At 4pm today T42 passed the mouth of the River Wey, in effect the end of our journey. However as we missed out on the Upper Thames due to dental problems, we are sailing on to Hamton Court Palace. This is only a couple of hours but will finish off our waterways holiday in right royal style. We both enjoyed Windsor Castle yesterday, and the superb Racecourse Marina facilities. We also caught up with Paul, T42’s previous owner, and had an enjoyable evening in Jo Jo’s pub. It was another quiet day on the river boatwise, but the strong wind made docking interesting at Walton marina, however Sues warm welcome made us feel right at home. Being an annual berth holder at Tingdenes Pyrford marina means we can use any of their other marinas for free, 3 so far this trip ! I shall wind up the blog in the next couple of days with some pics of all of us back at Pyrford, but in the meantime can I thank everyone who has taken an interest in our trip through the blog. I can certainly recommend this mode of transport. Cheers M and H

Pharaoh’s Island near the junction of the Thames and Wey rivers.

Windsor Castle by land.

Hazel and Windsor Castle by water.

Mark at Windsor Castle on T42.

Poor reception meant no blog yesterday but we’ve just had 2 great days. The run into Henley was quiet until the last lock, then a boat every minute or so. Today’s run, 6 hours, was most pleasant. Again hardly any other craft once out of Henley. The lock keepers are all most helpful, and everybody is intrigued with T42. We haven’t seen many other Sea Otters, they are mostly large cruisers, however everybody waves and we’ve seen none of the supposed narrowboat / gin palace rivalry.

100′ ferry in a 120′ lock with 1′ side clearance.

Cliveden Reach, beautiful treed valley.

Bisham Abbey

Marlow lock landing stage just above weirs
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Copper Beech trees.

Typical Thames valley

Well an early blog today. We set off first thing in glorious sunshine to get to Henley, before the hordes come out as its Sunday. I’m glad we did, because at the moment there is a boat passing every 45 seconds ! We shall stay here regardless of the mooring fees and tackle the locks to Windsor tomorrow. Yesterday was another sunny day the run into Reading was difficult with the amount of wind. This was compensated by travelling with Rob and Margaret aboard Venetia, a super little Piper boat. We had spent the previous evening having coffee and talking canals. If you thought we were doing a long trip they had come down from Chester and are aiming for Bath, with a return trip before Autumns end ! It was good to talk to like minded people and we hope to travel “Up North” with them one day.

Margaret and Rob aboard Venetia

Escaping the fierce English sun !

Large Dutch barge

Houses in Shiplake

The Angel pub at Henley

I’ve been accused of not being Australian enough when touring ! So G’day Mate…today was another great day touring. What we thought was going to be a long day, Abingdon to Wallingford, wasn’t too long. By 1.30 we were tied up at Wallingford, an old town haunt of mine from when I worked at Ratcliffe Orchids, and lived at North Moreton. Indeed the Roman/Iron Age hill fort, I could see from my bedroom, was just beside one of the 4 manned locks done today. Tomorrow, being Saturday, could be busy so we will have an early start to get to a Tingdene Marina near Reading.

What a boat shed !

Some amazing properties !

Another 27′ Sea Otter “Camval” 

Whats T42 got to do with MG’s …..well we are moored at Abingdon, where MG’s were made. Our day in Oxford ended in a highlight when, post blog, a family arrived and jumped in to go swimming ! Talk about keen. Today would have been much better, it’s quite hot and we have survived our first 4 Thames locks, 3 manned 1 not. The Captain in the giant Salters ferry behind us showed us what to do, He was a lot bigger than me though. The Thames is different, like a giant River Wey. It was deserted this morning but this afternoon there are lots of boats coming through. We will push on to Wallingford tomorrow and then have another day off. Hazel has some washing and I’ve got some more brass grilles to polish with my super duper kit from Crick boat show.

Swimming at Oxford !

Folly Bridge, Oxford.

He’s a bit bigger than me….

Abingdon mooring

A day spent sightseeing around Oxford. Being keen Inspector Morse fans we keep on looking in the canals for any bodies, none yet and no Lewis for Hazel either !

Carfax Tower Oxford

Our mooring at Osney Island

Likely lad being called in for questioning….

Which ones mine ?

