upstream of the lock and the greyhounds had a good run before settling down to a big supper.

Richard and Neil went off to sort out the cars while we girls sat on the back deck enjoying the westering sun. We did

How to hang a bat box....

have  some interest as we watched the man from nb. Reliance climbing up a tree to hang some bat boxes. It was fascinating – is it his job or just a hobby? I hope the bats appreciate his efforts!

Typically, Neil and Richard had spotted a good pub on their travels so we got the call to abandon ship and walk towards the Trout Inn at Godstow Bridge. We took the bare minimum from the boat which meant that the four dogs got eat the remaining contents of the fridge – doggie heaven! If you ever do this trip, the path to the Trout Inn goes straight under the giant A34 road bridge past a row of moorings to Godstow Bridge. Cross over for the pub but watch out because the bridge is narrow.

We took a wrong turn and managed to find ourselves in a field of cows again – Blue immediately rolled in his favourite grooming product but mercifully chose a dry patch which just brushed off (though I keep thinking that a hint of the smell still lingers – lovely!). I was a bit concerned – there was a poster at the lock warning of an aggressive breed of brown cow in

Ones he did earlier....

the area. A cow had attacked a party of walkers, knocking one off his bike and badly injuring him (had to be airlifted out apparently) though the rest of the party managed to beat the cow back with their rucksacks. Of course, the field we found ourselves in had a flock of brown cows in the far corner – they didn’t stir but we got out fast just in case!

The Trout Inn (when we finally got there!) looked so promising from the outside but was rather disappointing within. Dogs are allowed in the riverside garden – there’s a path that goes right round the side of the building – don’t try to walk through the bar with them, the waitress will have a hissy fit. Despite its gourmet menu and lavish surroundings the service was slow and chaotic; they’d run out of cheese for the bacon ‘n cheese add-on to the burgers and made the generous offer of just bacon but for the same price! A few sausages on their own as a side order defeated them. When the food finally came it was rather dry and overcooked – what a pity.

We had a good drive home along largely empty roads – what a relief. I was knackered after a weekend in the fresh air and went straight to bed to dream about our wonderful cruise along the Thames. Judging by the tail twitching, paw waving and little barks, our fast-asleep dogs were doing the same 🙂

Photoblog:

A perfect end to the day's cruising

Just glorious....

Good use for a propeller?

Looking back towards the Inglesham Roundhouse

Now there's an apt name for a boat!

The Odyssey 2009: Day 10

Saturday 18th April: Bablock Hythe to Lechlade

Drilling for oil????

We had a very quiet night on the mooring – no noise from the pub or any other source for that matter. It was interesting to see that the river had risen by several inches overnight – just yesterday’s rainfall making its way downriver. It was just enough water to make the step up to the bank much easier, but not enough to cause any anxiety. It was a salutory reminder that it’s worth mooring with springs so that you have enough movement in your ropes to allow for changes in river levels.

Blue and Lou had a good rummage round the meadow, where, interestingly, they’ve marked the 2007 flood level (on the dog-poo bin!). It must have been a good metre over the level of the bank, which itself was a good metre above current river levels – that’s a LOT of water.  Despite the fact that the weather girl had cheerfully predicted ‘scorchio’ for the weekend, the morning was cool and heavily overcast. We set off just after 9am in the hope of sunshine to come.

Meandering round the meadows

How the river twists and turns here. Yesterday’s meanderings were just a taster of what we encountered today. The guides say that the maximum length of a craft allowable on the river above Oxford is 109 feet. Aye, you’d get in the locks but I don’t think you’d get round the bends! As Richard wryly commented – “this must be a Brindley waterway!”. And so it could have been, as the river follows an eccentric course through the landscape, but there aren’t any visible contours here in the land of the floodplain. If Telford had decided to canalise the river then a straight course from Lechlade to Oxford would have cut the journey by around 8 miles!

There is stunning countryside around here and it is so quiet – there are now few places in Britain where you can get away from traffic and train noise – this is one of them. Such villages as exist here are small and clustered around beautiful old bridges which seem to carry you back to the 13th and 14th centuries when they would have been used for carrying cattle and other goods from farm to market. Newbridge consists entirely

The graceful pointed arches of Newbridge - one of the oldest on the river (13th Century)

of a bridge and two pubs!  Mind you, they did look like good pubs – the ‘Rose Revived’ looked especially appealing. There are countryside moorings on the left upstream of the bridge – £3 a night – bargain!

There were a few boats on the move today – just enough for interest but not so many as to feel crowded. We were particularly taken with nb. Bison – a Somersetshire Coal Canal working boat with a sharp prow which cut sleekly through the water. I think she was actually shorter than us but her shape made her look long and lean – like the greyhounds! We also enjoyed sharing a few locks with nb Sweet Life whose owner had worked his way down from Runcorn single-handed.

Shifford lock has a useful water point and I have to say that the Environment Agency services have been very good. The services are more frequent than I expected, easy to access and there’s good water pressure; the fact that they provide wide-bore hoses at most waterpoints is a big plus – saves us messing about with our own hose reel. I took the dogs for a walk upstream of Shifford while Richard was filling with water. There’s a lovely walk towards Chimney Meadows – initially

Good water pressure at Shifford lock! The tank filled in 5 rather than the usual 35 minutes.

the path’s wooded and green with the frantic growth of little plants who will soon be shaded out by the broad leaves of the trees above. Then it all opens out to the rich meadows of the flood plain. We could have walked for miles but Richard picked us up where the bank was a little more even and we cruised on.

The twists and turns make it almost impossible to tell which direction boats are going in the distance. Sometimes boats upstream seemed to be at impossible angles to our position, making us think that they were actually on a tributary. But the river then wound its way round the torturous bends to reach each serenely moored boat.

We were amused by cruiser ‘Legless’, whose crew looked admirably sober despite the fact that the sun was well over the yard-arm!

There are two riverside attractions at the ‘villages’ of Tadpole and Radcot which, unlike Newbridge, consist of a bridge

Lovely riverscape

and just one pub! What Radcot lacks in houses it makes up in moored boats – it’s literally a village on the water. There are plenty of visitor moorings downstream of the bridge but they’re surrounded by picnic areas and long-term moorings along an offshoot of the river. It’s obviously a popular spot and I can see why – even I was tempted to join the crowd. We had a sweet pang of nostalgia here as an Anglo-Welsh hire boat tried to moor by coming in close to the bank, hurling crew onto the shore with ropes then manfully tugging the boat into the bank – no mean feat in a river current. Aah, that’s what we used to do…….

Note: Radcot bridge is narrow and boats coming downstream have right of way. Keep a lookout and mind your line – the current which funnels through the narrow arch is pushes the boat around and you need a firm hand on the helm to keep her on course. The scrapes on the bridge at narrowboat height testifies to how tricky it can be to get through here, though there is plenty of width available!.

Local character at Radcot lock - reputedly modelled on a more attractive member of the local boating club!

After Radcot I thought it might now be busy right through to Lechlade, but we were soon back in empty countryside. There’s a fine new lock at Grafton – it looks as if every part of it has been replaced and it looks great. The lock-keeper wasn’t around but the 3-ton gates moved effortlessly. There’s a charming and useful shop at this lock – it’s a general store basically laid out in the front room of the lock cottage and accessed through the lounge window! They had exactly what we needed – tinned dog food. We’d inadvertently run out the night before (horrors!) and the dogs were starving from disdain of dog biscuits (of which there were plenty) 🙂

There are some truly wicked turns on the run up to Buscot Lock. Fortunately the buoy marking the large sandbank on the last turn but one is now back in place (apparently it’s been awol). Just as well, the shoal on the inside of the bend must stretch over half the river’s width at this point.

Apologia: To the narrowboat that I dodged just below Buscot Lock: my sincere apologies – I thought I’d overshot the lock-cut, panicked and turned too soon, straight into your path, before I’d spotted your chimney on the near horizon (blind bend) – my mistake.

Wicked turn and associated sandbank below Buscot Lock

No harm done, as it happens there was no contact, but the sight of two 60 foot narrowboats swirling around each other with just a few inches clearance must have seemed like a strange ballet. Except we were all too busy going “aaaaargh” to appreciate it at the time. I did apologise to the other boater as we swung past, he smiled and then concentrated on not hitting the sand bank on the bend!

Whee – that was enough excitement for me and I approached the last lock with some relief. After the silence of the river the last lock looms not just with its visual presence but with the gradual return of the noise of human civilisation. The tall spire of Lechlade Church suddenly springs from the flat landscape and announces the town better than any road sign. Lechlade Lock itself is very attractive and has some interesting statuary. The lock-keeper warned us to moor quickly as a group of cruisers were having a rally and the moorings were likely to fill up quickly. Looking upstream, the field next to the lock offers moorings at £4 a night; the next field along, just below the bridge, appears to be free. There are reputedly moorings upstream of the bridge but it looked pretty full so we moored below the bridge next to a well-fenced meadow where Blue and Lou had several greyhound moments – dashing about as if they were back on the track.

Lechlade aglow in the evening sun

We’d made excellent time and arrived earlier than we expected so that gave us time for a wander around town. Lechlade is delightful – it had beautiful and unusual buildings built from soft Cotswold stone that glowed in the golden evening sunshine. The people seemed very welcoming and it’s a very ‘doggie’ town. We’d only been out for 5 minutes when we ran into a couple who have two greyhounds of their own and volunteer at their local Retired Greyhound Trust shelter. We chatted greyhounds for ages. We also picked up a local character – an obviously streetwise scruffy little terrier who took a fancy to the greyhounds and followed us through the town. He didn’t have a collar but looked in good condition – apparently he’s a common sight though no-one knows where he comes from. We also met a delightful couple who had a dainty little lurcher called Phoebe – pale brindle, smaller than a greyhound but bigger than a whippet. Again we chatted for ages – our simple trip to the useful Londis store in town took twice as long as planned!

