Just after dinner last night a little boat appeared heading downstream. As soon as the steerer spoke, I recognised the voice as Tim from Torkmar; I’d seen on Facebook that he’d been in the Lake District with his new electric boat, DB1, and it turns out he’s now doing the length of the Thames. Amazingly, he and his wife had set out from Lechlade that morning and made it all the way to Godstow Lock — but not before it closed. The boat would look great somewhere like Henley, and when not in use the roof lowers down.
This morning, Macc had a great time running about in and around the ruins of Godstow Abbey. We saw Tim again as he wanted to get through the lock as soon as it opened, and we set off at about 9. Godstow Bridge has skew arches, and you’re supposed to take the right hand one — but I realised in time that our arch was completely blocked by a fallen willow tree. Fortunately there was nothing coming the other way, so I used their arch.
The next bridge is the A34. I daren’t think how many times I’ve driven over this bridge, it must be hundreds. I always looked out for Godstow Bridge and the boats moored there.
We got to King’s Lock at 9.30, just as the lock keeper was changing the sign over. He let out the little bit of water that was in it and opened the gates. This is the first lock that isn’t mechanised, so the gates need pushing and the paddles are operated by big wheels. He was a very cheerful young lockie, and we were soon on our way.
The next reach includes the point where the River Evenlode flows into the Thames, and where the Cassington Cut used to head off. There’s otherwise not much to say about it. It was past 10am when we arrived at Eynsham Lock, so we wondered if we’d missed the locking (the restrictions mean they’re supposed to be doing one lock up and one down each half hour) but in fact a couple of boats were just about to come out, and we went straight in. Once up, we moved onto the water point to fill the tank; the tap had amazing pressure so it didn’t take long. The lock is just in front of Swinford Toll Bridge, which makes the one at Whitchurch look expensive. Cars cost only 5p per crossing. I walked to have a look at it, and very soon we were going under it.
We had thought about trying to moor somewhere beyond the bridge, but quite a lot of the spaces were taken and others looked rather overgrown. Then we went past Oxford Cruisers, where we hired our very first boat from in the late 1990s. There are no hire boats at all there now.
We decided to go up Pinkhill Lock and find a spot there. When we arrived, the sign said self service but the office door was open, so Adrian went to alert the lock keeper, another young guy who’s the relief keeper for the upper Thames, and is hoping to get a permanent job. There was no delay for the lock, because it seemed there hadn’t been enough boats for lockings each half hour.
There are some Environment Agency moorings just round the corner from the lock, but just a few yards further on we could see a proper concrete edge which was in shade — so we thought we’d see if we could moor there. We got in no problem at all; in addition, the bank is low enough that we can open the side doors on the land side (which hasn’t been the case for a while), and it’s really quiet.
Just behind the mooring is an entrance to Farmoor Reservoir, so I walked up the embankment to have a look at it. It’s definitely been fuller, but it’s huge. The other part, beyond a central divide, had people windsurfing on it.
During the day only a handful of boats have come past. One was the hotel boat, Wessex Rose, heading from Lechlade to Oxford. They looked as though they’d hoped for this spot, but they stopped on the EA moorings, and left after lunch anyway.
Then there was a lovely rowing boat. I think this might be a skiff.
It’s taken until nearly 4pm for the sun to come round the trees and shine on us, which on a river with little shade is pretty good. We’re planning to stay here tomorrow to hide from the next one-day heat wave. And this evening we have the eclipse to look forward to; there’s a hill behind the mooring that might make a good vantage point.
5 miles, 3 locks, free mooring. (90 miles, 35 locks, £124.50)