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.

Fabulous Birds

 Serene early morning river

We upped sticks and headed out of Wallingford shortly after 8:30 this morning. A few boats had left a bit earlier, to avoid being caught by the council official collecting overnight mooring fees! The river was quiet and the water like a millpond as we headed downstream, and then........

 At last, a kingfisher captured on film

.... Angela spotted a kingfisher sitting on a branch, some way off. We stopped and reversed, hoping to sneak a little closer. Amazingly, the beautiful, illusive bird stayed put and we were able to take some pictures of it. We have seen fleeting glimpses of several kingfishers on this trip, but have never managed to capture one before. Today we were lucky and were thrilled to bits.

 An amazing garden shed

Again, we saw many incredible houses with some amazing boat houses at the end of beautiful gardens. Amongst them was this glass sided building hanging out in space - must be a great place to watch the world go by.

 Canoes everywhere in Pangbourne

 An enforcement officer Heron

 Alpacas R Us

We passed what appeared to be an Alpaca farm - there were hundreads of the wooly creatures covering several fields alongside the river.

 Grebe and babies

 A swan showing off

A grebe captures a fish

We stopped for some lunch in Reading, and watched a family of coots with really noisy babies squeaking the whole time. Then a grebe appeared close by, so we grabbed the camera, but it disappeared below the waves. But, a few seconds later it appeared with quite a big fish in its mouth

 Down it goes

 The grebe then proceeded to swallow the fish whole, and did this right in front of our camera.

 Just the tail left now

After several seconds of gulping, the last bit of the fish slid down its throat and the grebe swam off presumably with indigestion.

 A black swan

 Beautiful Sonning lock

Most of the Thames locks are really well maintained with lots of flowers - Sonning lock is particularly lovely.

Tonight's remote mooring

We passed through Sonning, looking for somewhere to moor for the night, but we could only find a space in a £10 per night spot on a rough bank. That didn't look like very good value, so we ploughed on down the river. Trying to find a place to moor one after about 4pm is difficult, and it was now about 6pm. Luckily, about a mile fiurther downstream we found a bit of bank and a tree to tie up to, and we managed to moor there. It has turned out to be a great spot with absolute quiet, surrounded by reeds with only waterfowl for company.

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

Big River

 Approaching Folly Bridge near Oxford

Our mooring close to the centre of Oxford proved to be really quiet inspite of its proximity to roads and houses. We upped sticks and set off, just down the river to the first of many Thames locks. We purchased our expensive Thames license and then decended the lock being on the Thames is a bit of a treat because most of the locks are really well kept and they are operated by lock keepers.

 Kaitlyn about to be eaten

 A Lock Keeper's cottage

 We were joined for the first few locks by two glass fibre boats and we played leapfrog with them for most of the morning. One would stop, then the other, we would pass, and then they would catch and pass us and so on. We finally lost touch with them when we moored for lunch in Abingdon. It became increasingly windy and at one point a cushion from the front of the boat was blown overboard. We only became aware of this when all the people on a passing boat shouted "cushion"! We managed to retrieve it and it is now drying out.

 Abingdon

 Full safety gear in use

 Now that we are travelling on a big river, we have attached the anchor, ready to chuck overboard should the engine fail, and Kaitlyn donned a lifejacket. We will also wear these when we reach the tidal section below Teddington in a few days time.

 A beautiful Thameside house

 There are some truly fabulous houses backing onto the Thames, with beautiful gardens and boat houses. It is hard to pass these by without at least a bit of envy.

 A cute white duck -photo by Dan

Tonight's mooring

 We searched forages for a mooring where we could meet up with Tamlyn and Luis who were due to collect Dan and Kaitlyn. Moorings are hard to find on the Thames, with most of the banks either being private property or deeply covered in bushes and impossible to get near. We reached Shillingford where there are some moorings, but they were all taken. We nearly squeezed in between two other boats, but couldn't quite fit. After circling back, a chap on a dutch barge kindly suggested that we could moor alongside him. We took him up on this offer, and that is where we are tonight. Tamlyn and Luis managed to find us and after some dinner, all four of them left us, leaving the boat feeling very quiet and empty.