It'll soon be December......

We dumped the shopping in the boat and headed back to town – it’s not far. The couple with the lurcher had given us a useful guide to pubs – most are dog-friendly but they suggested the Swan in the town centre (just up the road from the supermarket). It’s a  cosy pub full of of friendly locals – the dogs were made especially welcome and we got chatting to the genial locals. We were alarmed by the terrible tale of a local stray, a german shepherd cross, who apparently fatally attacked a greyhound last year. But most of the chat was around the joy of ownings dogs, how bonkers dogs can be and how we love them anyway. The food was plentiful and very good. We ordered a sausage each for the dogs and the chef came out to ask us if we’d like her to slice the sausages so that they’d cool while she was preparing our dinner – what service!

After a companionable meal, there was still enough light for us to have another wander around town. It’s full of unusual shops – the type that seem wildly uncommercial but which cling to life in little towns everywhere. The strangest of all was the Christmas Shop which looked like it was thriving. This was no fly-by-night store that moves in for the season and then vanishes in the New Year. This was a year-round

Grazing swans at sunset

Christmas shop and even now there was no concession to the passing seasons – the windows were relentlessly full of very classy Christmas decorations – all a bit surreal to be honest.

We had a bit of a shock when we got back to the mooring field – the large flock of local swans had abandoned the water and were dotted around the pasture obviously enjoying the soft rich grass. We kept a tight hold on the dogs! An hour later, the swans had all disappeared again – I wonder if coming out to graze is a daily routine for them. We breathed a sigh of relief – it’s so much easier with the dogs if there’s nothing nearby to tempt them into trouble. But I’m not sure I needed to worry – they had to be coaxed and coerced off the boat for their pre-bed wees and, having done the necessary, immediately ran back to their beds. I stayed out a bit longer, enjoying the darkness and the bright stars – several million more than are visible in the glow of London.

Photoblog:

Tadpole Bridge

The 'Rose Revived' - appealing watering hole in Newbridge

Rural scene

Another local character at Radcot lock

Meanders...

Charming and unusual garden at St John's lock, Lechlade

Another view of Lechlade

Twilight on the water at Lechlade

The Odyssey 2009: Day 9

Friday 17th April: Sandford to Bablock Hythe

Footbridge renovation - the new metal bridge will be a more vibrantly attractive feature than the sympathetic old timber structure

Remarkably, we managed to get up early this morning and had an unhindered drive from Surrey to Sandford. It rained heavily for most of the trip and we anticipated waterproofs, but as we arrived the rain cleared though it stayed cool and overcast all day. As expected, Indigo Dream had been perfectly fine at the lock mooring – it’s always a relief, even though we KNEW she’d be safe and secure here.

I know I’ve said this before (and will do many times again) but the lock-keepers on the Thames are treasures, even the most taciturn ones (and there aren’t many of those). Before we set out, Richard had a long chat with the lockie at Sandford, checking out the river conditions following the week’s rain and getting the low-down on 5-day moorings in and around Oxford. The lock-keeper was a mine of information – the river was fine, the moorings, as predicted, were few! However, he did tell us about potential moorings at King’s Lock, on the Thames just North of Oxford. This proved to be a useful tip but we blithely shelved the issue until later – we had 3 days of cruising ahead of us before we needed to decide so off we went. Ooh, while I remember, the lock-keeper at Sandford has recently started learning to play the accordion – good on him. Sadly he was too shy to give us a recital !

But they also build in stone here.....

While Richard was chatting, I took the dogs for a run round the meadow by the lock. Surprise surprise, they weren’t interested! Lou did the essentials and ran back to the gate; Blue did some desultory rummaging and I had to force them to come round the meadow with me. I think they’ve finally ‘normalised’ the boat and don’t feel the same urge to dash about as they did on the first few days; or maybe they’re still knackered after last weekend!

We did a car swap with a difference today – Richard needed to get the car up to Oxford and scout around for suitable weekend parking (not easy in this city), but he didn’t want to leave me solo through the locks (lock-keepers notwithstanding). So I took the boat up to each lock and he drove up to meet me.

It all worked very smoothly, though I’m sorry that he missed the stretch between Sandford and Iffley locks as it was particularly scenic. The river tantalised me with a few meanders – harbringer of the last stretch up to Letchlade. Of course, round each bend you seem to get a new view, as if the river was entering a new realm with every turn.

Low headroom at Osney bridge - and that's at low river levels!

After Iffley Lock, Oxford starts to make its presence known – and not in a good way. We cruised through Oxford on the river in 2007 and I thought it was a dump. So I had a bit of the creeping dread as I closed in on the city. I wasn’t disappointed. The run up to Osney Lock isn’t too bad, but through the city, the river’s forced into a mean and twisted culvert – fettered and narrow. How I hate it here. The Lock-keeper at Osney brightened the scenery – Richard had a bit of difficulty navigating the car to the vicinity of the lock so I was solo on the boat until the lock was about half-full. Of course, you’re never alone with a…..lock-keeper.

Note: Nicholson’s warns you about the pull from the weir upstream of Osney Lock – the guide is absolutely right! I cut down my revs out of the lock to chat to Richard (who off back to the car) and was merrily dragged towards the weir; a few revs got me out of it but it’s worth watching out for!

Sheepwash Cut

Richard headed off on his bike to the next lock. I can honestly say he didn’t miss anything on the next bit of river. I find the stretch upstream of Osney a bit bleak – it’s green enough but it feels quite shabby compared to the wonders of the other riverside towns we’ve cruised through. Watch the headroom at Osney Bridge – the river’s low at the moment, so there was plenty of room through the centre arch, but I image a few cruisers must have lost their awnings here!

Note: Nicholson’s tell you that there are two channels at Folly Bridge and that you can use either. IGNORE this advice – Folly Bridge has 3 arches – use the CENTRE arch (watch out for boats coming downstream). Going upstream, the left hand arch is obscured by moored boats; if you take the right hand arch you’ll run straight into a pontoon full of punts!

Knowing that I don’t like Oxford by the river, I had high hopes of the canal. I’d had the idea that if the city had turned

Isis lock looked promising

its back on the river, maybe it had been wise enough to turn its face to the canal. I turned into the Sheepwash Channel and was faced with overgrowth and dereliction with the skeleton of a swingbridge that once carried the railway over the canal. The bridge still has railway tracks and from the towpath you can see right into Oxford Station sidings. The end of the Sheepwash channel comes quite abruptly – despite studying the map several times I really hadn’t realised what an acute turn it was into Isis lock. The lock onto the canal proper is literally behind you as you come into the basin at the end of the channel. There’s plenty of room to turn but take my word for it, it’s much easier if you don’t overshoot and have to reverse back to get the right line!

I felt better when Richard caught up with me on the bike and expressed equal surprise at the lock’s location – he hadn’t realised what an acute turn it was either!

Isis lock is green and pleasant with a well-used towpath. As Richard went off for his last trip in the car, I started to hope

Suburban canal

that the canal through Oxford might be ok after all. But no, I’d hardly travelled 500 yards when I got an unpleasant bit of ear ache from a boater. At first I thought he was being friendly, but he was being nastily sarcastic, accusing me of going so fast as to have a bow wave (in tickover at 800 revs – swans produce a bigger ripple!); when I told him I was going as slow as I could, he snapped ‘no you’re not’ and told me to pull over so he could adjust my gearbox. Of course I didn’t – would you let a hostile on board??

I’m afraid that I let that incident spoil my whole day – I was so upset because I was boating as considerately as I knew how, but still the denizens of this miserable backwater weren’t satisfied.  ‘Welcome to Oxford’ I though ruefully. Richard just thinks that the continuous moorers can’t cope with seeing boats moving . . . .

Of course, the rest of the canal through Oxford would need to be exceptional to make up for that sorry bit of bother.

Agenda 21 moorings at St Edward's liftbridge

But it’s not. It’s a dull suburban canal – narrow, shallow and oppressive. There is little by way of visitor moorings up to Wolvercote lock – a few stretches of 24-hour and 48 hours interspersed with full banks of residential (Agenda 21) moorings or deserted towpath ‘conservation’ areas. But really, there’s nothing here to conserve. I was the only boat moving on the water and I felt like an intruder though, in all fairness, I didn’t encounter any more overt hostility, just a certain lack of warmth. I’m glad there weren’t any boats coming down the canal – with residential moorings on one side and little rowing boats moored at the end of each back garden there really wouldn’t have been much room (if any) to pass.

The canal gets more rural past St Edward’s Lift Bridge (mercifully left open). This was much better scenery than the boring back gardens but it didn’t lift my spirits. This part of the trip was interminable and I almost cried with joy when I saw

Nifty temporary liftbridge

Richard cycling down the towpath on the reach up to Wolvercote lock and the first of the (closed) Oxford Canal swingbridges a little further on.

It felt as if we’d been on the canal for many tedious hours but it can’t have been that long; the whole stretch from Sheepwash to Duke’s Cut is only around 3 lock miles! I guess it’s the whole ‘watched pot never boils’ syndrome – we couldn’t wait to get back to the Thames. We were in for another delay though. When we got to where the A34 and A40 cross the canal, the cut was closed with a very solid steel barrier at water level. My dread levels increased exponentially at the thought of either being stuck here or having to reverse right back to Sheepwash (no winding holes on this stretch).

Mechanical munchers enjoying a snack!

But it turns out that the steel barrier was, in fact, a temporary road bridge which could be lifted to allow boats to pass – thank heavens. The workmen told us we’d have to wait until they’d received a delivery of concrete which was due in 25 minutes time. But Richard persuaded them that they’d have ample time to lift the bridge, let us through, and put it back down before their delivery arrived and so it proved. The bridge was interesting – it was lifted hydraulically on both sides – I thought it was a nifty bit of kit. Just past the bridge we got a fine view of the demolition of a dual carriageway – fascinating.

