Dorchester to Lechlade

On Monday morning we awoke to a heavy mist which gradually cleared as we made our way to Abingdon; a town which provides long stretches of moorings for visiting boaters.

A waterfront pub and alms houses with tall chimneys at Abingdon

The next day we had an early walk around the town before the sun broke out to give us the hottest day of the year.  On Wednesday we joined other boaters making an early start and sailed to Iffley near Oxford.  I then took off on the bike to see the sights in a city which conveniently provides plenty of cycle parking.  

The path around Christ Church Meadows gave my first views of the fabulous college buildings and Cathedral and also led to the University Botanical Gardens which were well worth a visit. At this time of year the herbaceous borders and flower beds were a riot of colour and the greenhouses held some interesting collections.  Carnivorous plants waited to trap unsuspecting insects, little fish swam under big lily leaves and weird and exotic plants were on display.  

Strange pods dangling from a plant in a hanging basket in one of the greenhouses.

I enjoyed seeing the honey coloured college buildings and as the streets were wide there was plenty of space to stand back and admire the architecture.   

The Radcliffe Camera building which houses a library

My final port of call was the Carfax Tower, I can't resist a rooftop view.

View of the 'dreaming spires' from Carfax Tower.  The people on the roof are at a roof top cafe. 

Heading north we sailed under the low Osney Bridge which is the limit of navigation for boats with an air draught over 7' 6".  There were still plenty of narrowboats about including a camouflaged one.  

A camouflaged narrowboat

Kings Lock was the first manual lock we'd seen on the Thames and the lock gear was very different to that on the canals.  A large wheel makes easy work of raising the sluices.  

A Thames lock gate with a wheel to raise the sluices

We moored up for the day on the edge of a meadow and that evening Kev spotted a family of foxes playing in a distant field.  We watched through the binoculars and the next day set up the telescope.  That evening only one lazy fox appeared but we had a good view of it curled up asleep in the late sun.  

Our attention turned back to the river when a flotilla of strange rowing boats passed, the rowers were standing up which looked a bit awkward. 

Standing up to row

We stayed 4 days and Bess and Brinny enjoyed chasing in the long grass until poor Brinny got a seed stuck in her ear.  No amount of shaking her head would dislodge it.  But we are prepared for such incidents and using the syringe from our first aid box Kev was able to flush it out.  

On Monday we continued west and the river started to narrow.  We stopped for the day at Northmoor Lock which was conveniently close to Appleton village shop where we picked up a few supplies.  

The next 2 days were hard work for Kev negotiating the sharp twisting bends on an increasingly narrow river.  Eventually we came up the last lock and the river opened out on the flat meadows at Lechlade, the limit of navigation on the Thames.  We had been warned about the young inquisitive cows who graze the meadow and after we'd moored up they came over.  They seemed to be looking for a tasty treat but weren't going to find it by licking Brent III, pulling at  the ropes and taking off our coloured mooring pin covers.  We quickly put anything that could be removed out of reach.  

Just tasting the boat while the cow behind investigates the mooring pin and it's bright warning cover which Kev had to retrieve.

Our journey from Dorchester to Lechlade

Ufton to Dorchester

We stayed on the quiet meadows at Ufton for 3 days, leaving on Monday morning.  We have noticed numerous pill boxes alongside the Kennet and Avon and at Tyle Mill CRT have incorporated the building into the sanitary station. 

On the water point in front of the Tyle Mill pill box sanitary station

We continued along the pretty rural stretch of the River Kennet to Fobney on the outskirts of Reading where we stayed for a couple of days.   As it enters Reading the river narrows into a channel which took us through the Oracle shopping centre.  

The narrow channel twists and turns as we sailed through the Oracle shopping centre

I was surprised to find Reading Museum had a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry on display.  The 231 foot long tapestry is a faithful copy of the original which was completed in 1886 after one years stitching by 35 ladies of the Leek Embroidery Society.  The ladies embroidered their names on a strip underneath their work on the tapestry.

A section of the tapestry and the start of Patience E Gater's work. 

Whist in Reading we took the opportunity to stock up with groceries as supermarkets seem to be scarce on the next stage of our journey.  We left on Thursday and sailed off the Kennet onto the River Thames heading west.  We immediately noticed how busy the Thames had become since we left it in mid-May.  As we approached Pangbourne we started to look moorings and were lucky to slot in at the end of a line of boats.  

The next day we found we weren't the only early risers, on the Kennet and Avon we rarely saw boats moving before 9.30am.  On the way to Goring we spotted a spoof post box attached to a high river wall.  

