Tuesday 22nd May
God, it has been hot today, we’re just not used to it! By the time we eventually moored up I was struggling! We have had to do a bit more than we would have liked, due to the mooring situation. This river/canal is rather lacking in decent moorings which is unfortunate. B and B did warn us it could be difficult to find somewhere to moor up and we may have to do long days but I think we underestimated the problems. We have done 8 miles, 10 locks, 5 swing bridges and the lift bridge at Aldermaston and all this took 6.5 hours. This may not seem like a long time but in scorching heat and following a group of lads on a hire boat who kept leaving gates open and paddles up it was rather wearing!
As all the moorings at Aldermaston were full and we couldn’t guarantee there would be any free ones at Woolhampton, after which it would be another couple of hours to the next possible place, we moored at Frouds Bridge, well we just ground to a halt somewhere near the bank really, as it was rather shallow! There was a lovely view though and we have moored in worse places before.
Hoping for a shorter day to recover from the last two tomorrow!
