Sunday, July 24, 2005

Henley down to Maidenhead

We woke up this morning to find it was raining, and not just a light shower, proper rain :(

After deliberating for an hour whether to go or not, I decided to get up and start our journey towards Maidenhead. Yvonne stayed in bed, so I single handedly turned Sirius around, and headed along the Henley Regatta stretch, with an unbrella in one hand, and the rudder in the other.

Yvonne decided to get up just before the second lock, and arrived with a nice hot cup of tea, just what I needed as it was cold and horrible outside.

It rained most of the day, until the late afternoon when eventually the rain stopped and the cloud started showing signs of clearing as we were going past Cliveden Woodland and Gardens and Cliveden House

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Click on the image to enlarge it

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Reading to Henley

Today was a glorious sunny day, it's day's like this that make having a boat worth while. Yvonne and I took Sirius from Kings meddow in Reading down the Thames to Henley on Thames.

We moored the night along the edge of the park, it said on a sign that it cost £8 per night for mooring, but no one came and asked us for any money (the last time I stayed there, for the regatta, they swooped as soon as we had the first rope ashore!)

I cooked some pork fillets, and a risotto, which was very nice, although I say so myself :)

We saw a hot air balloon fly over, and then sat with candlelight watching the sky fill with stars, after which we went to bed, intending to get an early start.

No photos today! opps...

Sunday, July 17, 2005

My thirtieth Birthday !

Today was my birthday! OMG.. the start of my 30's !

This weekend has been a weekend of parties; a BBQ at my friend Alex's house on Friday night for his 40th Birthday, a joint Jive party to celebrate both Alex's 40th and my 30th last night, and finally today to finish off the weekend another BBQ at my house.

To top it all, and make it oh so relevant for my blog, check out my cake given to me by Yvonne!!

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Monday, July 11, 2005

Dancing Bear and Sirius Meet at last!

My friend Roxy owns a narrowboat called "Dancing Bear". Roxy is off on travels around the UK for 3 / 4 months, lucky girl! As she was going through Pangbourne she spotted Sirius and decided to moor next to her :)

After a few phone calls, Roxy, her friend Mark?!, Maggie and I all met up and had a squash curry made by Roxy, thanks Roxy!

We spent the next few hours just sitting watching the sun set and chatting about all sorts, this is what having a boat is all about, true relaxing with friends.

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Pangbourne to Goring with Paula and Mark

Today Paula, Mark, Yvonne and I all went for a trip along the Thames to Goring. We were aiming for the Catherine Wheel pub, but we must have missed it, as we ended up going to the Queens Arms pub near the railway station. It was a glorious day, we spotted a novel means of sailing, and I think Mark spotting was the best, he spotted a turtle (terrapin?) sitting on a log on the edge of the river, a photo is below :)
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Click on the image to enlarge it
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Click on the image to enlarge it

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Tesco's to Pangbourne

Today with Yvonne we travelled from Tesco's in Reading along to Pangbourne. We fuelled up at "Better Boats" in Reading, 80 litres at 42p a litre! After travelling through Caversham, past Caversham Island (Pictured, I think) I dropped Yvonne off in Tilehurst to go and pick up her car, I continued alone through Mapledurham Lock, and had hoped to moor just the other side.

Not a chance.. there seems to be very little decent mooring space at Mapledurham, so I soldiered on to Pangbourne, where I was lucky enough to find a very friendly couple on a dutch barge called "Becky" a great looking boat I must say. They let me tie along side to them for the evening, thanks folks!

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Saturday, July 02, 2005

Henley Regatta

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Click on the image to enlarge it


My friend John Peachey and I took Sirius along the Thames from the back of Reading Tesco's to Henley, we left Reading at about midday, and arrived in Henley at about 3:30pm, I don't think I have ever seen Henley so busy (I have been to the Regatta three times before on foot)

There were boats just about everywhere! It was amazing that there were no major boat collisions (at least, none that I saw) we cruised along the mile and a bit course to Temple Island, and then turned around to do the stretch again before searching for somewhere to moor.

In both directions we were nose to tail with other boats, probably with about 30 foot between us, considering Sirius is 70' look, 30' seem's like a short distance to me, especially as we don't have ABS on a Narrowboat ;-)

On the return leg we were called apon to give a lift to a couple of local girls and their younger brother (I'm guessing) we dropped them off by one of the enclosures to the delight of the ladies and gents, but not to the delight of the security guard, who tried to tell them they could not come through, of course, he didn't really have a choice after I pulled away ;-)

We then went under Henley bridge and were faced with the dilema of where to moor?! We looked for another 70'er to moor against, but none were in sight. Then, luckily we found a 40' space, with another boat at the end of it who shouted across and said they were just leaving, what a stroke of luck!

After mooring, we helped a couple of other boats moor front and back of us, then settled down to have a couple of glasses of wine with the crew of the boat in front (sorry folks forgot the name of your boat!)

The rest of the evening lead to copious amounts of budwiser to be drunk in, none other than the "Budwiser bar", which for those who don't know henley, is a large marquee sponsored by Bud.