When I took Macc for his walk yesterday evening we went down to the mainline of the canal and the start of the Oracle shopping centre — and was amazed to see a hire boat coming through. This section is one way and has traffic lights at each end, with a button to press.
On our way back we had a look at the Banksy on the wall of Reading Jail.
The mooring at Chestnut Walk was fine. There were a few people sitting in the park and chatting in the evening, but nothing to bother us. This morning was sunny from the off, with the warning of a one-day heatwave. We set off at about 9 and did the remaining part of the loop.
Adrian was lookout for the turn back onto the main line of the canal, although we thought it unlikely there would be any boats. But in fact one was coming along from the shopping centre, although we had plenty of time to make our turn. It meant we could share Blake’s Lock, but still used only one top gate, leaving the heavily patched up one well alone.
A couple of hours later, an EA notice came through to say the lock was having emergency repairs, so maybe a widebeam had to use the shonky gate and it fell apart again. We’re glad we got out when we did. Adrian was also lookout for the turn back onto the Thames. There was a boat heading downstream, but far enough away not to be an issue, but we did warn the narrowboat behind us and the downstream one.
There was plenty of space on the Tesco moorings, so we pulled in and did a shop of things that you can only get from big stores. From there it was just a short hop to Caversham Lock, which had a lockie and a volunteer on duty. We went up alone, because a huge Dutch barge than arrived behind us was too big to share with us. Just beyond the lock is Reading Bridge.
The Caversham moorings are just beyond, and there was plenty of space there too. There are no rings or bollards so the stakes had to come out, and each one took about 50 bashes to get in because the ground was so hard. Christchurch Bridge is ahead, and there are new blocks of flats going up on the other side of the river.
After lunch I went to the nearby Aldi for more of their cheap but very nice wine, and came back via the footbridge.
This afternoon Adrian has been into town for a haircut (one of the better ones he’s had while we’ve been on the move), and we’ve had an ice cream. We’re moored next to the play area which also has a very well used paddling pool, and there was an ice cream van parked next to it. As it’s well above 30 Celsius, it seemed a necessity. We’ve only come two miles, but I had a look on the map and as the crow flies were actually less than half a mile from where we were last night.
2 miles, 2 locks. (45 miles, 19 locks)