Shortly afterwards we turned into Duke’s Cut with a tremendous sense of relief and felt the tension drain away as we moved towards the Thames. Duke’s lock has yet another unique variation on the theme of paddle gear – the ground paddle control is in a big box on the side and to keep the paddle up you have to leave your windlass on and fix it place with a hook. It’s an

Yet another type of paddle gear!

interesting fact that at Sheepwash you lock up to the canal from the river and at Duke’s lock you lock up from the canal to the river. Duke’s Cut itself is very scenic – much more open than the canal, with promises of broader vistas to come.

So, we were finally back on the Thames and looking forward to a new experience as we’ve never cruised this stretch before. And what a surprise the river had in store for us. From Duke’s Cut right up to Lechlade the canal squiggles around like some crayoned scribble etched on the landscape by a celestial toddler. It’s very lovely and has its own enchantment, even down to the names of the many tributaries that join the Thames here – Evenlode, Windrush, Coln. I was thinking they’re all Tolkienesque names then I remembered that Tolkien was an Oxford don and used these blessed counties as the template for middle-earth.

Aah, back on the river....

The landscape here is completely rural. We soon left the incessant noise of the big A roads behind us and when we turned the engine off at the locks there was no sound other than the soft soughing of the water and bright birdsong. The Thames path offers outstanding walks and this is an area that I’d like to explore again, maybe when we’re not on a deadline (for the BCN Challenge). There seem to be few restrictions on moorings (though some farmers charge a bargain £3 – 4 a night) so there’s plenty of opportunity for dog-walking and general exploration.

There was one major mooring restriction for us, though – sheep! Or more precisely, little lambs frolicking about. Blue spotted them from the boat and spent the next 20 minutes with nose a-twitch over the side as we cruised past acres of meadows full of fast-moving lambs  (he doesn’t pay much attention to sheep – they’re too slow). Blue was beside himself – he started barking like a girl and butting against the dog-proof deck doors – in the end we locked him inside until he calmed down!

I'll have mine well-done, with gravy, hold the mint sauce.....

The lock-keepers were a particularly jolly lot on this stretch, even though the locks were now manual. The locks up here seemed well-maintained and the few we had to do ourselves had beautifully balanced lock beams and easy counterbalanced  ‘wheel style’ paddle gear. Pinkhill Lock is especially lovely and so so quiet. They have 24-hour moorings and I wish we’d stopped here overnight.

As the river twists and turns around the empty countryside, it’s easy to lose track of where you are. The odd bit of civilisation and the rare sight of a bridge or farm in the distance was a welcome chance to catch up on how far we’d come. There are probably 3 footbridges for every road bridge on this stretch – says it all really. There was a bit of interest in Eynsham, where there’s an Anglo-Welsh hire centre. Surely this has to be the most remote hire centre in the country! There’s also a boatyard here which sells diesel (can’t tell you the price – we didn’t stop and they did not answer their phones on Sunday). I was also amused by the cruiser named ‘watertight alibi’, obviously a sister boat to ”crime pays’ who we passed last week!

Nice name - Sassie Lassie at the Bablock Hythe caravan park

A fellow boater at Eynsham Lock told us that the Ferryman pub further upstream (beyond the caravan park) was dog-friendly and had supplied a good sandwich lunch; it also has a favourable write-up in the Nicholson’s. So, that became our target.

Nicholson’s describes the caravan park as ‘unappealing’ – good word; it’s immaculate but not the most attractive of riverscapes. Unfortunately the pub, which I guess mainly serves the caravan park, also looked unappealing. But there are useful free Environment Agency moorings (24 hour) just upstream and it was time we stopped – it started to rain just as we finished tying up. The moorings are adjacent to an open meadow where Blue and Lou could have a run so it was a useful spot though we wouldn’t bother stopping here if it weren’t for the pub. As it happens we never got there! We went along and I spoke to a group of smoking locals outside – they told me that the the pub doesn’t allow dogs, oh, and “not being funny but do you pick up after your dogs”? “Yes’ was my emphatic answer but I was still treated to a lecture about the unpleasantness of dog poo – well yes, I know, I pick up enough of it!

It was too much – I felt thoroughly put-upon and didn’t even cross the pub’s threshold. I marched Richard and the dogs back to the boat where he kindly made me dinner. I was in a right strop – only wine, time or a mixture of both could cure it. I compromised on a beer and felt much better 🙂

Photoblog:

Interesting old building on the Thames upstream of Osney - wonder what it was used for?

And this is where I got accused of speeding.....

Shame there no 'sharp turn' signs on the cut approaching the other way!

£20 for a pump out? I'll just keep my legs crossed thanks.....

'stealth' fishing platform!

The view back to the Oxford Canal from Duke's Lock - it's a sharp turn!

Attractive modern bridge carrying the busy A40 over Duke's Cut

Another sad sight....

A view from Duke's Cut

The power and art of the river

Misty middle earth - Tolkien's inspiration???

Couldn't agree more......

The objects of their desire.....

Yum Yum!

Lamb Ahoy!

The Odyssey 2009: Day 8

The view downstream of the 'Beetle and Wedge' moorings

Saturday 11th April Moulsford to Sandford

As I mentioned, we had a wonderfully peaceful night on the pub moorings. The hard-working staff there have unenviable working hours – the cheery faces who waved us off at 9am were the same ones who so efficiently served us at 9pm the night before.

There was a flurry of activity at the mooring first thing and a bit of excitement as a cruiser then a dutch barge pulled out of the moorings opposite; the barge turned downstream directly in front of a 4-man skiff which was forced to wait until the barge had finished its manouver. I wonder how rowers and bigger boats get along around here? I get the impression of a slightly uneasy relationship. That was just about it for boating excitement, the river was largely our own, apart from a flurry of rowers around the club house downstream of Wallingford.

Brunel's skewed creation - Moulsford railway bridge

The first landmark of the day was the interesting skewed railway bridge upstream of Moulsford. Built by Brunel, it’s a great mix of solid functionality and beautiful craftsmanship. There seem to be two bridges here – we assumed that the first bridge was Brunel’s then the second is a later addition – sympathetically added in redbrick but lacking some of the the flair of the original. There’s a cluster of islands just upstream of the bridge – they’re reputedly haunted though we saw no unquiet souls as we cruised past.

We saw yet another face of the Thames today. Yesterday the fluid swell of the Chilterns rolled alongside, but today we swapped them for the featureless panorama of the flood plain. It has its own beauty but was a little soporific under the smooth grey sky. The flat landscape was dominated for miles by the giant Didcot power station – visible from every angle as the river contorted around the countryside.

View downstream to Wallingford Bridge

Thankfully there are villages dotted at intervals along the river to break up the scenery – most are picturesque and all act as useful landmarks. The first that we passed through was Wallingford which looked attractive. There are very reasonable (£3 per night) parish council moorings on the right bank opposite the caravan park. This is where we found another error in our brand new Nicholsons, where the moorings are marked on the left.   It’s not a big deal – the moorings are very obviously signed!

And so the cruise went on – we had the river to ourselves and, between villages, our senses were as dull as the sky. Richard roused himself to do some DIY (starting the process of fitting the smart gauge), dogs were asleep and I took the helm.

We renewed our land-owning pretensions as we passed through the lovely village of Shillingford. There’s a 5-acre plot for sale adjacent to the river, just upstream of the attractive road bridge. It’s not an island so there are no access problems and

The view downstream towards Shillingford Bridge - the meadow on the left's for sale!

apparently it has some fishing and mooring rights. What it didn’t have was a guide price – any bids?

This briefly woke us up as we speculated on transport to Shillingford, its desirability as a mooring and its distance from Surrey. All very positive…..

A little further on, we passed the spot where the tiny River Thame joins the mighty Thames. There’s a legend that upstream of this point, the Thames acquires a female spirit and turns into the Isis. I thought it was a bit fanciful and had decided to call it the Thames whatever. But actually the river changed it’s character soon after. We lost the big vistas as the river narrowed and the softly wooded banks closed in. The whole waterway acquired the feel of a canal – calm and sedate; but the plaques at every lock commemorating famous flood levels reminded us that this was a river, moody and changeable (no comment on the nature of the female spirit here of course 🙂

Abingdon's attractive river frontage

The revelation of the day came in Abingdon – what a great place to linger. We’d thought nothing of the town previously, but as we cruised through we noticed that it has a lovely riverscape – open fields and parkland on one side, stunning old redbrick buildings on the other. It also had the signature of a town making the best of its waterfront – FREE 5-day moorings on both sides of the ancient Abingdon Road Bridge. Although we were pushing for Oxford we couldn’t resist stopping. Dogs had a good rummage round the park before we went for a wander round the town. The town’s early history seems to revolve around an ancient Abbey (now ruined) and there’s a fascinating mix of buildings spanning from the 1400’s through to today. It is obviously a prosperous market town, full of vitality and interest. It has a wonderful range of pubs – we speculated that a 5-day mooring still wouldn’t give you enough time to explore all of the pubs within walking distance of the river!

One of Abingdon's historic buildings

In the brief time there, we were there we spotted the important bits – a Thornton’s chocolate shop, Costa coffee and the luscious Pascal’s patisserie on East St Helen’s Street (OX14 5EG). We chatted for ages with a couple who own two greyhounds of their own. As always, praise for our dogs made us very happy and we were filled with goodwill towards the town. Our only regret, having now moved on, is that we didn’t spend some more time here – it is a charming place.

Note: there are free 5-day moorings on either side of Abingdon Bridge; the moorings downstream are more convenient for the town but are a bit high for a narrowboat (awkward for offloading); the upstream moorings are a bit further from town but much better for dog-walking and are at a better height for narrowboats.

