Started just after first light again but bearing in mind that Boulters Lock might not be on automatic if we arrived there too early. As it was it was fine, but full. So the long wait while it drains, then again while it fills. This is quite a long deep lock filling from gate paddles so it is bound to be slow to avoid excessive tturbulence The steep sided tree lined valley in the next reach overlooked by Cliveden was full of fog which though not too dense did make navigating just that little more exiting. At Cookham the lock was empty and we found another boater waiting telling us that there was supposed to be something wrong with the top gates and he didn't want to hand wind. They worked OK for us! In the long reach to Marlow there was some more fog but rapidly disappearing in the sunshine. It was still cold on the back of the boat. We passed Daedalus moored below the lock and arrived there just in time to catch the lock after a departing tug. There were lock-keepers at Hurley, Marsh and Caversham, otherwise it was all self service. Nonetheless we made good time and even found a short stay mooring at Tesco for a bit of essential shopping. There are notices stating that the mooring fee there is £9.25 for 24 hours only, payable by credit card! There seemed to be quite a lot of the usual looking suspects there, so possibly this might not be working too well. We moved on to Caversham Bridge.
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