Saturday 26th May and Sunday 27th may
We have spent this very hot weekend moored here under the trees at The Cunning Man at Burghfield. Although the boat is now covered with leaves, seed pods, dead may flies and bird shit (well, I have cleaned that off!) we have been grateful for the shade and so has poor old George, bless him.
We have actually been in to Reading on the bus both days, a bargain at £3-50 for me. Yesterday we had a few bits and pieces of shopping to get – insoles for Ken’s shoes (to stop him from moaning about his feet), laces for Ken’s shoes (to stop him from moaning about his shoes), pain killers (to stop both of us moaning about our pains) and hose connectors (because we may need some different ones to the one we’ve got).
After we had done the shopping we discovered the bus stop to get home was halfway between 2 Wetherspoon’s, The Monk’s Retreat and The Hope Tap, so we had to wait in one of them obviously!
Today we went in to Reading again on a recce mission for tomorrow. First we walked to County Lock to see if we could locate where the tap was, not having spotted it on the way up, so we could get water on the way back. But we couldn’t find any evidence that there had ever been a tap there at all. We were going to ask a chap on one of the permanent moorings there but just as we drew level with him he started talking on the phone so we couldn’t! We’re not desperate at the moment but I would like to do a bit of washing soon.
After this unsuccessful search for the tap we decided to have a look at the Chestnut Walk moorings which are along the backwater in the shadow of the infamous Reading Gaol and near the restored Abbey ruins. They looked ok actually and there were a couple of boats moored there. We are considering them as a possible stop for tomorrow depending on how I feel when we get there. We have 3.5 miles and 3 locks to do before we reach the turn off to Chestnut Walk. If we carry on it’s then another lock and one more mile to get to Tesco’s where we may or may not be able to moor, we were lucky last time.
One swaying factor may be the fact that quite near these moorings, right on the side of the river, with a lovely riverside patio garden, is one of the nicest Wetherspoon’s we have been to, The Back of Beyond, so we’ll probably stop!