This feeling of goodwill persisted as we went up through Abingdon Lock. The lock keeper was a real gem, characterful and efficient; then just upstream we found excellent services so we filled with water, did a pump-out (£7.50 card from

Quad bike race - great view from the river

the lock-keeper) and disposed of our rubbish. While we did all this we we chatted with an Anglo-Welsh hire boat and admired their locking fuel cap (photo below). Lou scrounged a fuss from a hiker who’s sister owns FOUR greyhounds and Blue just rummaged. There are also 24-hour moorings just upstream of the services – this would be a convivial spot to spend a day.

A bit further on we were lucky enough to be spectators at the start of a quad bike race in a field adjacent to the river. We cheekily hovered on the river as we watched the bikes literally flying over the course – we must have had the best view as we could see the entire track from the river!

After Abingdon we faced the long curve up to Oxford. The river suddenly narrows here and it was hard to believe that we were on the same waterway that, down by the Thames Barrier, could accommodate 250 narrowboats without touching the sides!

Secure moorings at Sandford Lock

We started speculating on moorings – ideally we needed to leave the boat somewhere safe for a week and had thought of mooring on the towpath somewhere on the Oxford Canal (if we could make it that far). But checking our various guide books and chatting with local lock-keepers we realised that we were unlikely to get a mooring in Oxford. Apparently they’re clamping down on continuous moorers in the City and there are few, if any, longer-term moorings.

This left us with a bit of a dilemma, but the lock-keeper at Sandford lock was brilliant. I should say, first of all, that he looked splendid with his bushy moustache, a smart black suit with a fine waistcoat and gold fob chain – a real river character. He was also tremendously helpful when we needed information about moorings and volunteered the lock’s own mooring space (£8.50 a night). We thought it through – the mooring was secure, a reasonable price, directly opposite a pub with a car park and only a few miles cab journey from Oxford train station. We decided to stay put at Sandford and neatly reversed her into the nicely out-of-the-way mooring adjacent to the lock.

Great dog-walking meadow at Sandford Lock

Later on we found that the lock-keeper had accidentally double-booked the mooring. Fortunately the second narrowboat was being crewed by a relief lockie who could give himself permission to moor overnight on the lock lay-by! Just as well – we’d booked and paid for our week’s moorings and I’m not sure where we could have gone if we’d had to move.

Sandford has, so far, proved to be a wonderful place. There’s a large meadow on the other side of the lock – perfect dog-walking as its bound on two sides by the river and then well fenced on the other two sides so nicely secure for a racing greyhound. The mooring’s fenced off from the bridge over to the pub so we felt very secure.  Not only was the lock-keeper helpful, but so were the people in the pub (The King’s Arms – OX4 4YD). Their car park is a 3-hour pay ‘n display but the manager kindly gave me an overnight parking pass (free) on the proviso that we would be eating there in the evening.

It's been a busy few days.....

The food was hearty pub grub and our waitress had a good sense of humour which made for a great evening. Sadly the pub doesn’t allow dogs inside (ok in the garden) but that didn’t matter. Our two were flat out after rummaging around the meadow for ages earlier.

We had thought of trekking back to Surrey on Saturday night. I’d taken a cab/train back to Reading and had driven the car back up to Sandford (brilliantly fast drive on empty A-roads) but it was so nice at our mooring that we decided to stay the night. Once again it was totally silent, despite the fact that it was so close to the pub. We heard a few drunks singing their way across the lock at closing time but there was no trouble. We had a peaceful night’s sleep and both dog and human crew had a job to get going on Sunday morning. But we were on a deadline to get back for a family Easter gathering.

We left the dogs at home on Sunday while we went off for a Polish feast at Richard’s sister’s house. Blue and Lou didn’t even notice us leaving – they’re completely exhausted after their adventures on the boat. It’s now 4pm on Monday and they’re still sleeping it off….

Photoblog:

More cute dog photos (they’ve been such posers this weekend!), a bit of scenery and some boat names which tickled Richard’s fancy being as many of the names seemed grander than the boats!

Blue keeping watch - nothing unusual there

Moulsford's haunted islands

Lou keeping watch - now that's unusual

Must be rabbits on the bank.....

Just cute.....

What a smart boathouse

Not your usual summerhouse - wartime pillbox at the end of the garden...

uhm, only if you take that hood down!

Not the obvious war boat of the iceni....

No no - WORK is the real thief of time....

Tranquil Days sounds good

why here?

Normally moors by Brunel's bridge (and the haunted islands??

Apt, though we don't know for certain whether the inside's bigger than the outside!

Fine house and boathouse upstream of Shillingford

Maybe this cruiser should be called 'limbo dancer'!

New thatched developments going up

The discreet junction with the River Thame

Site of the proposed junction between the Thames and the Berks and Wilts Canal, but with only a short stretch of canal.

Abingdon's gargoyles

More of Abingdon's gargoyles

More flying quad bikes

Anglo-Welsh design for a locking fuel cap

Dramatic fallen tree - glad it wasn't on the move in the current!

Isis - the more intimate face of the Thames....

The telltale ripples of side-paddles; if you see these then keep a tight hold on your ropes or you'll get pushed out from the lock wall (which tends to upset any cruisers sharing with you!)

The Odyssey 2009: Day 7

Friday 10th April Reading to Moulsford

Back on the Thames - leaving the Thames and Kennet Marina and passing the entrance to the Kennet & Avon Canal

All week we’ve been discussing our target for this weekend’s cruising – Oxford. It would be a push, we’d need to be diligent, good practice for the BCN Marathon, 10 hour days, well, make it 9 hours because we can manage 5 mph on the river even going upstream. Yeah right, Thursday evening came and went and we decided to drive to the boat early on Friday instead; well, you know us and early! We didn’t get onto Indigo Dream until nigh on 1pm…..

Mind you, we did have stop in Tesco’s in Reading on the way – we’d normally stop there by boat – they have tremendous visitor moorings on the left just upstream of the marina entrance. There’s also quite extensive parkland adjacent to the towpath so there’s good rummaging for the dogs.

Needless to say, Indigo Dream had been perfectly safe and secure at the marina but it was time to move on. I’ve often thought that if I ever took to life on the water, this marina would be the perfect place to moor – it simply has the friendliest atmosphere. Sadly, though, it also has 33 cats and the

Tesco Moorings on the Thames in Reading

marina manager’s cat (who Blue and Lou met last time) seems to have a death-wish! This time, we met the marina manager and her family walking down the pontoon with her cat strutting arrogantly behind her. I had to put my considerable body weight into holding Blue and Lou back. The cat seemed determined to sit in the middle of the pontoon, staring the dogs down, but the marina manager wisely plonked the silly creature on the boat roof while I bodily dragged our thoroughly overexcited hounds onto Indigo Dream and locked them away until we’d moved out.

It’s been two years since we cruised this stretch but even so I was surprised at how little memory I had of it. Never mind, at least it meant that the waterway would seem new and amazing 🙂 We passed through the surprisingly green and leafy outskirts of Reading, sharing a lock with nb Sandalwood who’d left the marina shortly before us. There are a lot of boats in Reading but nonetheless I was surprised to see so many boatyards in such

Random cruiser - there's a big space behind us!

a short stretch of river. I counted three between the marina and Caversham Bridge so you’d never be short of a pump-out around here. Mind you, I think at least one of the yards serves a fleet of hire cruisers. I was a bit concerned when a hire cruiser headed out into the river in the, just, cruiser sized space between us and Sandalwood and proceeded to weave around randomly. But after a while they seemed to decide that upstream wasn’t them and they disappeared off downstream, much to my relief.

Once we got past Caversham bridge, Reading seemed to vanish – I’m not sure where it went but all of a sudden we were in the countryside. It was such an abrupt transition from the flamboyantly extravagant Thames downstream of the city. Up to Reading, you get the sense that every bit of the river is being employed – a rowing club, a summerhouse, a riverside estate, a meeting place. But upstream of Reading the river seems to slow to match the stately flow of the Chiltern Hills to the North. The views around Mapledurham are particularly lovely with fresh rain-washed greens and the abundant

Rolling lanscape above Mapledurham Lock

cleanliness of white hawthorn blossom.

Mapledurham was also beautified by it’s very jolly lock-keeper, who hails from Croydon. There’s a tale to tell there about how he came to this remote and rural spot – I’m sorry that he managed to fill the lock and get us on our way before I could hear it. There’s also good dog-walking below Mapledurham Lock – Blue enjoyed a quick rummage while we were waiting. This was our first lock queue of the year and also the first proper demonstration of the lock-keeper’s expertise as a sardine packer as he shoe-horned a couple of narrowboats and a few cruisers into a not very large (by Thames standards) lock.

We carried on through the landscape – marvelling at the change in the river’s character and enjoying the sense of movement that belongs uniquely to the odyssey. Unfortunately the weather was grim – it was raining, a steady constant downpour falling with the incessant patter of water on a mission – which was to get us soaked. I imagined the hundreds of new

Local colour - a few members of a much larger herd of Llamas (or alpacas) in a riverside meadow

plants we’ve just had put into our garden at home waving their little leaves in joy. But I’m not a plant, though I realise that I may have turned into a cissy southerner – I’d never complain about a bit of rain when my roots were planted in Wales 🙂

I was cheered by a bit of spite though. We’d been overtaken by a large cruiser who seemed intent on getting to the next lock before us – cruisers are notoriously reluctant to share locks with narrowboats. But when we got to Whitchurch Lock the lock keeper signalled the cruiser into the moorings and waved us past into the lock (to good natured cries of “not fair” from the cruiser. But we were last in a companionable 4-narrowboat huddle in the lock.

The other narrowboats were part of a boating club based on the Kennet and Avon, heading out for a weekend cruise. They stopped off at Beale Park, which many of you will know as a great spot from the IWA National a couple of years ago. There’s free 24-hour mooring here and we were tempted to join them (the dog-walking looked superb) but it seemed a bit early to stop. For information, there are also

Speed camera hidden in the bushes - is that set for 5mph???

good countryside moorings on the left hand side below Whitchurch Lock. Knowing the boating club were taking it easy and stopping very shortly, I overtook them on the straight after Whitchurch Lock – of course that was before I spotted the speed camera! (see photo).

