Cruisers Outnumber Narrowboats

Leaving last night's mooring

We had a quiet night moored against the dutch barge above. We said good bye to the family who had kindly allowed us to moor against them, and set off downstream. It was raining so we kept the hood up - the good thing about the Thames is that the high bridges mean we do not have to lower the hood to get under them. We stopped at Benson - famous for its air base which is now closed - to get fuel and water. The fuel was the most expensive we have come across anywhere!

The centre of Wallingford

We reached Wallingford fairly quickly and found a place to moor in the centre. After tying up, and climbing the high quay,we headed into town to get some food and to explore. In the centre of Wallingford is this object and engraved over the top it says "Keep the pavements dry" - now what is that about? We spotted a launderette and so returned to the boat with our shopping and then went back to the launderette with the washing. While it was churning away, we explored an antique/bric-a-brac centre and enjoyed a lavish lunch - coffee and chips!

Cute cygnets

We decided to stay put since the weather was pretty awful, and so we cleaned the boat and Angela played with the waterfowl. As the afternoon wore on, it brightened up and we enjoyed some sunshine sitting on the bank watching the gin palaces coming and going. Slowly the moorings filled up until everyone had to keep shuffling about to squeeze more boats in.

Tonight's mooring

By the end of the afternoon, many boats had given up trying to squeeze in and had headed on, and some had berthed alongside others.

Our view tonight from the galley window
We plan to get up early tomorrow and head off, to try to make up for some of the time lost today