After 3 days in Windsor Marina, we looked forward to being on the move again. We had made arrangements to meet up with friends from Fareham, who were going to drive up and meet us where ever we stopped next. Our plan was to head to Sonning or somewhere closer if necessary. It was going to be good to stay somewhere new and I was looking forward to chatting to someone else, besides Patrick.
We left Windsor at about 10:20 passing some gorgeous huge houses and really pretty boats along the river. How the other half live!
We reached and entered Bray lock at 10:58, a manned lock and the keepers were very friendly. For a while I thought this was going to be our next overnight stop, with Patrick equally happy to chat to someone else, besides me. Especially when one of the lock keepers came out of their beautiful little office/house carrying doughnuts and tea. However, despite some shameful hinting on both our parts, there was no offer to share the tasty looking doughnuts, so we undid our lines and waved our goodbyes. (To be fair, I am not sure I would share either)
As we approached Maidenhead, the discussion turned to the lack of tasty snacks on the boat, the reasons for the lack of these snacks and what to do about it. We had friends coming round. For tasty snacks and drinks. A quick google search and we identified a couple of shops and supermarkets in Maidenhead, as well as a public mooring spot.
So we squeezed in between two large barges, locked up the boat, unloaded the bicycles from the back and set off. As I was now re-acquainted with cycling, I was tempted to reassure Patrick that the old phrase stands: “once you learn to ride a bicycle, you never forget how”. However, as I watched him ahead, weaving in between traffic and up and down pavements to avoid red traffic lights, I thought to myself; well you can forget how to ride a bike …. a sustainable head injury will do that…
But we made it there and back to the boat. Patrick also learned that the phrase “your eyes are bigger than your stomach” also applies to shopping and how much can fit into the carrier bags on the back of the bicycles. I did warn him….. Once back onto the boat and snacks packed away, we set off again.
We reached Boulters Lock at about 13h00 and tied up on the side to wait for it to open. Locks are either manned with doughnut-eating friendly locks-people or they are self-service. You know which it is going to be because there is a sign up on the side. Well the sign at this lock said “closed”. What? Once we were tied up Patrick went off to investigate. He came back with the news that the lock was broken and they were waiting for an engineer. No idea how long this was going to take.
So we found stuff to do while we waited. You cannot leave the boat on the moorings at lock entrances so we had to find stuff to do on the boat. I poured myself a gin and tonic. Patrick had a look at the To-Do list we had been ignoring for a few days now.
He settled on the ice-maker job. Our ice-maker is in a drawer and the plug and socket is behind the drawer, so the ice-maker is constantly on stand-by because you can’t reach the socket to switch it off. Personally I didn’t think that was a problem at all and “stand-by” seems to be a logical position to be in, as an ice-maker. Patrick assured me that switching it off at the socket wasn’t going to delay the making of ice, when needed and may also increase the longevity of the machine. I stood aside and let him continue. He took the drawer out and fitted a socket on the inside of the drawer. Another tick / crossing out in the To Do list.
At about 15:30 and three four gin and tonics later, the lock opened and we were waved in. All fixed, we were on our way again. We passed some beautiful overgrown areas and it was so peaceful.
We checked the map again and agreed that it would be Cookham for the night. We could have made it to Sonning but we would have got there at about 17h00 and the risk is that we don’t find a mooring. Ideally we try for an Environmental Agency (EA) moorings. They are free for 24 hours so get taken very quickly. Alternatively we have to take a council one. We spotted a mooring alongside a really green pretty space, so we grabbed it. It wasn’t EA, but council, but we were happy to be there.
FYI – Council moorings are owned by the local council. The moorings are marked with signboards and sometimes have bollards or rings on the banks to tie on to. If not, then you need to use your own spikes. They charge a fee of between £6 and £9 for 24 hours. The fee collectors are the fastest people on earth, as they appear out of nowhere as soon as you stop.
We had a little wander around Cookham village, which was so pretty, while we waited for our friends to arrive and enjoyed a beer in the sunshine outside a pub. Our friends made it as it was getting dark and we had a lovely evening catching up with all that had happened since we left and enjoyed all of the tasty snacks.
