An easy 2 lock, couple of hours cruising day with pretty scenery through the Goring Gap.

Not much traffic on the river, but we did spot one Sea Otter who enthusiastically waved back. We also bumped into Treble Reel again, she’s heading back to Pyrford.

Apart from its pretty location Pangbourne was selected for a laundromat, pretty boring until I found out it was beside an H R Owen dealership for Aston Martin, Bentley and Lamborghini! The town was absolutely thick with them shooting up and down the little roads.

I’ve spent the rest of the day finishing the cut and polish of Prime Thyme, it’s done wonders.

A easy day with 2 locks and 3 hours cruising

We stopped at the excellent Chandlery store again for more polish, stainless steel grilles and other bits and bobs, including a replacement lump hammer for spike bashing !

Goring, and Streatley at the other end of the bridge, is a quaint village with the added bonus of the Thames flowing thru..

I’ve spent the rest of the day T Cutting and polishing Prime Thyme, halfway done, with lots of good comments. One lady stopped to chat, found out we were Tasmanian, and she was originally from New Zealand. She asked us round for afternoon tea, gave us the address and said come round in 30 minutes. H was unsure but round we went and found ourselves in a mansion with panoramic views and frontage onto the Thames. Home baked scones just for us were produced and we had a great chat. She had trekked around South America and visited a lot of places we had, so a highly enjoyable afternoon was had. We also have an exclusive private mooring should we ever visit again ! many thanks Carol for your hospitality.

Tomorrow sees another easy day to Pangbourne, and more polishing no doubt !

A relaxing day yesterday, and sunny weather with no rain ! Rico and Lorraine joined us for a picnic cruse an hour downstream. It was a bit of a struggle to find somewhere to moor, all expensive houses with “no mooring” signs or college row houses, but a tiny bit of grassy bank and a willow tree obliged. However I did forget my lump hammer to drive stakes in, so will pick it up today. We did go past a excellent Marina and got a few bits and pieces, including some cutting paste and wax. I started up on the cabin back and it’s restoring the colour well.

It was great to moor up behind Treble Reel, a small widebeam based at Pyrford, so we had lots to chat about, including the hammer confession, so you don’t have to call me out !

In the afternoon we wandered around Wallingford. Not much has changed since I worked at Ratcliffe Orchids and lived nearby. The lamb arcade has gained excellent tea rooms !

The town is a maze of narrow streets controlled by traffic lights drip feeding vehicles into the one way system. Queues a plenty.

Coming into Wallingford you pass this distinctive hill, which I saw from my bedroom window when living on the other side of it. Today we will meander down to the twin towns of Goring and Streatley, another old stamping ground with the Swan Hotel.

Another reasonably long day of 7 hours helming between Oxford and Wallingford. Leaving our moorings at Osney Lock we just missed a boat going downstream like us, she said she had had problems with the electric lock and gone manual, but it caused no problems for us. There are a number of buttons that have to be pressed in the correct order, and it cannot be rushed. Sure enough at the next lock she interrupted the operation to try and open the gates, when we came around the corner with another cruiser. My advice was to leave everything alone, and let it reset itself. Fortunately the lock keeper arrived, sorted the problem and put us thru, along with a stern but friendly lecture ! No more problems with the rest of the locks.

With persistent drizzle we topped up with water, used the services and motored onto Wallingford. Our friends guided us onto mooring, afternoon tea and then a pub dinner.
With the Queens funeral approaching they will go back home on Thursday, no camping will be available around Windsor. As usual my planning saw us going thru Windsor on the Monday, but boating notices indicate a lot of delays going thru and no mooring allowed. We shall have to speed up, or more probably slow down a bit. I’ll probably need fuel, and shopping, so with everything closed on the bank holiday it’s looking like a stopover in Pangbourne and Henley, possibly a short run up the Kennet and Avon Canal at Reading as well. A rest day now.

Eynsham lock was busy last afternoon as a hireboat fleet had to be back by early this morning. Whilst taking some photos of their boat I detected that Aussie twang….”G’Day mate” found out they were from Sydney.

The 24hour overnight stop worked well, very quiet with a bathroom. A full size shower is always appreciated now !

Again with not too many miles to do we had a leisurely start to the day. The rural nature continued with twists and turns, out of which popped SO Little Gem heading back to Lechlade.

The locks were all manned today, and are gradually increasing in size. We’ve never had to wait, so I think the days of water rationing are over down south.

There are lots of Swans, Canada Geese and other wildfowl to keep you company as you float along. The road noise increased with the Oxford Ring road bridge, typically with a traffic jam. Then around another corner was Godstow lock and it’s abbey ruins. In the distance Oxfords dreaming spires had been supplemented by cranes, and lots of them.

Oxford’s water meadows are extensive, after another hours cruising we entered suburbia, with a plethora of houses, bridges and run down continuous cruisers…always moored on the outskirts of cities as cheap housing. Being here before we knew there are good moorings between Osney lock and bridge, and soon we were settled in.

We’ve had a quick 10 minute walk into town, a few salads from M&S, and a new clock for Prime Thyme. We purchased this from a John Lewis store in the Centrepoint shopping centre.

