Early morning problems and evening glory ...

 A misty scene at 06:45 on Wednesday (21st)

but the sun was rising and another hot day ensued whilst we caught up with boat work on our mooring at Wargrave

The following morning very early (about 4:30) we woke up very tilted (our feet were nearly higher than our heads!) but it was too dark to do anything about it so we made a cup of tea and drank it in bed where the dressing table drawers had swung open and internal doors swung closed due to the list of Still Rockin' on the bottom of the river.

Just before 6 George pulled on some clothes and went out to see if he could push us away from the edge but to no avail ... 

 the water on this reach above Marsh Lock had dropped by at least 8 inches and Still Rockin's bow was firmly wedged on the bottom

 George tried forward and reverse to try to shake us off

 and 25 minutes later after using my trusty pole at the front ...

 we were away!  But where will we go now?

 We're only two miles from Henley but no one would have moved from their moorings at this time of the morning so we cruised very, very slowly through the mist and watched the sun rise through the trees.

 What is that ... we're assuming that it wouldn't have been seen if the water hadn't dropped so dramatically ... 

 looks to me like a stealth aircraft ... George says the bottom of an upturned boat ... any more suggestions?

 This property has always amazed and puzzled me, it's such a pretty rather chocolate box house ... see that arch on the right? ...

 well ... that carries a road which presumable the property's drive can access ...

at the rear of the more traditional house is this glass monstrosity ... I'm not sure if the two buildings are joined to each other

 7 o'clock and I'm at Shiplake Lock to find that the tail gate sluices are partway open, and probably had been all night ... could this be the reason that the water level of the reach above had dropped so much?

I was surprised yet pleased that a boat was coming upstream to use the lock ... surprised because I didn't expect to see another moving boat so early and pleased because I wouldn't have to close the gates.  I got talking to the guy from the boat ... as boaters do at locks ... and he was heading for the Reading Festival site. He was one of the water taxis which will transfer festival goers from their accommodation to the show ground opposite.  The festival doesn't start until Saturday but the visitors are already arriving he said.  He also told me that he doesn't cover the end of the festival (Monday) as the visitors are usually too smelly and dirty!

 Watching the lock fill with Reading Festival water taxis 

 while George brings Still Rockin' to the end of the lock landing to pick me up.

 Quietly into Henley ...

 where, as predicted the moorings were chock-a-block.

 Lovely light at this time of a sunny morning 

 Through Henley Bridge

 10 to 8 and we've found a space just where we needed it and what a fantastic view we have!

Over the last few days we've had a sort-out and now have three large bin bags of stuff for the charity shop and this mooring is as close as we could be for walking into town to drop the bags off.  After showering and breakfasting we did three trips into Henley to the charity shop, did some shopping and had lunch at Smiley's cafe on the top floor of M & Co. and returned to Still Rockin' at midday to find that the water level had dropped here too and once again we were stuck on the bottom of the River Thames!  What do we do now ... try another mooring in Henley or move on?

It didn't take quite as long this time to get off the bottom and the decision was made to carry on to 'tomorrow's' mooring ...

Passing Temple Island ...

and the accommodation tents being dismantled after 2019's Rewind Festival ...

to Hambleden Lock where there was a queue and the lock was unmanned ... 

it was jus 1pm.

I went onto the lock and once the first lock-full had gone down I saw one lock up, another one down (we were too long to go down with the two cruisers in front of us), another one up and then us down ... and then left them to it ... 

it was 2pm by the time I got back onboard ... will we get a mooring? ... 

it's getting a bit late in the day!

There's hardly any water at all coming over Hambleden weir ... where has all the water suddenly gone?

We were so lucky to get a mooring at Medmenham, not in our favourite place but very close.  

We left the mooring ropes very slack in case any more water disappeared!

We took the chairs out onto the meadow with the sun umbrella as there was a nice breeze blowing and watched the red kites circling overhead.

Sunset is happening much earlier now ...

This was all going on ...

at 8:30

No apology for all the photos ... I couldn't choose just one!