We had a slightly later start today, our main objective being to get downstream of Bray Lock, which is having numerous breakdowns at present, some of them taking half a day to fix. Our first lock was only a mile downstream of the last one, the shortest pound on the Thames. We moored up behind another narrowboat,only to be told the lock had “frozen”, no amount of button pushing could do anything ! Fortunately the lockie appeared at 9am and reset the lock computer, straight thru !

As most of the pounds (river between locks) are short, little convoys of boats form. With the Gin Palaces overtaking the slower narrow boats there is gradual change, but you usually re form at each lock if it’s not immediately available. The river traffic is increasing, as are the riverfront house values.

We got thru Bray Lock ok, and are ahead of schedule, so dropped pins above Windsor. We aim to catch up with Penny and Iris around Desborough on Sunday. It’s about 6 hours cruising to get there, so with 2 days we can relax, especially if the sun continues to shine.

An early start saw us head off with our “solar” powered narrowboat ! As it was sunny and hot, we’ve had no problems so far. First stop for services, then onto Reading where we topped up with fuel

We aimed to get thru Henley, now in the final stages of preparation for the rowing regatta. It was extremely busy, but we found a mooring spot to re provision. We decided to push on to Hurley whilst it was still sunny.

We paced a couple of canoes for a while, they slipstreamed our wake and had a chat. They looked hot, at least I’ve got an umbrella hooked up to the tiller so my top half is in shade. I still got very warm today, so had another swim in the Thames, lovely 😀 I’ll decontaminate myself Mark and Peter, honest 🌞😳

Last night after tea we noticed the low voltage indicator flashing on the fridge….after a bit of investigation and talking to our mobile mechanic, Gareth we deduced the house battery was running low. However further investigation by him today has revealed the alternator has failed again, like last year despite being rebuilt. Fortunately our recently reconditioned solar panel is working well, but it means we are totally reliant on solar now and must cut our power usage to a minimum in an effort to get back to Pyrford. With this in mind future blog posts will be at a minimum, and we hope the sunny weather continues. Tomorrow will be a long day as we hope to get back to the River Wey in 3 days, and wet weather at the W/E.

We had a terrific thunderstorm this morning, over 20mm according to the Lockie. Someone had left their shoes outside…..2 little swimming pools…..luckily I’ve got my boots 😁 After 9 it was only the odd spot or two, perfect for cruising.

It was an event free run to Pangbourne, PT moves much quicker going downstream, and the locks are easier. We made it in time to do the washing at the local launderette, and to ogle all the Aston Martins next door, plus Lamborghini’s. What a dealership, some amazing machines, and no, nothings coming back to Tassie 😳

Tomorrow we will tackle Henley again……

Leaving Penny and Iris at Goring, we decided to continue upstream, for one day at least. It was pretty quiet except for one cruiser who kept us company thru a couple of locks. There are large flotillas of wildfowl, Canada and Barnacle Geese, inhabiting this pretty stretch of water.

We called into the excellent Sheridan Marina, before lunching at Wallingford. The Waitrose here is excellent, but I forgot my UK Visa card pin and got locked out guessing it. I’ll have to find a Natwest Bank ATM and reset it before leaving the UK.

On going thru Days lock the lock keeper recognised our flag, and informed me about the cricket. I tried to sound knowledgeable about the Australian Team…..and raised a smile and laugh when leaving by shouting out Aussie Aussie Aussie ! When mooring tonight we have an excellent view of the Wittenham Clumps. A view I always appreciated from the bedroom window of my North Moreton cottage

The lock keeper also suggested it would be almost impossible to go thru Henley next W/E when the Regatta is going full bore. It was bad enough on the way up……so we have made the decision to start heading downstream tomorrow to avoid it, and catch up with Penny going up the Wey. We are thinking about moving the boat to another marina, and would like to have a look around it before leaving.

After an excellent evening with Brian and Jackie aboard nB Whisper, only slight bathroom envy, we had a late start and short cruise to Goring.

It was an easy cruise, with only one self serve lock done by yours truely.

Goring had lots of room, and a Trad with 1953 twin cylinder Gardener that the owner allowed me aboard to ogle….what a beautiful boat 😍

I gave PT a quick wash and broke out the bunting 👍 Tomorrow we will head out to Days Lock, near Wittenham Clumps, at the back of where I used to live near North Moreton.

A relatively easy, and uneventful, cruise to Pangbourne today. We travelled in the company of another SO, namely Brian and Jackie in the 56’ Whisper. Pangbourne is full now, but they found a site, and we’re moored up to Iris. I think the mini SO Rally is aboard Whisper tonight !

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.

After a cool, but noisy night (due to a close road and flight path) we were ready to push off. Its another sunny day….

Approaching Windsor there are a lot of No Mooring signs, His Majesty wants no riff raff, and the size of River Traffic is large as well.

Finally Windsor castle came into sight, along with numerous planes on final approach into Heathrow. Indeed the sky is full of contrails and the constant whine of jet engines spooling up and down.

Our first lock was manned, but from then on they have been self service, and a bit of a bun fight as we all squeeze in. I’ve never seen the river so busy, and it’s not even the weekend yet ….We always wear our life jackets, this 14 foot deep lock empties and fills in a couple of minutes, that’s a huge amount of water moving around.

As we had a good convoy going we stayed on till thru Boulters Lock, then pulled over on the inside passage of Sloe Grove Island. This is a lovely part of the river, below Cliveden House. At the moment we are by ourselves, apart from a duck family. Lovely 😀 Tomorrow we will use the services at Cookham, shop in Marlow and hope to moor at Henley

We set off early this morning, on what promised to be another hot day…

The trees provided some shade, and for once the locks were set in our favour. However they tend to be hard work this end of the river…

We stopped prior to New Haw lock to get some shopping, and then went thru the hardest lock on the river, New Haw, according to Hazel.

Then the only manned lock on the Wey, Thames Lock and onto the river itself. It didn’t take long to get a 2 week license, and join a convey of freshly released hire “Le Boats”. This was good as the next 3 locks were un manned, and as we were in the middle of the convey let them do all the button pushing. By now it was getting very warm, so we selected a leafy tree to moor under by the Magna Carta memorial. The water was too inviting….I’ve finally had a swim in the Thames…..! We are now watching numerous trip boats ply up and down the river, along with paddle boarders, cruisers and narrowboats. If this is a week day it must be bedlam at the weekend.