The Best of Berkshire.

We've had a lovely last three days steadily making our way back up the Thames towards Oxford. The weather has been kind, if not a little windy today, with blue skies and even the appearance of sun cream - sadly that all looks certain to end tomorrow !!

A resume of the last three days goes like this. We left our mooring at Shepperton about 8.30am on Tuesday and were straight into Shepperton Lock which was on 'Self Service'. Louise went and opened the gates and as I was going in, I happened to glance behind to see a tug towing two great barges appearing and looking like he was following us in. It soon dawned that he was in fact actually following us in and despite the thought of 'shut the gates on him, he'll never fit in here' we ended up feeling very squeezed up against the top gates as the water started to flood in. A bit of crashing and banging of the barges and poor old Jasper thinking the world was going to end, but all's well that ends well as they say, and we exited unscathed.  

We stopped for lunch at Runnymede on a very nice National Trust mooring. No sooner had we stepped onto the bank and we were descended on by a very nice young man on a cycle who happened to be the 'Visitor Engagement Officer' for Runnymede. A damn fine title and very engaging he was too. Of course, he wanted cash, but unlike some moorings along here, you pay for what you use. We told him we weren't stopping long, so the charge was £2 for up to two hours. Don't mind paying that for such a pleasant spot, so it was deck chairs and table out, wine and beer poured and make the most of the next couple of hours. 

Having refreshed, we made our way up to Windsor for the evening, and moored on the inside channel of Baths Island. It seemed a nice quiet spot, and yet again our timing was impeccable as the moorings warden was on us before we'd actually finished tying up. However, we made him earn his money a bit as the locals are the best to ask when you want to know directions to a good boozer that accommodates dogs. Without hesitation he recommended The Watermans Arms and so off we trudged with directions firmly planted in our minds. A friendly welcome, especially for Jasper, an excellent choice of real ales, decent pub grub and a jar of dog biscuits on the bar...perfick. Jasper rates it 5/5 on Trip Advisor. 

We then had a good walk around Windsor to compensate for the excellent pies we'd just demolished, doing the touristy bit and taking in the castle, but only from the outside of course. 

Diamond Jubilee fountain

A rude awakening on Tuesday at precisely 6.10am !! We were moored near to a railway bridge, but hadn't noticed any trains starting to run. Oh no. We were woken by the sounds of a disc cutter and a drill as Network Rail decided it was the best time to do repairs to the brickwork under the arches of the railway bridge. They had the footpath underneath cordoned off (Health & Safety you know) and get on with it they did. Needless to say an early start followed for us.

The run up to and through Bray is especially nice. Both Boveney and Bray locks have gold coloured paddle controls to celebrate the Olympic Rowing at nearby Eton Dorney in 2012, along the lines of the gold coloured post boxes that appeared in the home towns of gold medal winners. 

Some fabulous properties to see once again, wondering who lives in a house like that. A better picture this time of Rolfs 'vacant' mansion. 

Rolfs place again 

We stopped off for lunch in Maidenhead, before travelling up through the picturesque Cliveden Reach to Cookham Lock.

Then on to Marlow where we had the opportunity of a mooring below the lock. We passed it up as there is plenty of space above, close to town...wrong. No room to be had, so we continued on to Temple Lock (lesson learned). We chatted to to the lock keeper who very obligingly let us moor on the island next to his lock cottage for the night (but don't tell anyone). 

We left this morning just before 9am. I soon heard a loud blast of a whistle. In fact four sharp blasts, followed by a pause and then two more. I impressed myself knowing that it meant 'I am about to turn  around to port' and sure enough it did. Not any old boat though. It was a pleasure to see 'Alaska' turn ahead of me. Built in 1883, it was absolutely immaculate.

Today we have travelled up through Henley which was bustling with folks and there have been lots of trip boats on the river. We had lunch at Wargrave, whilst admiring the residences on the opposite bank, before continuing up through Sonning, passing the rather large home of Uri Geller. Who says there's no money to be made bending spoons?

We have moored for the night at Thames Promenade on the outskirts of Reading, where, looking at the forecast, we could be for a good proportion of tomorrow too.