Oxford had changed, this was an enormous complex under cover. Lots of people were a bit overwhelming after our rural interlude, time to retreat to our boat and hang the clock !

After no internet yesterday today will be a 2 day one !

We made an early start from Lechlade, taking advantage of the sunny morning after the usual torrential downpour overnight.

We shortly came across our first lock, just being prepared by a 60’ single hander. He explained the sluices to Hazel and we were off. Prime Thyme handles like a dream, and I successfully entered the lock with an inch to spare either side, and not touching the lock walls or other boat. I seem to be consistently doing this, so all worries about my skills being rusty are gone. Either that or Prime Thyme is one of those “good” boats to steer, she’s certainly not as squirrelly as T42.

The upper way is very rural, with tight turns and little infrastructure. We decided to stick with our new companion, as sharing the locks made things easier, and saved water.

After 7 hours cruising we decided to drop the pins at New Bridge. With a pub either end it was lively compared to the rest of the day, and the stone mellowed in the evening light.

Today started totally different, with a thick mist swirling around. At first the river remained rural, then gradually some desirable residences began to appear.

Eventually we reached Eynsham lock with all its facilities. After filling the water tank and emptying the Elsan, we took advantage of the town for lunch and shopping. As we are only a few hours from Oxford, and have 24hours free mooring, we’ll stay the night. We hope to catch up with Lazy Otters crew on Tuesday and partake of a proper canal, albeit briefly.

An early start saw us on the slipway awaiting Tony, rain and traffic delayed him, but he took great care in loading PT.

First the trailer is submerged, the boat is partly loaded, and trailed part way up the ramp. This allows water to drain from the flooding keel, then re submerged and pulled fully on.

Prime Thyme was dragged fully out, and allowed to drain whilst being strapped down. 30’ is the biggest boat Tony will move, and it’s a big rig, pulled by a specially adapted Landcruiser.

It was a wet drive to Lechlade, so Tony took his time, and we had no problems. Lechlade Marina gave us a warm welcome, and helped unload, much appreciated along with long shoreline lead. With our alternator giving further trouble we’ve decided to stay and sort it out. Lazy Otters crew turned up, so good to catch up !

I’ve just had a walk, between showers, and the Thames looks beautiful tonight, with the Cotswold stone buildings having a golden glow.

Yesterday was spent fixing the key start and sorting the boat prior to our lift to Lechlade. Any extraneous weight is left in the car, and our water tank will be emptied. We’ve had a lot of rain, thankfully in showers, so I can do interior/exterior work appropriately. It’s just started agin, hopefully it will ease for our loading at 10:30. Just a couple of pics of Prime Thyme in day and night mode. She’s unusual in having a seperate shower and bathroom either side of the very narrow corridor, if you leave their doors open there’s room to wield a towel !

The kitchen has a lot of sliding drawer space, a great improvement over T42, and there’s storage under the dinette.

For sleeping the dinette converts to a single or bunk beds, whilst the L shaped lounge converts to a large single. Heating is provided by a gas fired hot air system, and hot water by immersion, if connected to a shoreline or by engine calorifier. She’s powered by a 21hp Barrus Shire engine, and has a flooding keel, more on that tomorrow.

Apparently there was another severe thunderstorm last night, somebody slept right thru it 🤫, either way the river is very high with water cascading over the top of locks. A lot of the weirs on the River Wey have to be set by hand, and some of the lengthsmen have been caught on the hop after trying to conserve water for so long. Our plan was to motor back to Pyrford, in anticipation of a trail to Lechlade on Thursday.

We managed to catch 2 boats in 2 locks, was waived on after sharing, so decided to stop at Send at the excellent New Inn.

The weather started to look threatening, we ended up making 4 temporary stops due to lightening and heavy downpours. The sun did try though, giving some vivid colours and reflections.

Unfortunately the boat seemed to be getting harder to start, with a realisation that the key barrel was turning, I was able to hand hold it and we got back into the Marina before another torrential downpour. I went to find the engineer, he was on the phone requesting an immediate release of water from the Wey into the Thames, as his dry dock, with freshly painted boat, was about to be flooded. So tomorrow will see another round of jobs to do, and a decision made on wether to trail to the Thames.

What a busy, but successful 24 hours we’ve had. After a series of tech disasters on day 1 we’ve managed to resolve most. Our first nights mooring at Papercourt Lock was spectacular at 2am with lightening all around us, but still and misty by 6…..

I was the shower curtains first victim of the day, I don’t know about senior cyclists in Lycra, perhaps a soapy wrap round number would be better, think telephone box with lukewarm water. The days locks got better and better as Hazel and I got into the swing of things, but the rain decided to re appear as we neared Dapdune Wharf.

Apart from some slight belt squeal when under heavy load Prime Thyme is performing well. I think she’s more manoeuvre able than T42, and I seem to in control most of the time ! Our arrival in Guildford saw re provisioning from Marks and Sparks, Boots the Chemist for Hazel (blood pressure machine for me, you can’t take the nurse out of Hazel), a camera battery for me and a SIM card to contact our UK friends. The cause for a G and T was the successful unlocking of my Visa Card, only a 25 minute wait on an international line! We managed one more lock before finding a mooring in the Guildford Meadows. I think we’ll both sleep better tonight !