Oldies On Tour

Old Father Thames sits
On the first lock we entered.

We decided to head back today, we were away by 9.30am but no sign of the farmer who collects the moorings, so a free night! We meandered along the river, but this time we were not fighting the current, we made far better progress, in fact instead of stopping at the Trout Inn again, we actually made Eynsham Lock. We did the normal, filled up with water, we spoke to a young trainee lock keeper, who was thoroughly enjoying his new job, and wished him well, and we spent the night here. In the morning before we left, we did the rubbish and the looe, then headed off. When we arrived at the first lock, there were two other boats so we joined

Me working the locks on the Thames.

them, and low and behold our trainee lock keeper was at this lock today, such a lovely friendly fella. We travelled on, to next Lock where we were told not to attempt to go in together, so I worked the locks for the other two boats, only to find the simple push button did not work, so I was left turning a wheel by hand, another young lad felt sorry for me and came and helped me and we finally were on our way.
We reached our entrance into Sheepwash Channel,and turned into it,

Another low bridge

it was a very narrow channel, with low bridges, I wondered if we were doing the right thing! Apparently this cut through to the Oxford Canal was only done 60 years after the Oxford Canal was opened. The channel is less than a mile, and we quickly turned and into the first lock, where we moored to explore Oxford.

Lovely view as we entered the Oxford Canal.

Being so close to the lock we didn’t dawdle this morning so off we went, through the lock and under Swinford Toll Bridge, one of the two that cross the Thames.

Swinford Bridge, where a toll is charged at 5p

This toll bridge is unique; it was privately funded by the Earl of Abingdon and opened in 1769 after numerous people drowned crossing this stretch of the river in the local ferry. The bridge is governed by its own act of Parliament and it allows the bridge owner to collect tolls. The act also makes building of bridges three miles either way from Swinford Bridge illegal; it also states that all owners are exempt from income tax liability in perpetuity. Today cars pay 0.05 pence to cross, and because there are no other crossings for at least 3 miles either way, this single lane road gets extremely busy, exacerbated by the time it takes to collect all the 0.05 pence tolls. Apparently there have been numerous attempts to have the tolls removed but to no avail and because of the extra mileage to go around, drivers have to suffer.

Oxford was the last major conurbation; from now on it is small villages and hamlets, the majority of “civilisation” we came across either

Flat boring scenery, with lots of horse flies that bite!

centered around pubs or locks. As the river wound its way upstream the countryside changed to agriculture, fields were growing nicely in preparation for haymaking; cows were grazing quietly in the fields and we noted several herds of bullocks being fattened up ready for the table!!!

The cows in a long line just watching us!

Tonight we stopped on the private mooring at the Trout Inn at Tadpole Bridge. The mooring was empty, except for a canoe right in the middle, but it was convenient and it was a nice sunny evening so we made a management decision to dine there as well; excellent fish and chip with a very good selection of real ales; it turned out to be a “Gastropub”.

We met the owners of the canoe and they were canoeing from Lechlade to Teddington, funnily enough we had been debating if people did that, strange or what!

Tadpole bridge

One nice thing heading up this part of the Thames are the bridges, not many modern concrete monstrosities built today, but mostly built in local stone and very old; Tadpole Bridge for example, built in 1784 and now a Grade II listed building.

Meandering into the “higher reaches” of the Thames, the river became narrower and extremely twisty, I don’t think I would be very happy steering a 72-footer up here. The banks were generally lined with trees and overgrown bushes and there was an abundance and variety of flying insects around; Christine was bitten in some very annoying places!!! We observed several shapes, colours and varieties of geese, many with babies. Swans were in abundance and of course ducks everywhere, again many with babies of all shapes and sizes.

One reason I particularly wanted to boat up the Thames was to visit a couple of old haunts I frequented, again during periods of my miss-spent youth. Firstly I was looking forward to returning to “The Swan”, a pub adjacent to Radcot Bridge. Incidentally Radcot Bridge is

The Swan

reputedly the oldest bridge across the Thames, built around 1200 and secondly the “Trout Inn” at Lechlade. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anywhere to moor at the Swan, so missed out on this visit.

