Catch Up

Sunday 18th July to Friday 24th July 2015

I have been just bloody bit slack this week but fortunately Diane has been even worse (see her blog Thumperand Bilsons Adventures).

I plead extenuating circumstances - we have been travelling most days and then there are new places to see; work still has to be done; le Tour takes a degree of priority, so at the end of the day as the eyes are falling shut and then rising early to get work done, there simply has not been enough time for me to sit down and write the blog.

What I intend to do is use this installment to bring it all up to date primarily pictorially with some words and then try to stay that way (fingers crossed).

Between last Sunday and Friday evening we have travelled from Henley all the way through to Abingdon, and you can see the stats at the bottom of this page.

Before leaving Henly, this lot decided to bounce around on an old fallen tree limb

Along the way we have stayed overnight at

Caversham

The owner agreed it was a Yoghurt pot and hence the boat name

The start of the Kennet & Avon

Alpacas along the way

Could not believe that this crew pushed off into the path of an oncoming
boat and then decided to stop rowing - bloody idiots

Beale Park

The best that I could get - kingfisher in flight

I think this is a Red Kite

Bovines - just for Diane

just a few of the boats that we had seen last Saturday - all moored up together.

 Wallingford

Before we actually got to Wallingford we stopped off for a bit of a look around in Goring

the main street

inside the church

heading back to the boats

The Boat House at Wallingford - good food and ales

the mooring were all full - we were forced to moor wild before the bridge

Relaxing and helping the local economy

It was a little warm so Diane took a paddle and was joined by Muffin

Days Lock

a walk into Dorchester was followed by.....

I like this sign and the thought process in its creation

Every July there is a resumption of the archeological dig of the Roman ruins
in Dorchester

a walk up to the topof one of "The Clumps" to oversee the whole of the area

Looking down onto Days Lock - we were all moored above the lock in amongst the trees

High enough to capture the flight from just above

Abingdon

On Thursday morning we were greeted by a misty start to the day

Sue and Andy in  their Happy Hats

A great sight as you arrive in Abingdon

We spent 2 nights here because I needed to go to Watford on Friday to pick up our mail and sort out a potential problem with my immigration application.

On Thursday we had a call from Diane's aunt - Maggie - about a letter from Manchester (from our solicitor's) regarding the need to have my biometrics completed for the application. It seemed urgent in what she had read to me over the phone so arrangements were made to go.

When I finally got there and could read the letter, it was actually the second request and the time limit was a problem - it is here that I explain that I did get a bit angry about the way the solicitor had simply forwarded the Home Office letter without marking it URGENT and also without emailing me that it was coming - both of which we had asked them to do. Similarly with the first letter back in June - so they will get a rocket up them in the form of an email for Monday morning.

Anyway, I found a Post Office that does the biometric measurments and finderprints; the guy behind the counter thought everything should be OK - the application number was still open and current  - all the things were completed, paid for and transferred on line. So will keep everything crossed that we are OK.

By the time I arrived back at 6pm (left at 8:30am) I was just a little tired and pissed off with the solicitors, but I did find that Diane had locked herself out of the boat (one of the spare keys was missing and the other did not work properly).

Definitely a time to head to the pub, so we dragged Andy and Sue out of their comfort and once at The Nags Head (confirming that they were dog friendly), Linda, Richard and Muffin joined us as well.

A few guinnesses and some lively music had brushed away all of the days events and we had more than a few laughs - the best being as we were on ourway back to the boat, with Diane wanting a kebab - her banter with the young guy behind the servery was comical and enjoyable.

No she wasn't drunk (or ferschnickered), she just fancied a kebab (all because she had been locked out and had not eaten properly before we went out).

  

We are now heading further north and west to seek the end of the navigable Thames and will head back to the Oxford Canal to be there around August 2 - there we have it, a plan of sorts - well really a plan that will happen because our Thames licence expires on August 2.

36 Miles, 11 Locks

YTD: 598 Miles, 337 Locks, 12 Tunnels, 2 Lift Bridges, 13 Swing Bridges

Totals: 3492 Miles, 2458 Locks, 110 Tunnels, 36 Lift Bridges, 164 Swing Bridges