Ooooo just been outside, it is very cold!  Blanket around my legs now as I write this blog, but it is warm enough inside the boat, we still have plenty of wood and a couple more bags of coal having only bought 10 all winter!

A very quiet weekend for us, on Sunday I walked the girls right over to Bassing Estate.  What a wonderful place that is set in 4,000 acres with manor house, woodlands and even 4 miles of the River Kennet.

A long walk today as well to catch up with Tom and Jan to see how their boat was coming along.  They have to move out of their borrowed hire boat as soon as possible so it can be readied for the coming boating season.  With nowhere else left to go they are looking for another boat to borrow or even a medium sized caravan.  The trouble is that Tom is having to stay on site as his labour is built into the contract.

If anyone can help out at all could they contact Tom by leaving a comment on his blog.  They both deserve a bit of help after all that they have been through for sure.

Tomorrow our ballot papers should arrive for us to vote for the Boater Council Members on the new Canal & River Trust.  I have updated my Canals and River Trust page on that one with links to all 33 of those who will be on the ballot paper, and of course, with my thoughts.

My vote is going to Andy Tidy, right near the bottom of the ballot paper.  Our Capt seems just about the right type to have on the Council with his knowledge and dedication saying “I would be honoured to represent the boating community“.

Here is a page to all his writings on the matter.  Good Luck Andy, I am sure there are many of my readers that will be with me on this!

I forgot to take the camera out again, so I can leave you with another Winter Wassat? to have a guess at.  Someone needs to get in quick before the leader Sprocky me thinks!

OK so Wassat?

It’s not on the boat this time!

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I mean who on earth would break into an elsan disposal point?  Gawd!  That is all that is behind the locked door.  Maybe it was a boater who didn’t have a key or something!

We took the opportunity of having a pump out at the boatyard.  £15 it was, but I worked out that if we cruised on to Tyle Mill where there is a BW pump out at £10 we would have used that much diesel.

We left the service block, went through the swing bridge and on down the lock below the boatyard before winding (turning) to come back up and gently weave our way in between the numerous boats moored outside.  Service was rather slow, nobody appeared to serve us, so I asked the receptionist to get someone to put on diesel and empty our loo tank as I was off to Tom and Jan’s for coffee along with Vic.

A pleasant half hour or so aboard NB Ufton, their temporary home while their boat is rebuilt, before continuing out into the countryside once the boatyard had taken my money.  Moaning a bit I was.  It is the first time ever that I have had to pay £1 for the zero rated part of diesel for heating and power, well it was £1.05, and £1.50 something for propulsion!

From our mooring this morning, perfect.  Gosh it was a bit cold last night, warm enough in the boat though.  Today was beautiful.  Some wood chopped and stored in readiness for the snow forecast for tomorrow night.  It certainly won’t effect us, and will probably be gone by Monday or Tuesday.

Plenty of walking today with the girls, and my late walk took me around one of the large lakes in the area.  I didn’t take my camera and was very surprised that my phone was sensitive enough to take the sunset over the frozen lake.

Do you remember this..

Taken in November of our winter mooring at Great Bedwyn.  We are stuck in front of the three abreast boats.  I wrote to British Waterways asking how many boats had paid for winter moorings here.  Well I asked and asked.  No replies.

But today I had a phone call from Sally Ash, Head of Boating Business for British Waterways, with an apology for the 5 emails I had sent not being answered, along with the good news that my Winter Mooring payment would be refunded.  That is fair enough, that is what I asked for.  This was the part of the canal that was closed to boating.  All these boats in the picture were here before the closure too!  I was the only stupid bod to have paid to be there!

Plenty of ice on the canal down here in the south, but we are moored on the river.  That will do just fine for a while.

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Happy Birthday Wends! xx

Hope you have a wonderful weekend in London after school this evening with sis and familiy.

Ah, time for all 4 Grandkids to use their ‘Dr Who Experience’ Chrissy pressies  from me! xx

All enjoy! Pics please as you go via my mobile!

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With the cold snap forecast for the next few days we decided to go for water before the tap froze up.  We still had a bit left, enough in fact to do us for a few more days.  That would have taken it over the 3 week mark since our last fill.  A very good exercise that was too!

The notorious exit from Woolhampton Lock waiting for Vic to open the swing bridge just round the corner.  Look at that, hardly any flow at all coming from the River Kennet on the right.  This can be hell in waiting.  Don’t move from the lock jaws into that lot until the bridge is swung as there is no stopping!  Not today though just a gentle flow.