With 3 locks to go we joined up with a couple in a similar narrow boat to ours and a couple with a vary short boat so we all fitted into the locks together, this made things easier on the “self service” lock, and we were through the locks where there was a “lock keeper in attendance” very quickly.

We arrived at Lechlade, the furthest navigable point we could get to,

View from our mooring

and having been there, turned round. Smaller craft can go as far as Cricklade, 11-miles further on and the actual source is another 12.3-miles. Just up from Lechlade is the old access to the Thames and Severn Canal, opened in 1789, closed in 1933. There has been a “Cotswold Charitable Trust” set up to raise the funds and bring this old canal back into use, alas probably not in our lifetime.

We moored alongside a big field with a large herd of extremely inquisitive heifers that fancied eating, or trying to eat, anything they could get to on or off the boat. Fortunately we had been pre-warned about this happening and moored with lose lines so they couldn’t

Looking for food!

reach us! After dinner we wandered over to the “Trout Inn” to see if my adolescence memory of a fantastic restaurant was justified, yes the old beamed bar looked very much the same and the restaurant appeared as I remembered, but the menu, oh no, there was only one Trout dish, back in the day (late 50’s) they specialized as the name suggests, “trout” and there were numerous “trout” dishes. My memories of this place are either misguided or more probably, they now cater for the masses, as the pub is owned by a large London investment Company. I wanted to re-visit this area and had promised Christine this wonderful meal, only to be let down. We had a drink and left, we did not book a table for the following day.

We had a rude, early morning awakening with a bang on the boat’s

So tame!

roof; it was the “rent collector”, he wanted his dues for parking on the public mooring, which is owned by one of the Oxford University Colleges, still £5 well spent.

We wandered around Lechlade, did some shopping, had a couple of pints and

One of the old toll booths on the bridges

decided there was nothing much to see here and agreed to leave next morning and re-trace our steps back to Oxford.

One of the old pubs!

We joined the Thames just east of Teddington lock and have travelled 207 river miles, been through 45-locks and the river has risen 71-meters (234 ft.) from the tidal part of the Thames. One thing we noted were the number of WW2 Pill Boxes lining the Thames, perhaps I will try and count them on the return journey!!!

5 June 2018

Today was interesting, I went down and spoke to the Iffley Lock-keeper, and he told me that Osney was still on Red Alert, I then met another couple of ladies, who had just arrived back from there in their narrowboat, and although they said the river was still high, people were going back and forth, so we decided to go for it, we could always come back if there was a problem.

We only had two miles to do, and the current was very strong, but we

Young lads got through, now it’s our turn

made the lock, just in time to see two lads going in, so we chatted to them, and then the Lock-keeper came along and gave us an official warning saying we leave the lock at our own risk, as they were still on red alert, which we accepted, but he then said we would be fine, but remove the hose pipe from roof, and keep to the right to avoid the weir, before attempting

Very tight! Still we made it.

Osney bridge. We said to the young lads they could go first through the bridge, and they gave us the thumbs up, when they were through, it was very tight, and I understand why they were on red alert, still we made it just! I think the gap today seemed about 6 inches, maybe even less, between the bridge and boat.

We meandered along a very twisty part of

Very different countryside

the Thames, the scenery is completely different, very open fields, not many buildings, or villages on the river. We followed the lads and joined them in two more locks, (these locks are no longer electronic,

Back to Manuel locks

they are manual, )before we arrived at Eynsham, where we had to do some emptying of facilities, as it is a very chilly day, we decided to stop here for the night.

Pretty little village

St.Leonards Church Eynsham

After lunch, we walked into Eynsham, very tiny village, with the old fashion butcher, hardware shop, and a small
Co-op, so we topped up with food, walked back, stopping for a pint on route.

1st June 2018

We were up and away by 8am, I wanted to get through the lock and use the facilities and as we have a massive water tank, it takes forever to fill up. The lock was on Self service so I pressed the buttons and we went through, found the water pipe, and quickly attached it, we then had a leisurely breakfast whilst filling the tank, Geoff did all the other jobs, then we were ready to go. Abingdon to Oxford is not far about eight miles, so a lazy day.