Goring sounds and looks like a charming place to moor. But as we got there, the rain finally stopped and we decided to keep going a bit further and make use of the first bit of decent cruising weather of the day. Goring Lock itself is very picturesque and above the lock the scenery becomes a little less cultivated.

Goring was soon followed by Cleve Lock. We were very excited to see Cleve as Richard had spotted a possible investment opportunity. The island below the lock is for sale – one and a half acres for £195,000. We’ve heard it was owned at one time by Pete Townsend but we are not sure if he is the current owner. We’d cruised upriver discussing how desirable it would be to own a Thames island before moving on to plans for making money from it via moorings, fishing etc. It was a lovely dream which brightened an otherwise cloudy afternoon. Alas, our little bubble was burst when the island itself hove into view. It’s a rough piece of ground which the details make amply clear can never be developed. There is

Moorings at Beale Park

foot access across the weir but this is not an official right of way – the weir bridge was signed “NO ACCESS” in no uncertain terms. The only other access is by boat and there are landing stages for boats on the shore and on the island but NO mooring rights. This is where it gets complicated – the island and the shore is owned by one person, the river bed is owned by another, and it seems that the water is owned by someone else with little prospect of getting mooring or fishing rights. So, it’s £195,000 for a bit of land with no conceivable practical use and next to no access – bargain!

Never mind, we’re an optimistic crew on Indigo Dream and we’ll find another little vision to enlighten other days.

It would be wrong to call this stretch dull but it did feel more conventional. The river seems to have lost the sheer vivacity of the colourful and eccentric houseboats and other

Unusual conservatory overlooking the river

strange features that enliven the lower Thames. However we did find some flashes of that rampant individuality that seems to mark the character of river dwellers in the form of a beautifully built free-standing conservatory and a magnificent art-deco house rising like a monstrous wurlitzer from the bank!

Our Nicholson’s has mooring marked just downstream of Moulsford and we did see a likely spot on the left. We scouted it out going upstream, went past then turned round for another look then headed back upstream. That’s the great thing about this river – there’s no need to mess around looking for winding holes. It’s got width to spare for turning – the current is helpful turning downstream (slightly less so turning upstream). Although river levels are low at the moment, there was a marked difference between travelling downstream with the flow – even the seemingly gentle current exerts a considerable push when you’re cruising upstream. We were still undecided about the

Dedication to style......

countryside moorings – there weren’t any signs either way – we think it would have been a good place to stop, however, there was better to come.

Nicholson’s rhapsodises about the “Beetle and Wedge” hotel on the left at Moulsford. We’d spotted it earlier and, better still, noticed that its moorings were empty. A quick phonecall established that they’d be happy for us to moor there overnight if we were eating in the pub, though it was not dog-friendly. It was only 5.30pm and we’d never normally stop that early but it had just started to rain again and the ‘Beetle and Wedge’ looked very enticing so we moored up – plenty of room for a 60footer.

Note: Nicholson’s is out of date (even the new March editions!) The ‘Beetle and Wedge’ is no longer a hotel and is now just one riverside pub/restaurant though it does have a few rooms B & B.

Fine pub moorings

It proved to be a great place to moor – there’s fine dog-walking downstream of the pub (though the footpath is treacherous in places – wear walking boots, carry a torch in the dark and watch your footing). The dogs loved it – they had a joyous run round and had a good splosh in the river. Unlike many greyhounds, our two love paddling, though they’re not that fond of swimming. We did find later that the country area downstream (adjacent to the dog walking spot) was a mooring place as a few passing cruisers had stopped there for the night.

At 7pm we went off the the pub – for reference, the entrance is right round the back from the waterside. We sat in the old part of the pub which is utterly charming – warm, cosy and atmospheric. The service was superb and we watched the chef expertly cooking our food on the open charcoal fire by our table.  The food was excellent – pricier than our usual but well worth it. Beer was good and cheap so Richard had a half or so.  We were given a table with a view over the river, where we

The warm interior of the Beetle and Wedge restaurant

thought Indigo Dream added a lot to the pub’s ambience.

The chef came for a chat (as he was cooking only feet away from us). He was a slightly abrasive (but not unpleasant) character but we had to be amused by his attitude – if he sees cruisers full of drunken young men he just waves them on and tells them to moor elsewhere. Maybe this explains why the mooring was so quiet and we passed a peaceful night without a murmer of noise from the carefully vetted pub customers 🙂

Photoblog:

Lots of cute dog photos today so look away now if you’ve already seen enough of them!

Lou keeping an eye on us

Are we there yet? Can we go back for that cat? Why can't you make it stop raining?

Attractive spiral staircases on this development in Reading

Rooftop toboggan run or a place for Eddie 'the eagle' Edwards to practice??

Lovely detail on Caversham Bridge in Reading

Restoration project??

Rain smeared scenery upstream of Beale Park

Near miss! Lesson: don't stand in front of the steerer when driving on the wrong side of the river!!

Got enough fenders????

Of course, you don't need fenders if you make if clear you're a mafiosi boat!

Dramatic tree - still alive despite being blasted and eaten by woodworm

Des res - that's a full length narrowboat in that boathouse....

This bird of prey was very interested in Blue and Lou before deciding they were too bony for supper; or did he get fed up of waiting for them to flush a fat rabbit for him?

Great space for the dogs here...

On the lookout.....

The race is on.....

Enjoying a paddle in the Thames

The Odyssey 2009: Day 6

Monday 6th April Henley to Reading

Approaching Shiplake Lock

The visitor moorings at Henley are perfectly secure but they’re not as quiet as our previous remote spots. People seem to enjoy the path and the park until the wee small hours so we slept with an ear open the whole night.

Anyway, it didn’t really matter, we weren’t in any hurry and there was a certain spiteful luxury in sleeping late on a Monday morning when everyone else was in work! I was a bit concerned because our mooring ticket ran out at 10am, but mooring’s free from 10am ’til 3pm so we were ok.

Richard decided to do some more painting which gave me time to sip my coffee, gently pack up the boat and give dogs yet another walk. While all this was going on, we had a surprise phonecall from Danusia, Richard’s little sister, inviting herself on board for the afternoon. It was perfect timing – we finished our various chores just as she arrived in Henley. There’s ample Pay ‘n Display parking near the River and Rowing Museum (RG9 1BF).

Smart stilted house - seemingly typical of new build on this stretch.

Danusia bought her adorable dog, Polo, with her and we set out mid-morning.

Note: Watch out for the current from the weir downstream of Marsh lock in Henley – it’s a bit fierce though at least it does push you in a useful direction towards the lock moorings!

The stretch upstream of Henley is just fabulous – the houses are beautiful, the sort you’d expect to see on Grand Designs. The more modern houses have been built on stilts to allow for flooding but an alarming number were built at river level – one was a bungalow! They were archetypal flood plain developments – mad to build there, but glorious to live in….. if you can get away with it.

Note: Shiplake lock can be busy in the summer. Not an issue going upstream but if you’re approaching downstream and can’t get onto the lock moorings because of a queue then stay well back from the weir as it has a powerful current which makes it difficult to hover.

We made good time upriver and soon reached Sonning. As it was still early afternoon, we decided to stop off for lunch here – the Ferryman pub/restaurant/hotel, on the left just downriver of Sonning Bridge, has free visitor moorings for patrons. You have to go out to the road to get to the pub and the best I can say of it is that it’s a weird place! Although the bar

Sparkling riverscape upstream of Shiplake Lock

was obviously open, the main door was locked; we persevered and got in via the hotel entrance. The dogs were welcomed and it was fine enough for us to eat outside. But despite the obviously posh surroundings (the ladies loos are particularly palatial!), the menu was limited to a few ciabattas and salads, even then they’d run out of prawns, which cut the menu choices by a further 20%. Nevertheless, the food, such as it was, tasted fine with large portions and quick, pleasant service.

Note: there are moorings on the left below Sonning Bridge that cost £10 per night. If you want to save yourself a pretty penny there are better, free moorings on the left bank upstream of Sonning Lock.

Note: take the centre arch at Sonning Bridge – keep a lookout as downstream traffic uses the same arch and the angle makes it difficult to see them coming. Watch out for the opposing currents from the bridge and from the weir stream on your right (going upstream). No drama – you just need to be aware of them!

Richard spotted an ice cream shop at Sonning lock so we sent Danusia off on a recce. She says that there’s a lovely tea shop there which also sells fantastic cakes – it would be good place to sit for a while. But she had to rush back to the boat as we were squatting on the (quiet) upstream lock moorings. We

Sonning Bridge (red brick) - watch out for strong flows from the weir (under the timber footbridge)

allowed her back on board as she was carrying three ice-lollies and some large slabs of date and walnut cake (succulent).

Shortly afterwards we arrived at the Thames and Kennet Marina, accompanied by a strong gusty wind which had been building up all day. This proved to be a problem. We found our mooring and Richard decided we should reverse in so that we could access the shore power – DOOM!!!!! I tried and at first couldn’t even turn the boat in the wind let alone get her into the mooring. I moved on, turned the boat and managed to get the back to the mooring post ready to reverse into the mooring (allbeit rather crookedly). Richard yelled at me to abort and took the helm for a try. There followed an interesting 5 minutes where we were blown all over the marina.  We did eventually get into our berth with the massive help of a jolly gang of boaters affectionately known in the marina as the “cocktail crew”.

