Up the Thames

 

We puled pins from Abingdon at 07.10 and headed straight for the service point after doing a self service on the lock. The good thing with the Thames is that all the water points have hose pipes and the elsan’s and rubbish disposal area’s are so much cleaner and tidier than on Canal and River Trusts waters.

After not seeing a Kingfisher for a few weeks we saw 4 within half an hour. Managed to get this blurred picture as they were not that happy to have their picture taken.

All the locks are so well kept , But with talk of Canal and River Trust taking over the running of rivers from the Environment Agency I am not sure how long they would be managed to this high standard.

How about this for a lock Keepers cottage. Most of the 45 Keepers cottages along the Thames are equally impressive. All but 5 have lock keepers in them and those 5 are rented out privately. We were talking to one of the keepers and he said “The lock keepers used to have the cottage until they retired, but because of the possibility of Canal and River Trust taking it all over ,they now all have just 12 month contracts to stay in their cottages”. ps Look out if C&RT ever do take it over ….

Going past all the boat houses below Oxford and this lot decided they wanted a race….. We let them win.

After passing Oxford we were waiting for this lock to empty and were a bit surprised when the gates opened and this lot came out.

After a 7 hour cruise we arrived at this mooring just above Pinkhill lock on the upper reaches of The Thames. The river has completely changed from below Oxford and i must admit we are really enjoying ourselves here on the Thames.

                                                                                                               Happy Days