Our first lock was Sandford Lock, which was on self service, so I went and did the business, pressed a few buttons and we were away again, we are amazed with all the volunteers around, who are trained by

Geese looking on

DEFRA to do the locks, but are only allowed to help when there is a qualified Lock-keeper on duty, yet we are able to use the machines, without any training, there is a shortage of lock keepers, so a lot of them are unmanned, I guess if there was a problem they could be faced with a big insurance claim.

We were making very slow progress, as after the storm last night

My favourite picture, mother and baby swan

apparently they had over 33mm of rain, the river is flooded, so are parts of Oxford itself. At times it felt as if we were standing still, as we have a very small engine 43hp! But the scenery is very pretty, and it is a pleasure to meander, and watch all the wild life, I caught a glimpse of a kingfisher which pleased me, Geoff managed to photo a swan carrying her baby on her back, so lovely.

Iffley Lock keepers house

Eventually we arrived at Iffley, where we were told the River was on red alert, and we would not get pass Osney, and probably find difficulties in mooring so we decided to stay here, we found a nice mooring, with the added bonus of not having to pay because of the red alert.

After lunch we wondered into the local village, and collected some odds and ends from the little community shop, and then we walked to the local

Local community shop

church of St.Mary’s Virgin, this church was built in 1160, and extended in the 1200, it is the oldest preserved Norman church in

Church with vicarage, very pretty

England.

Saturday 2 June 2018

We went to see the lock-keeper to be told we could go no further, as Osney is still on red alert, and they were

Bridge leading to the lock

crowded with boats up there, so we decided to do some jobs. When we bought the boat, there was a bicycle on the back which we have never even looked at, so we decided to strip it down, well it was a foldaway with very tiny wheels, and we both decided that we would never use it, so Geoff pushed it towards the rubbish bin, it was not long before a young girl came along and took it,

Cleaning the boat

Geoff called out to her, and she stopped and chatted, but her face was a picture, she was so chuffed with her new possession, and she quickly cycled off with two flat tyres.
Next we decided to clean the boat, I climbed on the roof, whilst Geoff was able to reach from the towpath, between us we scrubbed and

Geoff doing his pied piper bit.

polished, and Megan is looking very good again. In the afternoon we walked to the nearest TESCO Express where we stocked up with some booze and bacon, ready for Andrew tomorrow.

Sunday 3 June 2018

A lovely day, sun is shinning, and Andrew and Fiona arrived, it was great seeing Andrew again, we have not seen each other since before Xmas. As we couldn’t go forward, we decided to go back to Sandford Lock, where there was a Chef and Brewer pub, we meandered down the river again, the weather couldn’t have been better, we went beyond the

Sunbathing on the roof

Lock, then turned and made our way back, it is still very slow as the water is still running very fast. We moored outside the pub, and went in, Fiona had her two little dogs with her, so we sat in the garden, which was lovely, and although the service was really bad, the food was good, lots of catch up on news etc., before returning to boat, and another slow meander up the river, we watched people swimming, and messing around in their dinghy’s. We had a great day, and it was lovely to meet Fiona, let’s hope it lasts. Back at the lock, we went our separate ways, let’s hope we see them soon.

Monday 4 June 2018

Still stuck here, it is lovely, but we want to get on our way now, we

Isis club house (Oxford College) is close by

enjoy watching the canoeists in training, you have the lot here, from the eights down to the single rowers, they are all shouted at from the trainers on the towpath, there is a rowing club very near us.

We stopped overnight under reading bridge; well it was free, and it was surprisingly quiet for a public thoroughfare!!! Today we headed west buying Diesel along the way and enjoying the sights as we meandered along the Thames on this glorious sunny day; wow we have been so lucky with the weather. Washing was a priority and the first launderette we could find was in Pangbourne, so this was our

Lovely village

destination. The weather now changed and the rain came down but we arrived and moored alongside a field about ¼ mile from the town. We found the Launderette then wandered around the town until the washing was ready. Pangbourne has also become a centre for high-end sports cars with a Lamborghini and Aston Martin dealership in the town.  We stayed overnight listening to the patter of the rain.