I remember back in the 80s when we hired a boat from Reading Marine, Caen Hill I think it was, it was very different.  A raging torrent was coming out of the river.  I couldn’t stop to pick up the crew after the bridge, and they had to walk over a mile to where I had managed to stop the boat!

It was a very chilly run, but pleasant enough once we got going.  The sunshine made it very enjoyable to be honest.  Aldermaston lock is a bit different with it’s scalloped sides.  This used to be a turf sided lock years ago.  Looking across the lock and bridge there are loads of boats piled up down there by the boatyard.  In fact while we are here we will have a pump out, and on enquiring, “Yes moor up outside the third boat”.. Ho hum that will be four out from the towpath!  Glad I am not going to be doing that, will leave it to the boatyard!

A load of washing was done on our way, and our hungry water tank got it’s fill.  The shower was on for a good 20 minutes this evening for me too!

Always plenty to see along the canal.. this was a nice surprise, I am sure the family will enjoy this one!

I was on a mission this afternoon to find Tom and Jan to say hello.. Their boat was not visible on the hard standing at the yard.. well under tons of tarpaulin.. would they be in on their temporary hire boat home loaned by the yard?   Yep, and a lovely welcome from them both and a quick chat before Tom and I took the girls for a wander through the woods.

More chat followed aboard No Problem where we put The Canal and River Trust to rights along with sorting out the immigration problems in the UK and Australia around the dinette with tea and glorious ginger cake from Jan herself.

It was really nice to meet these two after their disappointment at their boat being totally trashed by Ben Harp Narrowboats.  Tom has so much energy, and his determination to get his boat rebuilt is enormous.  I have tons of respect for this guy, the problems of the past are nothing to his aspirations for the future.

We’ll hang on here tonight, there is no room further down and it wasn’t worth going back up the lock to the visitor moorings only to come down again tomorrow..

Winter Wassat?  Some were very close, but one was smack on.. Well done Phil!

It is indeed the security bolt that holds the chain that holds the swingbridge in place!  It is locked down with a windlass to stop people just undoing it and messing about with the bridge.

Trois points pour Phil!

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Well we still have plenty of water in the tank so we took ourselves off to Reading this morning.  There is a train station 5 minutes from the mooring, but we decided to take the bus.  I don’t mind  catching buses, in fact I quite enjoy roaming around the countryside normally passing through small villages.. But no villages today as our No.1 bus went the urban route straight to Reading..

Really modern this one, the service is from Newbury to Reading, has free WIFI and also it has audio telling you what the next bus stop is as well as a visual screen. Very comfortable.

We found the Weatherspoons, well I found it last night on Google Maps, it was right by the bus stop! 

Time enough when we got back for me to take the girls out for a long walk around one of the larger lakes in this area.  The wind was cold though, cold enough to make my eyes water!

The Canal & River Trust is to be given a larger funding deal than was originally offered by the Government.  It is probably short of what they really need, but everybody is being squeezed at the moment, and I am sure they will be happy enough to run with that..

I don’t have any pictures from my camera today so I’ll give you a Wassat? this evening..

Wassat? – It’s not on the boat!

Since the new software update, blog reader Ian has reported that the links on the left hand side are showing at the bottom of the blog.  Is anyone else getting the same format?  If so could you comment below with your screen resolution and browser.. thanks

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It was Saturday morning when we moved on to Woolhampton.  We don’t normally move at the weekend, or at least we have got into the habit of not moving.  During the summer it is busy at that time, so it is better we stay bank side.  I very much enjoy stopping at the weekend.  I enjoy the radio on both mornings, sport  in the afternoon on the box, and of course a hearty Sunday roast with a glass of wine.. Umph except this week I knocked my favourite cut wine glass from the table.  I have had that glass for over 12 years… smash! Gutted!

It took a while to do that mile too, there are three locks and three swing bridges in that short stretch..

Just one lock to go.  Woolhampton visitor moorings were full, I was surprised, so we pulled in just before them, that would do us with a plank out.

Since I have stayed here before, the gravel extraction has been completed and the area turned into recreation for fishing and walking. There is miles of it, the girls are having a hay day with long walks. I need to lose a few pounds too.. put a bit on I have.  Only a few pounds to come off though.  No idea why, well.. maybe because I have been making my own bread.. it is far too moreish!

There were some interesting comments on my post about the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, I had a look at a few of the boats over the weekend and was tickled to see a news report about one of the successful boats, Arthur Dent from the St Pancras CC…

…”Ms Jones, a Green member of the London Assembly who will challenge Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone in the May 3 election, told the Standard: “We put our name forward because we thought it would be a hoot. It’s not just the pageant itself, but being on the river with 999 other boats. I’m not a royalist by any stretch of the imagination – I’m an egalitarian – but how can you resist?”..