Looking back towards Sonning Lock

We went along to the marina office to sort the fees (£10 per night) and chew the fat – they’re so helpful here. After much modelling and parading round, Danusia selected a new life-jacket for Polo – he’s going sailing for the first time next weekend. In the meantime, Blue and Lou got thoroughly overexcited when the marina manager’s cat decided to poke his tongue at them through the marina office window. We had to lock them in the car – it was just too much for them, especially when the cat started strutting around the boat pontoons. We like it here, so the wholesale slaughter of the manager’s cats didn’t seem to be a good move!

View upstream from Sonning Lock - good free moorings on the left bank.

We drove back to Henley for Danusia’s car with me squashed in between the two greyhounds on the back seat. And I mean ‘squashed’ – both dogs exerted as much pressure as they could but I’m afraid that I’m just too substantial to get rid of that way – many doggie sighs ensued.

When we got to Henley we had a last walk around the park with the dogs and breathed in the ambience – there’s such a great atmosphere here. The thought crept over me that Henley probably sneers, in a genteel way of course, at its more well known royal neighbour in Windsor, which does seem rather common in comparison!

We had a quick drive home and Blue and Lou have just eaten a huge dinner and collapsed catatonic onto their duvets. They need their rest – we’re back on the boat on Thursday evening ready for the next stage of the Odyssey – the Thames up to Oxford.

The Odyssey 2009: Day 5

Sunday 5^th April Cliveden Reach to Henley

Wonderous view upstream from our mooring on Cliveden Reach

As I mentioned in the last entry, Richard and the dogs were all fast asleep by 9pm leaving me to listen to the loud and incessant hooting of a barn owl in the woods. It reminded me a welsh book that I read when I was very young indeed – the tale of a cat called Timi Twm Tam who was desperate to find a place to sleep and kept being disturbed by the most unlikely things, including a loudly hooting owl! Back then I thought it was far-fetched (I was a thoughtful child!) but the owl by the boat was LOUD. However, it stopped hooting at the exact same moment as the Webasto cut out on its timer leaving a silence so profound it was almost creepy.

Needless to say, we had a great night’s sleep here and we emerged refreshed at 9am-ish (positively daybreak by Indigo Dream standards!). It was a stunning morning, there was just a hint of haze on the water but the sky was clear with pale sunshine filtering through the trees. The view was magical and I felt a great desire to stay here for a while. We got our Nicholson’s

The view downstream's not bad either.....

out and calculated that we could spend a morning here without wrecking our schedule for Reading, so that’s what we did.

The dogs had a wonderful time. Richard took them for a long walk, along the riverbank, up the 120 foot embankment, along the top of the ridge then back down again. Once they got back, we all settled into a morning of pottering around. Richard carried on painting, I sorted out some of cupboards and Blue and Lou explored the surrounding woods (for hours on end in Blue’s case).

We had a long chat with a local jogger who actually works as a gardener in the hotel/estate. She was a mine of information and told us that the footpath didn’t open to the public until 11am (which explained why it was so empty), that dogs were fine in the woods but not allowed in the formal gardens, and that Spring Cottage on the estate was the centre of the notorious Profumo affair. She was the first of many walkers that stopped for a chat and we had a very convivial morning.

Underway towards the great house at Cliveden (now a hotel)

Blue and Lou were very good with people and dogs for most of the morning. They didn’t even complain when a 16-week old spaniel puppy leapt on the boat and stole their breakfast (their owner was horrified but it really was funny as the puppy rushed to gobble the food down before his owner could put a stop to it).

In fact, our dogs were good right up until the point when they decided that they’d been here long enough to call it home and claimed the footpath for their own. I’ve worked that there’s an 18-hour rule: arrive in new place and explore – 2 hours, sleep on it – 15 hours, explore some more – 1 hour, turn into towpath terrorists – oops, time to move on. The 18-hour rule – well worth factoring in when we’re planning our cruises. 🙂

We moved on from Cliveden after lunch, though, 18-hour rule notwithstanding, I could imagine having a nice retreat here for a few days.

Unusually empty visitor moorings in Cookham (upstream of the bridge)

Our first stop after Cliveden was Cookham Lock. There’s a really useful Environment Agency waterpoint above the lock – at the end of the left-hand pontoon. There was very good water pressure here – Richard had settled down for some painting but he’d barely wet his brush before the tank was full. The Environment Agency publishes a booklet listing all of the facilities available at the locks all along the river – you can pick up copies at most of the locks.

We moved on and once again marvelled at the beauty of Cookham – the village is lovely, there are plenty of visitor moorings on the left after Cookham Bridge (they do fill up in the summer though) and there are miles of dog-walks upstream. Do watch out for Cookham Bridge going upstream – the channel goes under the centre arch, a good bit further left that you expect – I went through the wrong arch (to the right of the channel); luckily it wasn’t mined! We have stopped in Cookham before, we particularly like the pub ‘Bel and the Dragon’ (as do the dogs) so there was a certain temptation to stop there for lunch.

Picturesque Marlow

A bit further upstream from Cookham there’s some more good dog-walking on the right – watch out for a small section of visitor moorings by a lone ice-cream van. The meads just upstream of this mooring are safely fenced and have good shallow beaches to the river – perfect for a dog splosh.

Our trip up to Marlow was marked with all sorts of excitement. Firstly we saw a blue greyhound who was the spitting image of Blue – it was uncanny. Blue was on deck and we waved madly to the other greyhound’s owners. Sadly, it was in a spot where the bank was too shallow for us to moor and chat to them. They did manage to tell us their greyhound’s racing name though – Sailaway Timmy. We checked his pedigree and yes, you’ve guessed it, he’s one of Blue’s many half-brothers! How I wish we could go back and tell them. Maybe this could be a new hobby, a bit akin to trainspotting – Blue has over 4,000 half-siblings so it could keep us amused for years!

We’ve been delayed in posting our blogs – on Saturday we had no signal because we were moored in a dip; today we lost our connection because we lost the dongle overboard. Richard was working on the computer inside, decided he might

Fine visitor moorings in Marlow

get a better signal outside and moved to the boat hatch. He worked happily there for a while but he’s a bit tall to be standing there when little me is on the helm. So, he decided to move operations to the top of the gas locker – during the kerfuffle there was a sudden ‘ping’ and the dongle flew gracefully through the air to land with a soft plunk in the river. It bobbed just under the surface for a moment before sinking out of sight to join the rest of the debris of ages that will confound ‘Time Team’ in five hundred years! So, the dongle went to the deeps and we were incommunicado. Could have been worse – if Richard had dropped my laptop overboard then I’d have made him dredge the bottom until he got it back! It did give us the opportunity to find out how surprisingly cheap these things are now: A new sim card from Three is £4.99 delivered next day. We have a spare payg modem but will probably buy a new one (£24 delivered next day) as the modem we have does not work too well with an external aerial.

Marlow lock’s rather stunning – there’s an old mill building downstream with a powerful stream running below it. The lock itself is picturesque and has a row of lockside benches which are full of onlookers. We always think that they should be holding up scorecards as we manouver into the lock! The weir above the lock is awesome and leads to a magnificent

We're very tired.......

view upstream to Marlow Bridge and the charming buildings that surround it.

We thought about stopping here, Marlow’s a wonderful town for just browsing. But if we pressed onto Henley then our last day’s cruising would be less onerous, so on we went.

The stretch between Marlow and Henley is a wilder, more untamed landscape than we found downstream. Just east of Aston we spotted a red kite hunting and waved to our second greyhound of the day. He was being walked (on a lead) through a field of sheep and wasn’t at all bothered. Blue, in the meantime, was up on deck, nose twitching interestedly. We were contemplating mooring near Aston as the local pub (the Flower Pot) is dog-friendly; but sadly they don’t do food on a Sunday, well not when the weather’s cold!

A wilder landscape upstream of Marlow

We got to Henley by around 6pm – plenty of time for Richard to do some more painting and for me to take the dogs for a walk in the adjacent park. We moored upstream of Henley Bridge at the visitor moorings on the right bank opposite the island. We’ve moored here before but now they’re ‘Pay ‘n display’ moorings – you buy a ticket at the car park nearby (steep at £8 a night but worth it)!

Blue and Lou enjoyed a fun run round the park, though I had to carefully steer them away from the many barbecues that were underway. There’s a small stream running through one edge of the park – perfect for dog sploshing, so all in all a great mooring. On our way back from our walk we caught up with a man walking two luscious lurchers and we were later joined by a lady walking a saluki cross. All the dogs behaved impeccably and we realised that Henley people were our sort of people. How could they not be – the town’s full of folk who love boating and/or dogs!

On the lookout for a dog-friendly pub!

We rang around and found a dog-friendly pub at the Little Angel – walk downstream from the moorings, cross over the bridge and the pub’s a few yards along on your left. Dogs allowed at the tables (but not at the bar), very smart pub with a gourmet menu (and prices, though not outrageously so). On the way to the pub we ran into a couple with a 6-month old pointer puppy – he was keen to play chase and the greyhounds were happy to oblige. His owners were very relaxed considering Lou was doing her best ‘pacman’ impression with wide open snapping jaws (no, she didn’t bite him!) but the puppy just wanted more and I’m afraid the greyhounds got knackered long before the pointer was ready to stop!

The dogs were very well behaved in the pub and we had a lovely meal. We were well-satisfied as we meandered back to the boat.

On our way back we noticed a super-bright headlamp heading upstream under the bridge. We were convinced it was a trip boat but it proved to be a pair of canoeists having a late-night, possibly drunken, scull upriver. One suggested shooting the weir but as his more sensible (or sober) friend pointed out, “you can’t shoot a weir going upstream”!

Photoblog:

Typical greyhound behaviour (2)

Typical greyhound behaviour (1)

The cut above Cookham Lock - obviously a new embankment but will it become new moorings?

Unlikely site for a scandal - one of the Cliveden Cottages involved in the Profumo affair

Eccentric holiday apartments - apparently!

Alien craft???

Broad vistas..

Sad sight - I wonder what happened here?

