Oldies On Tour

Another peaceful night, we are staying here all day as we are meeting Liz at 10.30am.

Having walked through the lovely park, we met Liz, and went for coffee and cakes, we then showed Liz over the boat, and had drinks before lunch, we decided to go Italian today, and try Zizzie’s.

Marlow is a lovely town, you can tell it is a rich area by the designer shops, really lovely place. We found Zizzie’s and had a lovely lunch, so much for the diets. King Prawns and Tagittella really tasty.

We walked backed to the Railway station as Liz was going home on the train, we then meandered along the river and back to the boat, lovely day, and good to see Liz again.

Up early, as we have no water, and we needed to fill the tank before we leave. We know it is Sunday , and the marina doesn’t open till 10am, but we thought we might be able to fill up and get on our way. Well it worked, the owner of the boatyard came over unlocked the water, and we started to fill up, we also put the washing machine on, I had a shower, and cleared the dishes from last night. By the time he reappeared at 10.00am the tank was full, washing done and I was clean, so a good result.

We made our way through 11 locks, sometimes we had help from another boat, but mostly we were on our own, the scenery is magnificent, with the the Autumn colours, we also had to learn how to do the swing bridges, that worked by a key, which we didn’t know we had. Some of the locks have bridges which the general traffic use, so we put the key in, the traffic barriers come down to stop the traffic, the bridge then swings to let the boat go by, and then the bridge swings back and eventually the traffic continues. It’s a good feeling to be able to stop the traffic!

We found a mooring, the only one in a place called Tyle Mill Lock, most of the moorings were private, but one was kept free for people who wanted overnight berths.

Monday 19th September 2016

After a good night, we once again took showers, then went across the canal and fills the tanks up again, at least we will be clean for today.
We travelled through four locks before we came to Burghfield, where there is a pub called The Cunning Man, we had been recommended to try it, so we did. A beautiful looking place with thatched roof, Geoff was able to catch up on the local ales again.

As we travelled on, the fine drizzly rain started, we wanted to get to Reading, so we kept going, the only problem was we couldn’t find anywhere to moor, we found ourselves in the middle of Reading, with traffic lights, on the waterway, very strange, anyway we pressed the button, it changed to green and we were off again, by this time we really wanted to stop, well through the light system at the end, we found mooring rings, so we hooked up in them, and there we stayed. By this time it was raining quite hard, so we weren’t moving for anyone, we had a very comfortable night.

Up quite early, and we both walked to the station, not sure if the trains were going to be cancelled, so Geoff wanted to be sure he got to the airport on time. I slowly meandered back to the boat via the shops.

Newbury developed in the Middle Ages as a cloth town of considerable wealth, its stature indicated by the size of the church. Although the cloth trade had long vanished, the town has managed to retain much if it’s period charm. It is a busy shopping centre, and the shop fronts in the Main Street have buried many 17th and 18th century houses. Elsewhere in the town the 18th century is well in evidence, especially in the West Mills area.

14/9 walked into Town, and bought some odds and ends, then decided to walk a different direction, and found this lovely boat, wow it was stunning and up for sale, so got the details, you never know.

15/9. Did some washing and cleaning before I decided to walk to Thatcham, 45 minutes each way, I set up my phone to take me there, and off I set. When I was almost there, I realised I did not have my purse on me, so no drinks when I get there. Well the gps landed me in the middle of an estate, with no further instructions, no money, no village centre, decided just to go back to the boat, what an idiot I am.
On way back I saw the owners of the boat, it was a wide beam boat, and the inside was something else, two spacious bedrooms, a large lounge and kitchen, it certainly had the wow factor.
Over lunch I decided as lovely as it was, not suitable for what we want, anyway we have to sell the house, which is not happening anyway.
In the evening there was a horrendous thunder and lightning storm, with have rain, I have to admit to being scared, so many trees around.

16/9. The storm carried on all night, and by morning several parts of Newbury were flooded. I slowly woke up, went into town and had my nails done, then onto Tesco, gosh I know how yo live.

17/9. Geoff came back at about 4pm and we decided just to stay put for another night.

13th September – 17th September 2016

Up quite early, and we both walked to the station, not sure if the trains were going to be cancelled, so Geoff wanted to be sure he got to the airport on time.  I slowly meandered back to the boat via the shops.

Newbury developed in the Middle Ages as a cloth town of considerable wealth, its stature indicated by the size of the church.  Although the cloth trade had long vanished, the town has managed to retain much if it’s period charm.  It is a busy shopping centre, and the shop fronts in the Main Street have buried many 17th and 18th century houses. Elsewhere in the town the 18th century is well in evidence, especially in the West Mills area.

14/9 walked into Town, and bought some odds and ends, then decided to walk a different direction, and found this lovely boat, wow it was stunning and up for sale, so got the details, you never know.

15/9. Did some washing and cleaning before I decided to walk to Thatcham, 45 minutes each way, I set up my phone to take me there, and off I set.  When I was almost there, I realised I did not have my purse on me, so no drinks when I get there.  Well the gps landed me in the middle of an estate, with no further instructions, no money, no village centre, decided just to go back to the boat, what an idiot I am.
On way back I saw the owners of the boat, it was a wide beam boat, and the inside was something else, two spacious bedrooms, a large lounge and kitchen, it certainly had the wow factor.
Over lunch I decided as lovely as it was, not suitable for what we want, anyway we have to sell the house, which is not happening anyway.
In the evening there was a horrendous thunder and lightning storm, with have rain, I have to admit to being scared, so many trees around.

Lazy morning, did some washing, cleaned up a bit, before we walked into town.  We found the railway station for Geoff tomorrow, and we located the local launderette to do the sheets and the towels, wouldn’t really worry normally as we have a machine, but not sure how far the water will go. Found Sainsbury’s and Tesco, so we have a choice.  Geoff started packing ready for the off in the morning, back to Spain, wish I was going with him now.

Wow, what a difference, sunny, blue skies, and warmer too.  What a lovely trip, only six locks, beautiful scenery, and wall to wall sunshine.  I do miss the English countryside, but not the weather…..

As we approached Newbury, we came to a swing bridge, fortunately there was a boat ahead of us, so we decided to be naughty and let them open it, but in fact, someone coming the other way had done it for us both, so we both thanked them, and kept going, at the
last lock we were invited to go in first, and to stay on board, they had lots of helpers, they were giving the locals rides for charity, easier doing the locks with another boat, they advised us where to moor, instead of going into the marina, so we filled up with water and diesel, and parked opposite the marina, apparently we can stay here for fourteen days.