Reading

Last evening there was a serious storm with torrential rain for about an hour or more. A quiet night followed and this morning the level in the Fobney cut was up by about an inch. Having decided with PLUTO to leave at 7 am and have breakfast in Reading to avoid bandits at Fobney and beyond, June walked on to the lock to set it ready for our descent. The timing was perfect for our arrival at the lock and as we descended we were concerned with the huge amount of leakage from the top gates. Opening the lower gates was a 2 person job. The flow in the river below was definitely stronger than usual and we made very good time down through County Lock and into the Prison Loop at Reading. PLUTO hosted an excellent breakfast, it being too early for Wetherspoons. The moorings were quite busy, so we moored abreast under the bridge before later separating as one boat left. This brought Nuggler out into the hot sunshine and as it was subsequently decided that we would make a foray to Wetherspoons for lunch, we decided to move the boats back into the shade for the sake of the dogs. After lunch, PLUTO left to go down river.

Pia and Thomas arrived at Reading a little late, but we were soon underway round to Tescos for shopping. Again the moorings were taken, but a friendly dutch barge allowed us to moor alongside for the duration. On again to try and reach the moorings at the Child-Beale Wildlife Trust before nightfall, as this would provide a good staging post to get Pia into Oxford in time to get a train back to London on Monday. This meant working the last lock by hand, but with a good team this doesn’t take long, so in fact we reached excellent moorings on the grass bank by 8 p.m. Pia did a wonderful curry supper and then dropped one of Pat’s china bowls in the water! Good walkies for the dogs.

Comments

[Terry]

Thanks for the nice reports!

We enjoyed travelling with you, we hope to see you on the cut again.

Terry & June