Thames & Kennet Marina

Up at 7:00 this morning and I arranged to be at Caversham Lock just before opening time.   There was no point in being early to do a manual locking as I would then only have to wait for the marina office to open.   There being plenty of visitor moorings available, I had been told to simply announce my arrival at the office on the day.   Prompty at 09:00, the lock-keeper and her accompanying dog emerged from the house and immediately prepared the lock for me, there being no other boats in view.  Soon I was approaching the marina entrance, which proclaimed "moorings available" on a large banner, and phoned the office again to be told to report to the fuel pontoon.   This is a vast marina with separate sections for cruisers and narrow boats.  I was soon directed to a short pontoon and tied up stern on so as to position for the power hook-up.  The front of the boat is secured to a large post.   There is water and power at each mooring, but to get power it was necessary to obtain a hook-up converter to adapt the connector size from 32 amps to 15 amps as well as purchase a card (10, 50, or 100 KwH).   Reaching the office and chandlery requires a long walk, out of the security gate (numeric keypad lock), and round the approach road.   Once secure, I left the boat for a £10 taxi ride to the station and a the only direct service of the day from Reading to East Croydon and the tram home.