Beale Park to Sonning

Bad weather ...

 encouraged us to remain at Beale Park on Wednesday (14th) although it did brighten up later in the day

 Thursday was a better day ...

Tug Endeavour usually seen moored above Whitchurch Lock with sister ship Oxford, under steam today with obviously somewhere to go!

I wasn't feeling well and needed to see a doctor so we pulled pins at Beale Park and motored down to Pangbourne where because it was early there were no spaces.  Wide beam boat What's the Hurry came to our rescue (they recognised Still Rockin' from when Lisa and David were aboard) and suggested we pull abreast of them.  Nick went even further and offered us a ride into Reading which we gladly accepted.  As it turned out there was nothing to worry about and when we get to our winter mooring I'll follow up with my own GP.

 We arrived back at Pangbourne about 1:30 and moved Still Rockin' into an empty space

with good views.  

We left a message for Jools and Nick to thank them for their help this morning and invite them for drinks this evening. It's always good to meet new friends and we had a really lovely evening chatting and getting to know each other; hopefully we shall meet up with them again on the river.

 21:40

 the moon as Jools and Nick returned to 'What's the Hurry'

7 o'clock on Friday morning we're ready to cast off ...

we're facing in the wrong direction and wind (turn) to continue our journey downstream ...

passing What's the Hurry where all was quiet.

10 minutes later we're passing Hardwick Estate ... house and stud farm.  Click here for the history and and ethos of the estate.

Every mother knows ... not good pictures in the rain, but this Great Crested Grebe has one of her chicks on her back and behind her are two other chicks wanting to get onboard too ...

Mum appears to get annoyed and hoiks them all off with her beak!

Approaching the weirs of Mapledurham Lock

I love curious cows ... especially when they're on the 'other' sided of a fence!

A lovely backdrop as Still Rockin' waits for ...

the lock to be filled.

It's Reading Festival next weekend and this temporary bridge was built last night between 7pm and midnight whilst the River Thames was closed to boats.

The bridge links the accommodation and car parking facilities on one side of the river to the festival site itself on the other.  On Monday 2nd September between 7pm and midnight the river will be closed again to remove the bridge.

How on earth does that boat hold the weight and balance of the huge mast?

Booms(?) at Reading Canoe Club

At the elegant Caversham Bridge there's lots of heavy lifting gear crossing presumably being used for the festival construction.

We called into Caversham Boats for fuel, it was a change over day for the hire boats but because we were asking for nearly 200 ltrs they agreed; in the past we have occasionally been refused on change over day.

Caversham Boats being on an island use a pontoon boat to collect all their supplies from the mainland ... here taking a Tesco order whilst a parcel is also being delivered ...

and brought over the river just as our diesel tank is full and we pull away from the wharf

Through Reading Bridge next where I could see an EA officer preparing one of their patrol boats to go onto the reaches checking boat licences and speeding boats

Once through Caversham Lock it only takes 10 minutes to reach our destination at Sonning

and although our view on the bankside is not particularly appealing  ...

the riverside views make up for it and we shall stay here over the weekend