Our mooring at Abingdon at 06.25 - to see our last visit to Abingdon click here
After winding (turning) into the current we left Abingdon at just after 9 yesterday morning ...
... passing boating clubs getting ready for a day’s sailing in the sunshine ...
There’s Seyella at her mooring and if you look closely or click to enlarge the photo you’ll see a face at the window! Hi Mags!
... and a little further on there’s the ‘other half’ with Megs - they’ll catch us up later
The natural course of the River Thames is on the right - we go left into ...
... Culham Cut - narrow ...
... and very pretty ...
... leading to Culham Lock.
The river started to get busier as we left the lock ...
... under Appleford Railway Bridge ...
... and the footbridge into Clifton Cut ...
We were most surprised at Clifton Lock to see that Mags and Geoff had caught up with us!
I was quite surprised to see that Clifton Lock house is built of red brick (built in 1929) instead of the sandstone one further up the river
Clifton Hamden Bridge with a beautiful spire in the distance but I don’t know where or what church it is ... anyone out there?
Happy campers by the bridge
A passing boat must have knocked this warning buoy over - it looks as if it’s still anchored but not sure why it would have been there.
Fantastic houses on the river at Burscot
We’ve seen quite a few properties for sale today too.
The weather has been sunny and warm but with a welcome cooler breeze ...
... which unfortunately blew this plant pot over on the roof; fortunately I was able to rescue it and bring it under cover - I quite like it sitting there.
Bearing left ...
... into Day’s Lock
Where as we left the trip boat Wargrove was coming under Little Wittenham Bridge ...
... and the lock house is red brick again, this one built in 1924 and has lovely steps leading down to the river
Wow!
Geoff has spied a couple of mooring spaces and has started to turn round to face upstream to moor ...
... we continued round the corner and winded (turned) above Shillingford Bridge ...
... and pulled in ...
... just behind him!
A couple of hours latertThe boys (George and Geoff) and girls (Molly and Megs) set off for a walk and I took a book onto the back deck for a quite hour or so!
But something much more interesting was going on ... Lady Dil on the left has grounded on a sandbank and the cruiser who was passing him stopped to help. The guy on Lady Dill throws a rope and transfers to the cruiser ...
... to pull his boat off - looks rather dangerous to me!
... anyway it didn’t work so he tries a different tactic - in the water - you can see how shallow it is ...
... he’ll end up with a hernia!
Now the back end ...
... and it seems to have moved at bit ...
... and another cruiser comes to the rescue whilst life goes on and the river traffic still wants to get past
What’s he doing now?
His rope is now attached to this cruiser ... and the cruiser’s engine roars as he pulls this way and that ...
... an hour later and he’s off - the boat that is - he’s still standing on the sandbank!
Lady Dil under her own steam
Who is right here? Most boats coming down stream (like Lady Dil, this narrowboat and us) came past the red warning buoy with it on the left - but whilst I watched this incident most boats going upstream passed with the buoy on their right. The ‘rules of the road’ according to the Environment Agency’s User Guide to the River Thames is - ‘Can (red) Leave on your port (left when going upstream.’ Sorry but I find the word ‘leave’ in this context confusing! Someone please explain!!
A shared BBQ was the order of the day when the boys and girls returned from their walk ...
.. and watched this red kite sitting high in the tree across the river calling to his mate.
View through the side hatch at 20 minutes to 9
Lovely!
Whilst we cruised the reaches up river to Lechlade the water was quite strong, the river was quite narrow and the going was not what I would call easy; but now, well the river is wide and whilst the water is still a little higher than normal at this time of year the going is great - much more like the Thames we got to know last summer!
Whilst we cruised the reaches up river to Lechlade the water was quite strong, the river was quite narrow and the going was not what I would call easy; but now, well the river is wide and whilst the water is still a little higher than normal at this time of year the going is great - much more like the Thames we got to know last summer!
I suspect it's from something like "cause to remain" which is what the old root word meant. Like leave the house behind you. So in this case the text could read "the can should stay on your left while you pass it"
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