Back to Abingdon

The weather continues to be glorious and the sunscreen is going down fast. 

There are lots of amazing properties beside the river. This was derelict but still stunning. I think it must have been an hotel.

How about this for a room with a view?

It's at the bottom of someone's garden

 It's been busy on the river for past two days and we've been queueing at most of the locks.

This family of swans was waiting in Goring Lock for a lift down river

I'm not sure this house was to my taste but it was certainly huge and impressive

This is more my cup of tea

I didn't blog last night as we met up with friends at Wallingford and had a great night out. It was one of those chance meetings where everything just falls into place. When we arrived at Wallingford at lunch time there weren't any mooring spaces as the plastic fantastic brigade were badly spaced and saving places for their mates....again.....  We then spotted Kotuku which we built in in 2006 and which we knew was being crewed by friends of the owners. They kindly let us breast up with them just as the owners, who are friends of ours, arrived. So after a spot of retail therapy, we all adjourned to the Boat House pub for a few drinks and a good meal. I love meeting up with friends and spending a few hours catching up.

We set off fairly early this morning so that Catherine and Graham on Kotuku could carry on their trip towards the K & A. It's been a bit cooler and cloudier today but still warm enough for this cormorant to sun itself on the river bank.

When we got to Benson Lock there were 2 brand new huge Dutch Barges already on the lock lay-by so we had to hug the weir barrier although there isn't anything to tie off to.

There was no movement at the lock and we couldn't get off to go and see what was going on and when other boats started arriving they had to breast up and hang on. An hour and a half later we finally made it through the lock. The new Dutch Barges weren't too happy sharing the lock with other boats and we never really found out if the delay was due to an electrical problem or an operator error because the lock was on self-service operation.

 Yet another palatial residence

and the beautiful 6 arch brick bridge at Cliffden Hampden

The sun has certainly brought out lots of wild flowers and there are buttercups and daisies and poppies everywhere. I'd love to have some in the boat but it's not worth picking them as they die so quickly

We're now moored at Abingdon again in almost the same spot as last week, although this time our back end is nowhere near the bank. It's not a problem as we can easily get off the bow. 

We'd just sat down for dinner tonight - gosh that sounds posh, must be the "suverners" rubbing off on me - and a brass band started rehearsing on the opposite bank. They were quite good and made a nice change to Radio 2.