We left Reading today with our new engine, all happily fitted into her new home. The engineers have asked us to do an engine run and put 20 hours on the engine. They will then do a filter, oil change and an engine check. All I heard was …. go travel for a few days, enjoy the good weather, have a few BBQs and sip on plenty of chilled wine. Not one to argue, we complied.
Our plan is;
* Goring for an overnight
* Abingdon by Friday mid-day
* 2 days in Abingdon
* Back down to Wallingford for overnight
* Back to Reading for engine check and oil change.
5 locks to get there and then back. The weather is forecast to be good and we are looking forward to a little trip and taking time to explore these towns and villages.
We grabbed some provisions (including that wine) and set off about mid-day. The first lock, Mapledurham, was “crowded”. Well there were only 3 of us in the lock but most of our experience on the river this year is that we are the only ones in a lock, so it felt like a crowd. Perhaps we were not the only ones out to enjoy the good weather.
Half an hour later, we approached the next lock; Whitechurch, Pangbourne. The two boats that were in the Mapledurham lock with us, were tied up waiting to go into Whitechurch lock, along with four other boats! So we had to join the queue.
We had heard from lock-keepers that “in the old days” locks were crowded and people queued to get through, but this was new to us. We squeezed in behind a hire boat on the waiting pontoon and were brought up to speed on what the hold up was. The gates into the lock from upstream were jambed by debris – and more specifically a large submerged log. There was no way to get the gates open and even if they did, it would mean that the log would be floating in the lock. (No one wants to come up against a floating log!).
The lock-keeper had notified the people he should notify in a case like this and they had called on some divers, who were on their way. Estimated wait time – 3 hours. Patrick looked at the clock and me and before he could even open his mouth, I emphatically said NO, we are not turning back to Reading. We will wait until it’s cleared and enjoy our trip. Enough with the false starts…
So we waited, read our books and even had a quick nap, to be woken by the sound of boat engines starting. More than that the boat going past our windows was not a waiting boat turning around to head back, but a large boat coming through the lock. YAYYYYY.
We had to wait a little while longer as there was also a queue of boats on the other side but eventually we got in AND got out of the lock. The rest of the trip to Goring was uneventful, peaceful and calm – just like I like it. We got to Goring after 15:30 and secured a mooring on the side of the lock, with the weir not too far. I really love the sound of the water running over the steps of that weir, so I was happy to be there. And the view is really beautiful. After a few hours on board we were ready to a bit of exercise. (Only a bit). We got the bikes off the back of the boat, packed a few waterproof tops as it was looking gloomy now and headed off to explore a bit more of Goring and Streatley. It ended up being a full pub crawl through the two villages as we stopped 4 times on our route, at ALL 4 of the pubs in the villages. We were starving once we reached the last pub, The Catherine Wheel, and settled in for a pizza and another drink. It wasn’t a late night and we were back on the boat, happy and full of delicious pizza. We didn’t make it to midnight, so there were no birthday celebrations, but that could wait for tomorrow.
