After leaving our mooring at farmoor reservoir we only did one lock which was Northmoor Lock and then when we got through Newbridge we moored at the moorings through the bridge.
Newbridge mooring
Lovely open space at these moorings and we noticed that there was a water tap at the far side of the field, but it was probably for caravanners & campers as there was an old sign near the gate close to the water tap saying Caravan club certified location. There is an old farmhouse too which is empty and is very run down so we assume that the site is no longer in use. The water tap is still in use though as I turned it on, I would think if you were moored here & were running short of water you could fill a container up! Mind you there are plenty of water points along the river.
The river is a bit overgrown in places
There are lots of these pill boxes along the river!
After leaving Newbridge we got to our first lock which was Shifford lock and as it was before 9am
we worked the lock ourselves. It was then onto Rushy lock and then the river gets a bit narrow in places but is quite overgrown too there are lots of tight bends too. We were soon through Radcot lock where there was a lockie on and as we approached he had the lock ready & opened the gates for us to go straight in. Shortly after the lock we moored at some moorings before Radcot bridge, on the field next to the moorings there were a few people camping and looked like they were having a good time. It was a nice sunny day so we had a walk with Jaz over the bridge to The Swan pub and sat in the beer garden. When we got back to the boat we sat at the stern on our sun chairs as there wasn't much space outside the boat to put the chairs. As we were sat a car came along the field and stopped along side of us and a man got out to talk to us, we thought he had come for a mooring fee but he hadn't, he was actually the landlord from the Swan pub and owned the field along with the moorings and said he didn't want any money as he knew we had been in his pub! We had a good chat with him and he was very nice, we just about got his life story! We were off early yesterday as we wanted to get to Lechlade to get a bit of shopping but we didn't want to stay there as the cows in the field where the moorings are apparently chew at your ropes and lick the paint! We had 3 locks to get through and we were soon at our last one which was St Johns lock close to Lechlade.
Leaving Radcot, the bridge is quite narrow.
The Swan Pub is just before the bridge.
This Heron was waiting patiently for a fish!
This was a bit tight with the buoy at the bend.
St Johns Lock, with Father Thames watching over everyone.
Inside St Johns lock waiting for the lockie to fill the lock.
It was quite funny as the lockie had been at the previous lock which was Buscot lock and once he had got us up through that one he drove to St Johns lock and was waiting for us!
There are 2 miniature houses at the lock very pretty.
We only had a short distance to the moorings at Lechlade so we got moored and after I had took Jaz for a brief walk, Kev & I had a walk over the bridge into Lechlade. It was very warm and we didn't take Jaz as it was too hot for her, she just wanted to lay under the table and stay cool inside the boat.
Looking down from the bridge at this riverside pub.
This shop is closed down.
Lechlade is a lovely small town with a lot of antique shops and a few pubs! We refrained from staying to going the pub but we did get an ice-cream from a shop that is opposite an Italian restaurant/pub. The little shop has only been open 2 months and sells real Italian ice-cream which is imported, as the lady in the shop told us that however they try to make it here using their Italian recipe it never tastes the same as if it was made from ingredients from Italy. The lady said that the Italian restaurant opposite the shop belongs to her & her husband. Both of us had coconut flavoured ice-cream cornets and it was lovely. We went into the Londis shop to get a few bits of shopping and then headed back to the boat, I was making us a sandwich and Kev was outside the boat with Jaz and he shouted to me that there was a snake swimming across the river! Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get the camera, but it was a bit too far anyway to get a decent photo. It wasn't very big so we wondered if it was a grass snake. Once we had eaten our sandwich we turned round and headed back to St. Johns lock, the lockie was just leaving in his car so we did the lock ourselves, but there was a boat coming out so we could go straight in. As we got down through the lock we stopped at the services there & Kev emptied the cassette, and then we were on our way back downstream.
This is the old Toll house on the bridge at Lechlade
There is R&R, the cows were further away from us!But they were chewing at another boats ropes!
Leaving the services at St Johns lock
We had a lovely cruise in the brilliant sunshine and we never passed another boat for ages and as usual when we did meet another boat coming towards us it was at a bend as usual!
A pretty thatched cottage.
This Kite is taking in the sun too.
These cows were cooling off in the river.
It had been a long day yesterday and we finally moored for the day just upstream of Rushey Lock, we got the chairs out and had BBQ and sat with a cold beer!! In the evening we sat in the cratch where we were visited bay 2 swans & 2 cygnets.
Our mooring last night, just as it was getting dark.
One of our visitors last night
No comments:
Post a Comment