Oldies On Tour

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.

Today is miserable, and I mean miserable. Rain, rain and more rain.

We are not going to be put off with a little bit of wet stuff, so we walked up to the village of Kintbury, yes you guessed, the Lardy cake was waiting for us.  When we arrived at the shop, the window was filled with lots of different breads, cakes, and quiches, everything looked lovely.  We bought the Lardy cake, Geoff wanted some bread with olives in, and as we hadn’t had breakfast we bought some croissants, went home and had breakfast.

We studied the weather, and it is not good, when the rain stopped we thought about going, but the other boats told us we wouldn’t get to Newbury, so we decided to just settle down with a book, and also watch some television.  Just as well, as the rain continued for the rest of the evening.

Next morning we decided to go back into town to get some silicon for the Zips on the canopy, they were very stiff, now they work a treat. Back to the boat avoiding the coffee shop.

Before we head off to Kintbury, we fill up with water and empty the sewage tank, a job we have never mastered before, but fortunately the instructions on the discharge machine are very clear and precise, so that all worked.
With five locks a very easy trip this morning, Geoff is still suffering, so he is still driving, he should be ok, by the time he gets back from Spain.
We found a place to moor up, and went for a walk in the very quiet village with attractive buildings by the canal, including a watermill and a canal side pub called the Dundas Arms.  We walked to the centre which was up on the hill, they have a tiny butchers, bakery, and a small supermarket.  We noted the bakery only opened twice a week, and that was Wednesday and Saturdays, so tomorrow we will be back to buy a Lardy cake.
After dinner on board, we walked back to the pub, where Geoff had a couple of beers and I had a large wine, we tried to guess the price, but we were both wrong, as it was £17.85, three drinks, that is so bad…..