A fabulous birthday

 A cute Egyptian Goose

We enjoyed a really quiet night moored in the middle of nowhere and awoke to a dull damp morning. Angela spent a little time feeding fish in the very clear water, before we set off. By the time we left, the sun had started to shine.

 A fabulous riverside dwelling

 The centre of Henley

We reached Henley and decided to moor up and head into town. The waterfront in Henley was busy as usual with all manner of boats going to and fro. We explored the town centre and then decided to have lunch in a fish restaurant.

 Graham , the victim of a wardrobe malfunction

It was my birthday and Angela gave me, amonst other things, the fabulous watch you can just see in the picture above, and I celebrated by wearing my shirt inside out! I had changed shirts before we left the boat, and somehow managed this. We hadn't noticed until Angela said "I havent noticed those green panels on the shoulders of you shirt before". I looked down at my shirt and realised why! Having nipped to the gents to rearrange things, we enjoyed a really good meal.

 Passing through the Henley waterfront

 A red kite

We have seen quite a number of red kites over the past few days, but they always disappear before we can get the camera ready. This time, one came pretty much overhead and Angela managed to capture it.

 Temple Island

 Banjo in a lock with lots of cruisers

There were lots of boats about today and we shared most locks with several other craft. The owners of the really big, shiny glassfibre cruisers are really nervous about narrowboats scratching their gleaming hulls. It is fun to watch their faces as we come into a lock which already has cruisers in it, and they start to wonder if we will stop before our 15 ton metal lump makes contact!

 A nearby airshow

 Another impressive building

 A beautiful old launch

There are some lovely old boats in this part of the world. Sleek wooden launches glide by and we have seen several steam powered craft. Most of the fabulous houses along the river have equally fabulous boats moored in their fabulous boat houses - fabulous!

The view from Banjo tonight

 We struggled to find somewhere to moor again tonight. We have ended up moored about a metre from the bank due to shallow water - getting ashore with the ropes was quite an exercise. The reward however is this great view across to Bisham Abbey. Tomorrow we hope to meet up with Sam and Jamie in Marlow, to cruise around a bit and discuss wedding plans.