Our first lock of the day saw the lockie just putting his lawn mower away, so we availed ourselves of him and the lock services. There are numerous grand properties along this stretch of river along with some splendid gardens and boats moored at the end of the front lawn.

We then arrived at Marlow Lock where chaos reigned, too many boats for the layby, mainly due to a long wide beam pointing the wrong way. We soon learned that it had got hung up whilst descending, tipped sideways and flooded the engine bay ! The owner looked suitably shocked, a timely reminder to not take locks lightly. The off duty lockie came back on duty to get some order, and pack the locks more efficiently. Indeed most of the locks have been self service

We pushed on to Henley, but it’s Regatta W/E, so there wasn’t one mooring place available. Ferry’s and boats everywhere, along with a hot sun and long day……we had to go thru one more lock till we found a spot at Shiplake, it’s far from ideal being in the sun and noisy with kids, but at least we can relax and put our feet up. We hope to catch up with Penny and Iris at Pangbourne tomorrow.