Time to go

Hooting!!

A rude awakening for me at silly o'clock and Still Rockin' were leaving.  They had had to slightly change their plans as they are hiring a car and with the gates being locked here proving too inconvenient.  Carol who usually needs two hours gentle time to get ready for departure in the mornings but not today (She confessed hurriedly that she hadn't had time to shower) gentle time reduced by 50% George!

They are now going the opposite direction to us as we continue towards Oxford.  They, in time will head for the GU.

I wasn't quite ready to receive guests...

Rain just for a change.

 We stayed put and lounged about, had an early lunch and pushed off early after lunch, an added bonus was the sun coming out.

Cute as can be cottage.  Bet it floods though.

This looks like a refugee from Grand Designs.  A great ugly glass shoe box but its in the shade of that great tree.  
But should be easy to demolish. 

The sky gradually filled in with high grey firstly, with the disappearance of the sun the temperature followed suit so here you have David sporting shorts plus gloves, winter hat and shorts.

An impressive railway bridge built mostly of bricks

With this "Pillbox" alongside.  I haven't noticed many of these on the Thames although there are many along the K&A,
(If you are not in the UK these were gun emplacements to defend the bridges during WW2)

This canoeist was following us at a  distance then was gaining fast on us, he was going into the wind and against the tide.  Then he turn well ahead of us and powered back downstream, pretty impressive.

As we passed this new looking one of several boating clubs along this stretch a guy came out onto the balcony and took our photo so I took one of him then we waved to each other.

Not sure what caught his eye as boats pass here all day.

We carried on hoping to moor at Wallingford and marvellously there were spaces on the meadows below the bridge, these cows walked over pretty interested in us but we just couldn't get in close enough although we have seen boats moored up all along here before.  
An attempt in two places resulted in failure and as we pulled away form the bank to go under the bridge to try on the visitor moorings we saw a cruiser whizz into what proved the very last space.
Humph!

I have heard about mooring rope chewing cows in the upper reaches of the Thames.

Lovely straight place but not for us.  See the sunshine again?

So with the shock of seeing the biggest grey cloud that had arrived under the radar we moored in the first gap we found under the trees with underwater concrete blocks down a steep grass slope with the front sticking out a mile in a total cloud burst tied only on the middle and back ropes.  When we finally got inside the boat the cratch was swimming as the side was rolled up (Ready for me to tie up from) BUT the lockgate stove was going and we had had a great lunch.

Which was Italian eggs, that is onions whizzed up with peppers, courgettes, mushrooms, herbs tomatoes with cannelloni beans and then eggs dropped in to cook through.
Delish,