This private island downstream of Henley would suit us nicely..

Beautifully maintained cottage at Hambledon Lock

Thames on Henley Bridge

Henley panorama - it's such an attractive town

Pay 'n display - Henley style

Isis on Henley Bridge

Nice pub but that wall's in the wrong place....

The Odyssey 2009: Day 4

Saturday 4^th April Chertsey Meads to Cliveden Reach

Dumsey Meadow

Yesterday a lock-keeper waved us on with a ritual “See yah”and I thought  “well, no, not for 6 months or maybe a year” – the wonderful reality of it suddenly stuck me – we’re on our odyssey.

The weather forecast for this morning was pretty gloomy so we planned for a long lie-in – bliss. The moorings were very quiet and we all had a peaceful night, especially the dogs, who were exhausted by their adventures in Dumsey Meadows. They showed no signs of waking up and were happy to snooze until we were both up and dressed at 11am-ish. They have the most wonderful long-range tanks, there’s none of this having to go out for the essentials at dead on 7am or whatever.

Richard took them out for a mid-morning run round the meadows and we set out slightly regretfully – I like it here.

The Thames is a truly wonderful waterway – stop reading this blog immediately and come and cruise it for yourself!

Looking downstream to Chertsey Bridge

The weather was fine and cool to start with, but it soon warmed up. There were plenty of people out on the waterfront in Chertsey and indeed, all along the waterway; including a man swimming in the river in Staines – brrrrr, it wasn’t that warm!

For a long while we were the only boat on the water apart from Dutch Barge Caberfeidh who we shared locks with for most of the way. They were pleasant company and they have two particularly cute Bassett hounds on board – a fine barking match between our two and their two ensued, all from the safety of their respective beds!

With the river virtually to ourselves, we were free to enjoy the more regal views as the river passed through the royal boroughs and parks surrounding Windsor Castle. It’s visible for miles as the river turns majestically around it. There are some particularly attractive bridges between Runnymeade and Windsor.

Bridge in Windosr Great Park

They’re a fine mix of decoration and functionality with almost fortified piers and delicate parapets. I wondered whether this was a peculiarity of more warlike times when you could collapse a deck to deter invasions but leave the piers in place to make it easier to rebuild afterwards. And then of course there are the houses. Some are just little summer houses, others are positively regal then there are those which look like they could feature on Grand Designs.

By 2.30pm the sun was hot and the river suddenly filled up with boaters who’d finally realised it was a nice day! Romney lock is truly enormous – just as well, we were finally joined by a few more cruisers and the lock-keeper finally had the opportunity to show his sardine-packing skills (though as nothing to how he’ll pack them in over the bank holiday!).

Note: Bell Weir lock and Romney lock have side-paddles running along the length of the lock. This means that when the

Windsor Castle (park side)

paddles are raised the water tends to push your boat out from the side – just take an extra turn of rope around the bollard and you’ll be held steady. Compared to canals, none of the locks on the Thames are that turbulent.

We decided to stop off at Windsor for a little wander with the dogs. We stopped at the visitor moorings on the left (looking upstream) – there are handy moorings rings here and there’s easy access to the town. There were hordes of people on the riverside but they were as nothing compared to the tides of tourists washing up against the castle walls. Yes, the castle walls. Windsor castle is so vast it seems to have one peaceful foot in its country estate and another in the middle of this thriving town – amazing.

We took Blue and Lou for a wander round the town – they were very good considering how crowded the streets were. They drew a lot of attention as always; one Argentinean lady came up and gave Lou a big cuddle – she’d had to leave her dogs at home and she was missing them terribly. We sat and

Windsor Castle (town side)

ate an ice cream outside the castle avidly watched by the dogs and then wandered back to the boat. We hadn’t realised what a big attraction Windsor was. Judging by the variety of languages we heard, it has truly international appeal.

As we came back, we passed a boat hire place – on the way out all their boats were sitting on the waterfront; on the way back all but one had been hired. We were a bit gobsmacked as the little boats with outboard motors cost £38 an hour to hire. I knew that buying Indigo Dream was a good investment! Of course, this meant that we had to thread our way out past a fleet of little yellow boats being driven inexpertly across and along the river. I was a little miffed at the sheer randomness of some of the boaters but it would take someone far crueler than me to begrudge people a day on the water on the first really hot afternoon of the year.

We met one lurcher and one greyhound being walked along the path today – we said hi and waved enthusiastically. Blue was very excited to see proper-shaped dogs though he was confined to the boat and couldn’t run with them.

Juxtaposition of bridges in Maidenhead

I was quite pleased to move away from the busyness of Windsor but I needn’t have worried. The fair weather boaters had all disappeared by 4.30pm – probably back to sip G &Ts at one of the many marinas along the way – very sensible.

The next town of note was Maidenhead. I wouldn’t say it’s the most attractive riverside town but it does have two fine bridges which contrast nicely with each other. The red brick railway bridge has two long arches which are apparently the longest brick spans in the world. Just beyond that is the road bridge – soft grey stone and about 10 little arches skipping across the river and bank beyond. Past the bridge I think that the waterfront suffers from having a busy road running adjacent; but in the narrow strip of land between the road and the river there is an attractive tree-lined promenade which Richard thought was charming.

Note: going upstream through Maidenhead Road Bridge take the centre arch – it’s slightly to the left of the river approach and it’s not the obvious choice. The channel is marked though.

Cliveden Reach - what a fine mooring!

After Maidenhead we started thinking about where to moor for the night. Our first choice was to moor up in Cookham, which has a very fine dog-friendly pub and a good dog-walking field. But there was also the enticing thought of mooring up on one of the Cliveden Islands and have our own private island for the night. In the end we did neither!

As we approached the Cliveden Islands we spotted that the National Trust allows mooring on the Cliveden Reach – the right bank of the river (looking upstream). We suspected that it would be too shallow, but we slotted into a perfect spot where we could moor tight to the bank at just the right height for easy onloading/offloading. There’s a mooring fee of £6 per night though I’m not sure how/when it’s collected. If no-one comes to collect then we must make a donation to the National Trust instead because this really is a very special spot.

Great views upstream of Cliveden Reach

More importantly, however, it’s got to be Blue’s definition of a perfect mooring. There are no roads or other signs of civilisation around, just a riverside footpath at the bottom of a steeply wooded embankment which towers 120 feet above the river. Blue and Lou could rummage at will, coming and going as they pleased without us yelling at them to come back or take care. Blue disappeared into the undergrowth for hours on end, checking back with us every 10 minutes or so. Lou stayed close to the boat and soon lost interest and went back to bed.

In this remotest of spots, we were surprised to have a visitor. A lone canoeist came up to the boat and started chatting. She was very curious about narrowboats as she harbours an ambition to do some extended cruising one day. We invited her on board for a nosey and she seemed entranced – she’d never been on a narrowboat before and was so excited to be given the opportunity. She didn’t stay long as she still had a lengthy paddle home but we hope we’ll see her on the cut in a more substantial boat one day.

As we’d eschewed the pub for the evening it was my task to cook us as good a meal as we’d have had in the Bel and Dragon (Pasta Carbonara with roasted peppers – nice). The boys put the last of the daylight to good use – Richard did some more painting while Blue did some more rummaging.

I couldn’t understand why Blue was still whining when he eventually came back on board. I hadn’t twigged that he was hungry after all his exercise. He and Lou scoffed huge dinners and disappeared into their respective beds. Richard offered them a last rummage and Blue ran off the boat then ran straight back on – they are so tired!

So, it’s 9pm and everyone but me is in bed – the Thames really has enchanted the crew!

Photoblog:

Grand design?

What a life.....

What body-boards were made for!

Bridge in Windsor Great Park. Who's crest is that?

View downstream in the serene centre of Windsor Great Park

Male mandarin duck

One of the fleet of yellow hire boats that swarm around Windsor town

Celandine

Violet

Luminous lady's smock (aka Cuckoo Flower)

The Odyssey 2009: Day 3

Friday 3rd April Brentford Gauging locks to Chertsey Meads

An early start – what a horrible shock to the system! But today time and tide literally wouldn’t wait and Richard needed to be at Thames lock by 8am-ish.

Putting on Life Jackets

We swapped roles roles today – Richard drove the boat into the Brentford gauging lock and I operated the controls. I just needed a strong finger rather than a strong arm as it’s all electrically operated (you need a BW key). I was a bit sad to say goodbye to Richard, Blue and Lou as they cruised towards the tideway- as always my over-vivid imagination played a film in my head akin to Titanic meets the Poseidon Adventure! I don’t think that Richard is troubled by such apprehensions – just as well, as I was probably at much greater risk in the car! He was more impressed by the new, decidedly wonky landing platform BW are erecting at Brentford.

After a few pints it will look straight

I drove to the Thames and Kennet Marina in Reading, sorted out a visitor mooring for next week then caught a taxi to the station then a train back to Teddington. I can honestly say that of all the modes of transport I’ve used today, the boat is definitely the best! As an aside, the people at the marina are the friendliest and most helpful you could hope to meet – there’s a great atmosphere there.

That left Richard with a solo cruise up the tideway. He took all the appropriate precautions – life-jackets for all on board, boat checked and in good order, water tank filled to optimise the boat’s trim, hair combed in case he met any babes in bikinis.

River Thames appearing out of the morning mist

Maybe it wasn’t surprising that his verdict on a solo cruise on the tideway was “piece of cake” only seeing ONE other boat on the water! He even had time to take lots of photos – he’ll caption those for you in the tidal photoblog below. We did ring to book Thames lock but they’re now on their summer opening hours so you can just turn up and be locked onto the river. Richard was amused because nether the lock keeper at Brentford or Teddington were expecting any traffic – he had to moor the boat in Teddington lock (the bottom gates were helpfully open) and go off in search of the duty lock-keeper. He was amused rather than annoyed – we think that the Thames lock-keepers are a great bunch and Richard might have been less keen to do this solo cruise if they hadn’t been there to help.