The Thames

A cute spider

A bright but cool morning today, as we prepared to set off heading for Oxford.The spider above was found in the boat and was about 2 feet across. (I might have exaggerated a bit there!)

Our mooring in Thrupp

There were a few boats about but generally it was prettty quiet. We met one boat on a narrow section of canal, and in moving close to the bank to create enough space for it to pass, we went aground. It took quite a bit of time, heaving on poles and all standing on the side of the boat, to refloat Banjo.

Some cute sleepy ducklings

Dan opening a lift bridge

There are loads of lift bridges on the Oxford canal. On the northern section, most of these are left open, but as we got nearer to Oxford, they were generally closed. The bridges are finely balanced and can be opened by lifting the edge of the bridge. As it lifts, the centre of balance moves due to a clever gearing mechanism, and the bridge pulls itself open. To close, you pull on the chain, and the process reverses - simples!

Ducks pursuing the steady stream of bread being thrown from the back of Banjo

We reached the outskirts of Oxford, and stopped to re-fill with water and a spot of minnow catching. The last few miles of the Oxford canal are filled with permanently moored boats which makes for very slow progress. Finally we reached the southernmost end of the canal, and the lock onto the Thames. We negotiated this without incident and pulled out onto the Thames - in front of a trip boat full of tourists. We accelerated to a good 5mph and started looking for somewhere to moor. We found somewhere pretty quickly, just beyond Osney Bridge.

Kaitlyn surrounded by ducks and pidgeons

The mooring below Osney Bridge

An archer's view from the top of the castle

We decided to explore and headed into Oxford. We had a tour of the castle which was fun and included a climb to the top of the tower where we were rewarded with some great views over the city. Tomorrow we set off down the Thames where the large locks are operated by keepers - bliss for the lock crew!

The one that got away

 Kaitlyn with Dog Boat's dog

It was bright this morning and we breakfasted in our shiny new covered back deck, out of the cool breeze. We set off and found a boat coming out of the nearby lock, leaving it in our favour, which was a great start. The next lock was also in our favour and as we were waiting for it to empty, a small dog appeared which Kaitlyn befriended. When its owner appeared, we recognised him as the captain of what we have come to know as the 'Dog Boat'.We have played leapfrog with this boat for several days, and usually pass it when it stops to let the dog have a walk. Today, it is heading the other way, so I guess it's goodbye.

 Angela enjoying having a lock crew to share the load

 An approaching boat covered in flowers

 The junction with the River Cherwell

The River Cherwell follows beside the canal for mile after mile, and the two join for a few miles. The flow wasn't too great today, and had little effect on us. After a couple of miles, the two split again, and we turned right, back onto the Oxford canal and straight into a lock.

Like the lock we saw yesterday, this one is this weird shape having a narrow entrance and exit, but being wide enough for 3 boats in the actual lock. It isn't deep, but takes quite a while to fill and empty. We carried on heading south, passing through lush countryside, looking for a clear bank to moor up for lunch. The banks are thickly covered in what looks like huge bunches of rhubarb, offering litttle chance to get close. After a few miles, we did find a spot and moored up next to a small bridge. Kaitlyn fished with a net again, and had an exciting encounter with a crayfish which alas escaped. By the time we were ready to leave again, Kaitlyn had caught a large number of tiny Minnows which were returned to the water to grow a bit, before we left.

It's a Cracker! 

We debated whether to press on and try to make it into Oxford, but based on stories of scarce moorings in the city, we decided to stop early and aim to get into Oxford at about midday tomorrow, when finding a mooring is more likely. We topped up with water in Thrupp and met this fine 4 year old horse called Cracker by the lift bridge. We went through the electronically controlled bridge and found a spot to moor, in front of a row of little stone cottages. We spoke to a lady who was monitoring usage of the moorings, to discourage those outstaying the 48 hour mooring limit, and who recommended the nearby pubs for food. So, we obviously had to have a pub meal which was very nice.