We woke up this morning to more rain so decided to stay put
until 11am then we pushed off. Through
some more swing bridges and Old Woolhampton, Old Heale’s, Colthrop, Monkey
Marsh, Widmead, Bull’s, Ham and Greenham Locks, then we spotted a Tescos on the
side of the canal just before we hit Newbury so we stopped to replenish the
supplies. Travelling with other people
makes the locking a lot easier and quicker so we have agreed to stick with Rob
and Claire until they get to a Marina just before Devizes where they are going
to leave the boat for a week.
More peaceful countryside and I’m pleased to say that the
weather cheered up so we all decided to have a bar-be-cue in the evening. Only problem then was to find somewhere to
moor. You are allowed to moor anywhere
on the canalside but most of it is overgrown with stinging nettles and thistles
so we chugged on through Newbury, Guyer’s, Higg’s and Benham locks then Rob spotted
a couple of feet of bank where the undergrowth had been flattened, probably by
a fisherman, and just before the next lock mooring so we moored up there and
Rob came alongside. We set the
bar-be-cue and table up at the end of the lock mooring as the towpaths are so
narrow there is nowhere to sit where you wouldn’t be in the way of any passing
pedestrians or cyclists! It was nearly
8pm by this time and nobody else arrived to use the lock so it didn’t matter where
we were.
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| This is a narrow bit! |
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| A reminder of June and George - they live in Thatcham Gardens! |
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| Inside Monkey Marsh Lock - one of only two remaining turf-sided locks |
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| It took ages to fill as I am sure lots of water seeps into the ground. |
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| Will somebody please milk this poor cow - she must have ten litres in there! |
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| Lock almost full 20 minutes later |
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| And another swing bridge - this was so heavy to push open that a kind chap helped me! |
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| Abandoned! |
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| Chugging through Newbury |
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| Interesting accommodation! |
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| And......relax! |
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