Teddington Lock

I finally joined with the crew in Teddington High Street at around 12.30pm after a weary morning of just missed train connections (sorry, make that lack of connections). Richard and the dogs walked up from the boat and we had lunch in one of the abundant independent coffee bars in the High Street. I love mooring in Teddington – the lock moorings (which act as visitor moorings as well) are next to a safe park for the dogs and are very quiet apart from the constant such of water over the weir. The views are lovely and just within comfortable walking distance you have the genteel delights of Teddington High Street.

Misty sight of fifteen thousand million gallons of water per day

It’s well worth a visit, with many small shops and cafes that you won’t find anywhere else. Of course, you can’t actually buy anything there, they charge more for one button than I’d spend on an entire dress, but the ambience is great.

One of the reasons for meeting in Teddington was the large M & S food store – we stocked up on goodies for the weekend and finally got underway in the early afternoon. It was still quite cool on the water – the sun was trying, unsuccessfully, to break through the haze and there was a chilly breeze on the water. I didn’t care – it was great to be on helm after a couple of hours in stuffy trains, though I did have to don a fleece hoodie and scarf to block the drafts! Can’t imagine why Richard thought he would encounter babes in bikinis on his solo cruise.

How I love the Thames. It really is a magnificent sight. The last time we were here it was raining heavily and the river

Lovely riverside gardens

was swollen with water and fallen leaves. Today it was flat calm and lined with cherry blossom and the newborn green of weeping willows. The riverside gardens looked spectacular, radiant with the candle glow of magnolias.

We made good time upriver but even in the flat calm you can really feel the drive of the current against you. With 1600 revs on we were just moving along nicely – on the canals that speed would have washed the towpath!  With this in mind we decided to check the fuel gauge – Indigo Dream’s big prop and engine makes short work of rivers but at a price – 90p per litre in this case! We had a quarter tank so we were hardly running dry but we decided to top her up anyway then we wouldn’t have to be thinking about it. We contemplated stopping at Thames Ditton Marina where we’ve filled up before but decided instead to head for Shepperton Marina. That gave us our second target of the day as the marina shuts at 5.30pm.

There was plenty of interest before the marina though. Kingston’s great from the water and we did a thorough recce of

John Lewis in Kingston

the John Lewis moorings, turning the boat twice in the current before deciding that the moorings really were full and that a quick shopping trip wasn’t on. Just as well – I don’t really need any more posh frocks and though we were only going in for some batteries and a data stick I’m not sure if we’d have stuck to that modest list.

It was very quiet on the river – the odd trip boat, the odd dutch barge and NO sailing boats or canoes. Not that I object to them, it’s just that I worry about collisions, especially when the sailors make a game of tacking as close to our bow as possible!

One of our all-time favourite Thames pubs, The Albany at Hampton Court, was wafting the most delectable smell of steaks and other fine food food across the water. Their moorings were empty and I was sorely tempted to end the day’s cruise there and haunt the pub for the rest of the afternoon. But it was such a fine day, there was diesel to buy and the considerable bribe of a lie-in the following morning if we put in some miles today.

Hampton Court

We carried on past Hampton Court Palace with its gaudy gates and decorative chimneys. There are visitor moorings just downriver from the palace – we must stop there and explore the adjacent park some time. I often think that Hampton Court Palace has an unreal quality about it, like theme park palace – it doesn’t carry its history on the outside, apart from one thing, the ancient and magnificent trees draped with great balls of mistletoe – part of a historic landscape long lost.

One of the great benefits of a large and characterful river is the large and characterful selection of boats and boathouses you find along the way. I don’t know why, but the broad vistas of the Thames seem to encourage people to broaden their imaginations and maybe the vast flow of the river releases the dammed up eccentricities of its dwellers. Either way, the colorful assortment of craft tied up along the banks is as much part of the scenery as the wildlife.

Hampton Wick House Boats

There aren’t many locks on this stretch so it made a nice change to share Sunbury Lock with a dutch barge which looked a little worn at the edges. No wonder, the young couple on board had just bought it in Amsterdam and sailed back to London themselves. They clearly had a tale to tell but sadly the lock filled before we could hear it all. Our next stop was the marina so we didn’t share any other locks with them – I wonder if we’ll see them further upriver somewhere?

As I mentioned earlier, we decided to stop at Shepperton Marina for fuel. There were many reasons for this – their diesel seemed reasonable at 90p on a 60/40 split (but they do allow you to self declare). We’ve also flirted with the idea of mooring here and have been offered a berth though we didn’t take it up as it was just after we’d agreed to move into our previous home at Engineers Wharf. The entrance to the marina is so narrow compared to the broad sweep of the river that it’s practically concealed! That lent a quiet air to the place as it’s tucked away unseen. It’s mainly inhabited by large cruisers but with a few narrowboats here and there. There’s not much room for manouever if you’re 60ft and don’t have bow thrusters but we threaded our way through a king’s ransom worth of boats to the fuel pontoon. I was on the helm and cried ‘doom’ when I realised that I’d have to reverse in to get to the fuel. I invited Richard to take the helm but he gallantly refused saying he’d be the manual bow thruster (man and barge pole) at the front. Huh, some bow thruster, the marina’s too deep for our pole so I was on my own. No drama, the boat handled beautifully and there was no wind. The main difficulty was that I came it an interesting angle because there wasn’t enough room to straighten the boat out. Thank heavens for centre ropes!

Shepperton Marina felt very much like a working boatyard – the place was alive with activity and it has an aladdin’s cave of a chandlers. I was interested to see that the block of buildings also housed a firm of accountants and other sundry non-boating industries. You could do worse than have an office here! By chance, the young lad who filled us with fuel also has two ex-racing greyhounds – Moley and Laura, so Blue and Lou got a big fuss and we chatted dogs for ages. Richard spent that time totting up cruising hours and negotiating a 40/60 split which worked out at 78p/litre. So the overall verdict is that Shepperton Marina is definitely a potential home for Indigo Dream; the only thing we have to work out is whether we’d be happy on a river mooring where we might be stranded for weeks when the red boards are up.

Walton on Thames

With the fuel tank full, we pressed on joyfully, re-living our youthful memories of taking an inflatable boat out on the Thames at Walton. I also relived memories of walking our first dog, Honey, along this stretch. She was my first dog and considerably better trained than Blue and Lou, but I’m still a bit shocked that I let her run off the lead here so close to a road. It never was a problem, not least because she was always too busy hurling herself into the water and swimming after ducks in Desborough Cut.

Our first potential mooring spot was the pub above Shepperton Lock, where we’ve moored before. But it was a fine evening so we decided to move on to Cherstey Meads, which has the best dog-walking area. If you get your Nicholson’s out, there are 24-hour free visitor moorings on the right (going upstream) opposite Dumsey Eyot. If you have a dog, then go as far upstream on the moorings as you can, as further back the towpath leads to a cut-through onto a busy road. From the moorings, follow the towpath upstream and you’ll get to a kissing gate leading to Dumsey Meadow. This is a site of special scientific interest as it’s one of the few remaining meadows that’s entirely maintained by grazing. The cattle are away at the moment, a blessing for us as Blue considers cattle dung to be the absolute top grooming product. Of course the attraction for us, and for the rest of the area’s dog-walkers, is that it’s a large, well-fenced piece of grassland with great river ‘beaches’ and lots of rabbits.

I took the dogs for a run while Richard did some more painting.They ran around like mad things and Lou won the award for the funniest trick of the day when she charged down a genial little dog and at the last moment, leapt right over him. Steady on Lou, you’re not in the Grand National!

Top Tip. If your paint’s a bit thick or if you’re worried about brushmarks then dilute the paint with a cellulose thinner – works a treat. Richard’s using around 1 part of thinner to nine parts of paint (a slurp in a jam jar to use what I’m sure will become SI units in the fullness of time!).

I thought that a long run would finish the dogs off, and Lou seemed perfectly happy to settle down. But Blue carried on complaining so we decided to take them to the pub with us. There are two pubs flanking Chertsey Bridge. On the right, looking upstream, is the Kingfisher. We’ve eaten there before in 2007 and all we remember is the hassle (it’s not dog-friendly at all) and not the food. So this time we tried the pub on the left – The Boat House.

Top tip. Take the footpath under Chertsey Bridge rather than trying to cross over the busy road!

We’d rung the Boat House earlier and found that they did allow dogs in the garden so off we went, via another monster

Last Orders?

run in Dumsey Meadow. The food was very good but we got very cold outside. The dogs attracted a lot of attention as the warm diners within peered out of the window at the dogs lying on their sheepskin rugs. The pub did have patio heaters but no gas – I guess that there’s no point in having heaters on when it’s cold, let’s wait for summer when it’s warm. I shouldn’t grumble, who on earth sits outside after dark on 3rd April (apart from one other man with a dog and a pack of ciggies!)? Having said that, if we’d have been inside we’d have missed the sight of a tiny vole running across the pub garden towards it’s home in the riverbank. Luckily the dogs were transfixed on a plate of sausages that were cooling rapidly in the night air.

We warmed ourselves up on the walk back across the meadow. Blue ran around madly but Lou had had enough. She was a little cold and a little stiff, having already had about three times as much exercise as she’d normally get at home. I knew that Blue was just faking it though. He really does have a toddler’s mentality – he was tired but he’d never admit it and was very stubborn about coming back on board to bed. But once he was there he fell into the deepest sleep, practically a coma and I knew that we’d worn him out at last!

Photoblog:

Brentford's new lock landing platform

Brentford House Boats

Gloriously wide tidal Thames in the mist

Richmond Lock

Unusually quiet Richmond

The Hermit's Boat

Tough being a dog

Yes, Blue is thinking it is not far to jump up and out of the lock ....

Approaching Kingston