Date - 2 May 07 Day - Wednesday Start - Runnymede 0915 End - Lashbrook 1830hrs
We set of at quarter past nine heading back up stream towards Oxford. All morning all we saw on the move were two narrowboats, two Dutch barges, two cruisers and a rowing boat, this included our journey through Windsor. At our first lock Old Windsor, we shared with two geese, the strange thing being that they joined us on our way up, flying in over the bottom gates and landing in the filling lock. At the next it was a family of ducks, mother with ducklings, they swam around quiet happily in the swirling water until the lock was within 6" of filling when they moved close to the top gate waiting for it to open so they were first out of the lock, I wonder how many other times they have done that. At Bray Lock the EA are putting in new landing stages both above and below the lock. The ones below are completely unusable at the moment and they have lashed 3 flats together on the other side below the lock fore boaters to moor against while waiting for the lock. Luckily the locky saw us coming and set the lock so I was able to go straight in and not try to come along side their temporary structure. As we approached Boulter's Lock it was just on one o'clock and there were two boats coming down, Diana went up to the lock and came back with the news that it was lunch time, the lock keeper would let these two out and then we were on our own, exactly the same as coming down yesterday. We locked our selves through, but of a slow process as the paddle travel is greatly restricted for user operation. On our way past Cliveden the EA were clearing fallen trees from the river. At Cookham lock moorings there was a small cruiser waiting and as he was well back we went in front of him, they had stopped for lunch as the locky was also having lunch, but if we were working ourselves through they would join us. Unfortunately we could not get the lock to work, the lights came on OK but the paddles failed to move so we had to wait until 2 pm when the locky came back on duty. From here we shared locks as far a Marlow where Di jumped ship and went into town to buy toothpaste while I continued on to the sports ground and waited for her to catch up. We caught up with the cruiser again just above Hurley Lock where they were filling with water. They had come from Milton Keynes via Lime House and were heading for Thrupp where they would leave the boat for a few days before continuing on the way home. We were the last boats to be worked through Hambleden Lock, The locky hung the DIY sign up as we left at 1720. The cruiser stopped for the night on the way into Henley and we carried on alone, all the moorings below Henley are £6 per night but the council moorings above the town are £8. We were surprised when we arrived at Marsh Lock to find the locky still working, Diana had even gone up to set the lock, we think this must have been because there was a trip boat on the way down. We moored for the night at six thirty on the EA 24 hour free moorings at Lashford. These are very good moorings with wooden mooring stakes. The first bit where we are is a 120 foot straight section with 3 stakes on it, so its very good for narrowboats with a good depth of water. Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit this site and help save our waterways http://www.savethewaterways.org.uk/
