Moore on a river

At last we are on the river Thames with the stream decreasing at least below King’s lock. The lock keeper here has to open and shut the gates and sluces by hand. If you do not have a Gold licence he is there to take your money! It has just got too hot now, such a change caused by that jet stream moving north. The water is still moving quite fast as we slip and slide round the bends. We passed quickly by several moorings before stopping past the A34 road bridge.

When it cooled down in the evening we went for a walk along the riverbank to the next lock passing by the abused Godstow Abbey. Pressing buttons now operates most of the locks. They are ‘self service’ when out of hours.

We got up early next day and started operating the lock before 9 am! The lock keeper arrived at 9 and helped us through. She gave us a new cruising guide to the Thames. We were the only boat on the move then!

Two or three miles of wide river follows through the meadows but then enters a narrow tree lined section where the river increased its flow rate. A bunch of rowing boats suddenly came to view and were in my path. It took some stopping and the boat ended up under a tree that swept our satellite dish off the roof! The flowers and DTV aerial stayed put. The low Osney bridge was easy after that.

Sandford lock

When we had got past that horrible Osney weir and lock, several other types of boat followed on our journey to Abingdon.

A mooring above the lock became available as we approached so we stopped there to stay while the day got too hot again to continue. Once again we walked out in the cool evening.

Abingdon weir