The spoof post box on a river wall which supports a railway line

As we left Goring preparations were underway for the local regatta.  Several rowing boats were out and they thought nothing of cutting across our bow.  We sailed 6 miles and stopped at the small town of Wallingford.  From the river the unusual spire of St Peters Church caught my eye.  

St Peters unusual spire

  
In the town it was a shop that caught my eye; Village Fabrics had a huge range of materials and I came away with a length of colourful batik.  

On Sunday morning we arrived at Benson Lock to find the electrical controls were out of action.  For the first, and hopefully the last, time I had to use the manual wheel which is turned to open the sluices and lock gates.  It isn't hard work but it took a lot of turns to take us through the lock.  

We pulled over for the day on the meadows near Dorchester.  Wittenham Clumps, the site of a hill fort, overlooked the river and made a good viewing point, well worth the steep path up. 

The view from Wittenham Clumps showing the weir and lock entrance on the left.  Brent III can barely be seen in the centre of the photo by the herd of cows.

The cows wandered on and Bess and Brinny enjoyed sitting out.  That evening the cows returned and Brinny jumped straight back on board.  Bess however was determined to hold her ground and stared out a young bullock who was clearly puzzled.  When another bullock approached Bess realised she was outnumbered and quickly came back on board.  

This is my patch!  Bess holds her ground

Our journey from Ufton to Dorchester

Honey Street to Ufton

We left the Barge Inn at Honey Street on Saturday morning travelling along the stretch known as the Long Pound.  Water levels were so low CRT had announced the Caen Hill Flight would be shut for 24 hours to allow a recovery of the depth.  We moored up at Pewsey, just in time to miss a torrential downpour and we stayed over on Sunday to avoid more rain.  

On Monday we awoke to bright sunshine and made a move.  After stopping for water we found ourselves in a queue at Wootton Rivers Locks which took us up to the summit level and the short Bruce Tunnel.  In the middle of the tunnel our lights picked up something glittering on the wall; tinsel was hanging at the halfway mark.   Shortly after the tunnel we descended Crofton Top Lock and moored up in the sunshine.  

Moored in the sun between the Crofton Locks 

The Crofton pumping station houses 2 steam engines which are no longer in use but are in working order and are regularly fired up for visitor days. 

Crofton Pumping Station

After another night at Crofton we set off and as we passed a boater called out to tell us heavy rain was forecast.  We didn't have to wait long for the drizzle and shortly afterwards we got a soaking.  We had a little way to go before we could moor up at Great Bedwyn and dry out.

On Friday we sailed into Hungerford and stopped at the top moorings.  On our way into town we spotted a better mooring so returned to Brent III to move her down.  Kev turned the key but the engine didn't start.  Kev tried the 'tap it with a hammer' technique which I'm told is more technical than it sounds but the engine still didn't start.  Time to call out River and Canal Rescue.  Their engineer also took his hammer to the starter motor but it still didn't work.  He then started checking the electrics and suddenly the engine burst into life.  She consistently started after that so the engineer left, concluding we'd had a dodgy contact but as nothing was actually repaired only time will tell.  

We stayed another day in Hungerford and picked up some more books and DVDs in the charity shops, our bookcase now has an overflow issue.  

On Sunday we continued east stopping opposite an impressive victorian vicarage at Kintbury. 

The victorian vicarage at Kintbury

The next day we continued towards Newbury and the canal section of the waterway gave way to the River Kennet with it's dark waters and strong currents.  On the way we saw a boat with a grass roof.

A grass roof on a green boat

We sailed through the West Mills area of Newbury with it's quirky little cottages. 

Quirky cottages at West Mills

We were pleased to see free moorings at Victoria Park in the centre of Newbury and stopped for a couple of days;  our pace has definitely slowed down.  

Whilst at Newbury our Wi-Fi stopped working but we didn't think too much of it as there are occasional interruptions to the signal.  But the next day at Thatcham it still wasn't working so obviously there was a problem but it would have to wait until we were near an O2 shop.  

We continued our journey through the many swing bridges, locks and the tricky Woolhampton Lock/swing bridge combination.  As boats come out of the lock they sail into a strong current which sweeps down to the nearby swing bridge and it's narrow channel.  The bridge has to be opened before the boat leaves the lock but, as it's round a bend, the helmsman cannot see the bridge from the lock.  Luckily we had a hand from another boater who stood below the lock to watch me open the bridge and then went back to open the lock gates to let Kev out.  

From there we had an easy run to Ufton where we moored up at the side of quiet meadows with a herd of cows and flock of greylag geese for company.  

On the meadow moorings at Ufton

We found out our paperwork for the Wi-Fi box the O2 and in the instruction booklet Kev found a reset procedure.  This cured the problem connecting us back to the internet.


Our journey from Honey Street to Ufton