Next morning we headed off again, Wallingford was our target for

No problems mooring this time

tonight. We arrived early afternoon and moored just past the Pub where we had had a meal with Andrew a couple of years ago whilst travelling the Thames in Dave and Leisha’s boat, “Foggy’s Notion”. It was encouraging to note, Wallingford council welcomed boaters, (unlike some places we’ve to) and set aside visitor moorings, though for a fee of course!

Pretty cottages near our mooring

Wallingford again has a history that surprised me. Firstly it became an important Thames crossing point and was fortified back in early Saxon times, and particularly by Alfred the Great, to protect Wessex from the Vikings. There are also the remains of the castle built by the Normans;

Ye olde castle

this castle was the also last stronghold of the Empress Matilda against her Cousin Stephen, later “King Stephen” (1135 – 1154), this time in

Town Hall

History is sometimes known as the first English Civil war. Wallingford was also important during the “Civil War“; it was the royalists’ last stronghold in Berkshire (nowadays Oxfordshire) and after a 65-day siege they abandoned the town and Cromwell set about destroying the castle; much of the stone was used to build the clock tower of St. Mary-

St. Mary -Le-More church

le-More, the historic church in Wallingford.

After securing our overnight mooring spot we wandered around this very quaint and pretty historical town, though it wasn’t raining, it was very overcast and cold. Next morning Christine dashed over to Waitrose before we left and headed towards our next stop, Abingdon.

We had an uneventful run up to Abingdon, moored up alongside the town park but as it was raining stayed on board. We had “done” Abingdon on our previous travels. Around 2100hrs the rain suddenly increased and this continued well into the night, the sound was amplified as it hit the roof and the thunder and lightening felt as if it was just above us. Here we are in steel box with an aerial poking up from the roof, perfect conditions for a strike!!!!! Eventually we got off to sleep wondering what everything will be like in the morning.

25/5 – 28/5/2018

We decided that as we had been to Henley-on-Thames before, and that the Grand Prix was on television this week end, we wanted to find somewhere we could moor up, do nothing for a couple of days, and enjoy the F1, so we left Henley and travelled onto Sonning. We had

Transporting the canoes

met a few canoeist on route transporting all their various boats, and whilst we were in Sonning lock we found out that there was to be a Regatta for the children on Saturday, so decision made, we are stopping.
The weather was fine, we walked all around the village expecting to find some shops, but nothing, we have very little food, no milk etc.,but with pubs and a bistro in the village I am sure we will manage. We contacted Trevor and Jill, hoping to catch up with them, as Jill lives in this lovely village, but they were in Lymington. We stopped at the Bull, and had a couple of drinks, before we returned to the boat, just in time, the heavens opened and another thunderstorm and torrential rain.

Think they are enjoying themselves

Slept really well on our mooring, and awoke to more rain, what a

The children enjoying the races

shame, for the Regatta, but by the time it started the sun was out, and the fun on the water started. We watched the F1 qualifications and then caught the ferry to the Regatta, they had lots of stalls, local beers, local pies, and so many children enjoying themselves, it was lovely to watch, we had a great time, went to catch the ferry but it had broken down, so we went and had

Come on you Reds!

another pint, they said it would be fixed by 5.30pm, we asked the Thames Rescue, if we could have a lift, and he kindly dropped us at the boat, which was just as well, as they couldn’t fix it.
On Sunday, we had breakfast at the Coppa restaurant, the food was lovely, but the service was shocking, whilst we were waiting Jill came in, we had another coffee, and caught up with all the news, bless her she offered to get us some milk and eggs and call in later, which she did, plus she bought us some fresh strawberries, very tasty.
The village apparently do a scarecrow weekend, and this was the

Sonning Church goes back to 909AD

weekend, the locals open their gardens, and dress up scarecrows, all the children can go round and see them, the village certainly has a really good ambiance we thoroughly enjoyed our time here. We watched the F1, which was not that exciting, then in the evening we went back to the Bull, and had a really lovely evening

The Bull, dates back to 16th century timber framed building. Owned by the church!

meal, what a lovely place this is, not surprising that George Clooney, and Uri  Geller live her.
In the morning we went back to Shiplake lock, to empty the looe, get rid of the rubbish, it added five miles on our trip, but worth it, we then made our way to Reading and stopped the night, on route, we found a TESCO Extra on the river, to enable us to provision the boat.