Friday 7 October 2011

A day for the birds ...

We left our mooring at Beale Park on Tuesday at 09:40 - quite early for us!
 We cruised with the pram hood (cover over the back deck) up as it was rather dark and drizzly
 The first Heron of the day ...
 ... and a very posh boathouse
 The second heron was enjoying the view from the top of this post!





The sky gets darker in front of us ...






... but brighter behind us!
What a fantastic sight this was! 




The Little Gulls whirled in the air, the sun gleaming on their feathers ...
... and altogether swooped down onto the water ...
 ... and then the rooks took off from the tops of the trees - what a noise they made!







Up went the gulls again
doing acrobatics in the sky



... wonderful!
 A joy to see!
 It was lunch time as we approached Wallingford Bridge - we stopped for something to eat and then walked into town to collect our post from the post office.  We like Wallingford.





Off we go again - this time watching the Red Kites - lovely creatures they are too.





A wonderful view just behind us as we pass Shillingford
 ... then down came the rain ... again!
 The River Ock enters the Thames from the bridge on the left there and from hereon upstream the Thames is locally known as the Isis
 Tree management is in progress as we very carefully cruise around the fallen branches and into Day's Lock ...
... and towards Clifton Hampden Bridge.
We had hoped to moor up here for the night, but it was not to be - again!  Best laid plans etc!
We continued on through Clifton Lock where I asked the Lock Keeper if he could recommend a decent mooring for the night.  'No problem' he said 'we have revenue moorings at the end of the lock landing at a cost of £8'  Good enough for us!
Today we travelled approximately 17.25 miles and were assisted through 5 locks - yet another good day.

2 comments:

  1. That was our favourite spot when we had our cruiser moored on the Thames 20 odd years ago, "Contented Souls II" - hence our (Matilda Rose) blog name. Sadly she blew up and sank!

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  2. oops! Nice to hear from you both - hope you're keeping as well as we are - happy cruising!

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