That's a big one

Our mooring outside Reading Gaol, made famous for the incarceration of Oscar Wilde and after his release when he wrote his poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
After Carolyn had visited most of the shops in Reading it was off to have a look around the rest of the town. Not far from our mooring is Forbury Gardens and home to The Maiwand Lion. It was was erected in 1886 to commemorate the deaths of 329 men from the 66th Berkshire Foot regiments campaign in Afghanistan between 1878 and 1880. It is made of cast iron and weighs in at 16 tons making it one of the worlds largest cast iron statues.
It was then onto the museum were Carolyn was taken in by this full size copy of The Bayeux Tapestry. It is so long it fills 2 large rooms on the 1st floor.In 1885 thirty-five ladies of the Leek Embroidery Society began work on the ‘tapestry’ and it took them just a year to complete it.
Reading is famous for Huntley and Palmers biscuits and it has its own section in the museum. There are lots of old biscuit tins on display and several that i can remember. I must be getting old !!.
This year they have an exhibition all about the River Thames that we both found very interesting.
Back to Inca and the view from our side hatch looking out over the loop. We have had a good couple of days in Reading but now it is time to leave The Kennet and Avon and make our way back onto The River Thames.
                                                                                          Happy Days