…Ms Jones added: “I would be a republican if it weren’t for those two words: President Blair. The royal family do a good job at bringing tourists to the country. But I would sell off the palace and some of the paintings that clearly belong to the people.”"..

WOW! Well at least she is being honest!  Good luck to all the boats going, they are all so very lucky!

Well the software update went really well, and now I have a few more features to get used to, but if anybody spots anything awry, let me know.

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Happy Birthday Tony! Hope you have a wonderful day! xx.

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Tomorrow afternoon I am going to update my blogging software.  Last time I did that it all went wrong and took me an age to repair.  I guess there are some glitches with my blogs as I migrated from Blogger.com some time ago.

I don’t know if I will have the same type problems again until I press the button, but I have to update or the bits and bobs I have in the side column will stop working.

I will make any announcements on twitter if I have problems!

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After a hearty cooked breakfast and a wander with the girls, we left our lovely mooring and dropped down Widmead Lock.  Not far after that to the wood which would take us 2 and half hour to saw, chop and stow away…

This was just the start!  Enough probably now to last us through the winter.  We are hardly using any coal at the moment, just a small shovel full last thing.

On through Monkey Marsh Lock..

This one is due to be closed on Monday for maintenance, but I am wondering if it will with the Hungerford Marsh Lock over running due to BW finding a lot of damage under the water level that needs fixing.

Monkey Marsh Lock is very different to normal locks as you can see.  I was totally restored in 1989 and is one of the two turf sided locks on this canal.  Here is what it looked like back in the 70s before the restoration..

© Copyright Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Gosh just look at that lock landing!  You can see Thatcham bridge in the distance exactly the same as it is today.

And that is where we moored for the day.. Phew a long cruise.. Not!  But we had Mr Tesco to meet and he duly turned up late afternoon with all stuff heavies such as potatoes, dog food etc

I did a Maffi and filled two carrier bags full of rubbish from the visitor moorings.  I was getting funny looks from the dog walkers, maybe they thought I was some vagrant looking for a couple of crisps left over in a bag!  I don’t have one of those stick thingies and use gloves you see, so I suppose it looked a bit odd!

Tomorrow we will move on a bit further before settling for the weekend.  Next thing on the agenda is water and that we will do on Monday.  We still have about one third of a tank, so our thoughtful use of water has paid off over the last couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to a half hour shower instead of a one minute one!

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I was disappointed for sure at not being chosen for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.  I wasn’t the only disappointed one I know, but when I looked at the list of 40 narrowboats lucky enough to take part I noticed that all of them came from Societies/Boatclubs etc.  In some cases many boats from the same Society.  St Pancras Cruising Club have managed to get 4 boats in.

I just wish they had said that before asking me and other non Society/Boatclub boaters to apply.  I took a long time over my application, and now I feel it wasn’t even read and probably binned after the first few words.

There are some obscure entries too.. Two from London Studio Orchestra (share boats?),  another from Worshipful Company of Innholders, but alas none from The Continuous Cruiser Brigade.

Some of the boats on the list I doubt have even seen a river, let alone the tidal river Thames.. it makes me wonder just how safe that is going to be.. 40 narrowboats, a few inexperienced,  in among 960 others!

I said I had run out of something to take a picture of, but I revisited Greenham Common yesterday..

It is fantastic over there, but unfortunately I didn’t see any of the Exmoor ponies that roam the common.  The little calf that was born last week was not in the field either, heh, probably nice and warm in a barn somewhere after being born in -1 degrees!

I have updated the British Waterways and Canal & River Trust page (scroll down to the bottom) with developments up to today..

Another bit of news in today is the report of prosecutions of boaters on the Thames with no licences.. EA seem to deal with these evaders far better than BW does.  Now if EA are also going to join this CRT, are they going to bring the way they deal with evading licences holders with them?

Ah ha, nearly forgot… Wassat?.. Well I gotcha!

I know you are going to kill me, it wasn’t recent, it was when the ice was on the cut!… I am sorry, but you are getting far too good at this!

Well that is it for us at Widmead Lock, our 14 days come to an end tomorrow and we must move on.  We have so enjoyed being here, loved it in fact.  We have also enjoyed some visitors, Paul on his bike and Shelia and Alan, local blog readers we met last year, on foot.

Tomorrow we have two appointments.  One with a rather large and nice piece of ash to top up our stash on the roof and with Mr Tesco for some well needed heavy stuff!

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