At last we have made it onto the Thames after an eventful day. More problems with THE tooth saw me make a decision to abandon our Lechlade leg and head straight to Oxford. Fellow Sea Otter owner John gave me some instructions and we headed for Sheepwash Channel. As the rain and wind increased we spied a gentleman and a dog waving at us, John and Jack to the rescue ! Guiding us through Oxford we refuelled at College Cruisers, a whole £25 which will get us home, and thru Isis lock onto the Thames. By now it was raining heavily, Jack being an intelligent dog had taken refuge in the cabin, whilst we stayed in the rain. There was lots of mooring at Osney Island, and a short walk saw refuge and a warm cuppa, thanks Eric ! Being ever helpful John drove us to the dentist, and Hazel shopped. Thankfully this dentist was a lot better than the last one I saw, THE BUTCHER OF WEST BYFLEET, and an abscess was diagnosed. The new filling adjusted and antibiotics administered saw instant relief. Well done Botley Dental Clinic ! He was my kind of dentist when he prescribed an antibiotic that could be taken with alcohol ! After all he said, you are supposed to be on holiday.

We also got to see Osney Venture, another 27′ SO and John allowed me the privilege of starting her up for the first time since its new starter motor was fitted. Subtle differences were examined, and their cratch table admired. The day finished off on a high with dinner at the local pub, along with 4 Canadian fellow canal boaters    we had being playing tag with at the locks that morning. Hopefully the tooth will now settle and we can enjoy the rest of the Thames. Once again a big thank you to John, Eric and Jack !

Dukes Cut junction with South Oxford canal

Osney Venture

What a cratch table !

Double locking !

Well we are moored up just outside of Kiddlington on the outskirts of Oxford. We had hoped to moor in the town or on the Thames but the weather closed in. Not so much the rain but the wind made steering difficult, especially when it was from the side. That’s one disadvantage of a Sea Otter, it weighs 3 ton compared to up to 20 tons the big ones weigh. The locks leading into Thrup were interesting in that we double locked in a narrow lock ! Our 27′ and a 42′ singlehanded squeezed in and went thru. Plenty of room once inside but a bit squeezey openning the gate. The lock exiting the Cherwell was a diamond shaped one like Aynho. We stopped at the Boat Inn for lunch, and moored up when a storm front approached. I’ll decide wether it’s Dukes Cut or The Sheepwas Channel for entering the Thames tomorrow after phoning John a fellow SO owner who lives on the river. Unfortunately my cracked tooth has started playing up again, so we will be a dry boat tonight ( to Penny’s relief ).

Shipton Weir Lock – River Cherwell

nb The singlehanded is removing his bike from the roof to fit under the lock bridge. We watched him tackle a lift bridge from the front of his boat using a boat hook. Most impressive !

Well a good day, with a slight rain delay just before lunch. Somerton Lock was impressive, it really felt like an elevator when the paddles went up and the water out. Most of the lift bridges were up, except 2. One we lucked out arriving just after another boat and were waved thru. The other required Hazel to pull down on a chain bringing the counter weight down. She could only just get it halfway and then was left hanging mid air ! Not enough oomph…. So I did it, and Hazel drove the boat thru by herself perfectly ! Unfortunately picking me up the other side wasn’t quite a graceful ! Still she can say I’ve captained T42. We are 1 day out of Oxford, but will probably take 2 and get there early to find a mooring. Hoping to catch up with a fellow Sea Otter owner who lives on Osney Island. Cheers Mark and Hazel

Aynho overnight mooring

Clematis

Isolated Lock Keepers Cottage

Somerton Deep Lock

Anybody who’s anybody knows that Banbury is home, not to some F1 Race Team, but Tooleys Boatyard. This is where Tom Rolt had his narrowboat fitted out as a live aboard just before WW2. He then proceeded to cruise on the waterways and caught the last hurrah of the No1’s before commercial trade collapsed. Writing about this in his book “Narrowboat” caught the publics imagination, and in turn led to public demonstrations leading to the resurrection of the Waterways as we now know them. Any narrowboater has to make a “pilgrimage” to Tooleys and thank Tom, even if he is no longer with us. Sadly the Worrkshops are surrounded by a new shopping centre. This was convenient for us, but being Saturday too busy as well. We have moored overnight at Aynho Wharf. This is deep lock country, a couple today have been around 9 to 10 feet deep, but the grand daddy is Sommerton Lock tomorrow, at 12 feet deep. They are known locally as Elephant Traps.

Tooleys Boatyard