This was how the weir looked in 2014:
A little different today we were pleased to say, looks like a different place altogether!
John did all the steering and I was navigating. We managed to pair up with another boat at County Lock which made life easier. Soon we were on our way through the centre of Reading.
We soon got to Blakes Lock which is the last lock before the Thames. Luckily it was manned by some Fire and Rescue guys so we didn't have to do any work. Always a bonus!
After this lock we said farewell to our new friends as they were heading to Oxford and we were turning right for Henley!
We had a lovely trip down the Thames, good weather and we enjoyed the space and the scenery.
We were soon at Sonning Lock. We had to wait for other boats to come through, including this large river cruiser.
The Lock keepers garden was beautiful, full of hollyhocks.
We managed to get our Thames 7 day pass here, £61! Still had to be done.
We were soon on our way again. Dex isn't allowed on the roof when we are on the river as it would be really difficult to rescue him if he fell off. But he seemed happy enough just to be outdoors.
We saw a cormorant drying it's wings at the top of a tree!
Just before reaching the next lock, Shiplake Lock, there was a pump out facility shown on the map and sure enough we could see it on the right hand side so we pulled over. There was also a water tap here and rubbish disposal which was a real bonus as neither shown on our Thames Waterway guide. We had to wait for water and Dex soon made friends with some kids who were waiting for their hire boat to be filled up. They were a lovely family over from Israel.
When we went to use the pump out machine we realised we needed to buy a pump out card from the lock keeper. Normally we could have walked to the lock, however the weir bridge was closed for maintenance so this wasn't possible. So we were chatting with the owner of another narrowboat and he offered to take me across in his dinghy. It was so kind of him! So I went over and managed to buy a pump out card for £10, much cheaper than on the canal! No photos of me getting into the dinghy for you to laugh at (sorry! 😊) but here is a photo of the dinghy!
We took ages to fill up with water and pump out so it was much later when we went through the lock.
After this lock we started to see some amazing boats and properties, you could really smell the money!
We also saw some wonderful old boats like this lovely old steam powered vessel.
Two miles further on was Marsh lock and we had to queue for about 45 mins to get through. It was really tricky for John as we couldn't reach the mooring as it was already full and so he just had to try and keep the boat still, which isn't easy with the river flowing and the wind blowing!
He managed it though and we eventually went through the lock. The houses were even grander on the stretch into Henley on Thames as you can well imagine!
So finally we reached Henley and our mooring for the evening. We managed to find a mooring place on the other side of the bridge. It was £10 a night but we were just relieved to arrive. We had set off from Reading at 9.30am and it was now 6.30pm!
This weekend was Henley's regatta for Classic boats and we saw an amazing sight, this magnificent Royal barge Gloriana who led the Diamond Jubilee Pageant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloriana_(barge)
We decided to check out the one pub in Henley that sits by the river, The Angel by the Bridge and had a nice cool beer to celebrate our first night on the Thames.
There was a plaque on the wall to show where the flood water had risen to in 1809. It was about 20 foot higher than the current river so hopefully not to be repeated!
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