With a non-moving day planned, we had a fairly relaxed start to the day — although when you have a puppy that’s still relatively early. When I took Macc for his breakfast time walk, the river looked very serene.
This morning I did the monthly top up of the batteries and checks of the fire extinguishers as I’d forgotten to do them yesterday, the first of the month. Then while we tried to get Macc to have a nap, Adrian went for a walk around the village, calling in at Tesco for some fresh salad and fruit. When the boat behind us left, we pulled back a boat length so we were no longer under the damson tree. Of course every plus has a minus, and in this case it’s that now most of the boat is up against a high wall; we made sure the bow was on a lower bit though, so we can still get on and off. Adrian had spotted a hardware shop in the village, so I walked up and got some rope so we can hang some fenders over a bollard, as hanging them from the gumwales means they’re too low.
Were moored very close to George Michael’s house. From the towpath you can see the back of it from a bridge over the mill stream, while the front is on the first lane up from the river.
The current owners let out the pool house on Airbnb, but as you might imagine it’s not cheap. After lunch, Adrian took Macc for a walk and then I went for a longer walk. A friend had suggested going up Streatley Hill, so I went over the bridge and up the High Street, past some lovely houses.
I turned left at the crossroads then found the start of the footpath up the hill. Quite a section of it is up some very steep steps.
Eventually there’s a clearing with a bench, and spectacular views over Streatley and Goring, and up the river.
You can see the river up towards Cleeve Lock on the left, Goring Bridge towards the middle, and the far end of the moorings towards the right hand side. You can’t see KV as we’re behind the trees.
I came back a different way, going across the hill and ending up further up in the village before heading back to the river.
There’s been quite a turnover of boats on the moorings during the day, with departures and arrivals. The lock has also been busy. There have also been plenty of people walking along the towpath, and Macc has been getting a lot of attention. We’ve spoken to loads of people, including two sets of Border Terrier owners.
0 miles, 0 locks, £5.50 mooring fee. (55 miles, 21 locks, £79.50)