Tadpole Bridge

One thing I forgot to tell you about yesterday is the fantastic butchers in Lechlade.  Cutler & Bayliss are a traditional butchers, greengrocers & delicatessen who not only sell "real meat" but also sharpen knives. By "real meat" I mean cuts like shin of beef or breast of lamb, homemade sausages and steaks cut to your preference not already sliced or smothered in sauce or flavourings. It really puts me off when I walk into a "butchers" only to find that everything is pre-cut and pre-packaged. I want to be able to buy 3 sausages and 2 slices of belly pork rather than having to buy in the quantities they decide. I don't want everything on polystyrene trays and sweating in cling film either. Maybe it's because I'm old fashioned.  I took 3 knives to be sharpened and the butcher did them while we waited and only charged me 75p each.

The sun came out again shortly after I'd posted yesterday's blog and we moved from Lechlade to moor out in the countryside again.

Today there's been a lot of helicopter traffic overhead.  I think they were training flights out of Brize Norton.  This Chinook passed overhead several times carrying different cargoes.

After more heavy rain last night the river level was up a bit this morning and when we got to Grafton Lock the Lockie told us that they (EA) were managing the levels and letting water down-stream. The increase in flow was noticeable but still very manageable and certainly nothing to worry about.  He also told us that there had been an accident this morning at Radcot Lock and the police and ambulance had had to attend.  A young boy had been canoeing with his father. They'd been down the canoe race but then the boy had strayed too close to the weir stream with the result that he'd been forced over the weir and got stuck.

Unfortunately we don't know how he's doing, but he was unconscious when they took him away in the ambulance.  This is another good reason for keeping the Lockies whose real job titles should be Weir Keepers. Not only do they operate most of the locks but their main job is maintaining and regulating the weirs. Given the high flood levels this winter I'd have thought the EA would be eager to keep them in place but this seems not to be the case as many of them are either leaving voluntarily or being forced to go.  It's just another accident waiting to happen and will all blow up in EA's face. Once the Lockies leave they'll be very hard to replace and all their experience will be lost.

We're now moored at Tadpole Bridge, beside the Trout Inn.

We were the only boat here for about half an hour then another pulled in behind us and shortly afterwards another two arrived and breasted up with us.

We all had tables booked for dinner in the pub and had a really good night.  The pub is really a restaurant with beer rather than a real pub and the food was excellent, if a bit pricey. I'm not sure which way we're going tomorrow, maybe down stream to arrange an Asda delivery or maybe back upstream to Lechlade. We'll see how we feel in the morning.   It's a hard life but someone has to do it...............

Lechlade

The navigable River Thames begins at the Round House which is about half a mile further upstream than were we are moored.

You can tell how much the river rises when it floods as the black door has had to be flood-proofed.

Allegedly, you can wind a narrowboat here but we didn't fancy trying and judging by all the silt that's been washed down the river here we were right. A shorter boat would probably be OK but at 65ft we'd really struggle.

We took a different route back to the boat and passed some gorgeous houses, ending up back in the village near The Christmas Shop which was very busy.

We've been very disappointed in the Lechlade pubs. We've walked into most of them........and then straight back out again when they didn't have any real beer on sale. I'm sorry but I just don't class John Smith's Smoothflow as real beer. The Beer In The Evening website recommended The Trout Inn which is back near St. John's Lock and as it was a nice afternoon yesterday we walked there through the village and along the road.  It took us about half an hour but was definitely worth it.

It's a very old pub with low beams and the log fire was roaring away. The Landlady was very welcoming and the beer was on form, Doombar and Bombadier Burning Gold. Now that we've found this little gem we'll be back, especially as we had a much quicker (10 minute) walk back by taking the public footpath straight across the fields from opposite the pub to the village church. It's as straight as a die although a bit low in places. It looks like it's been recently re-surfaced and we met several people coming back the other way carrying shopping. It's a quick route from the caravan site behind the pub to the shops.

We'd intended moving today but it's now pouring down so unless it stops soon we'll stay another night.

Lechlade

So far we've only found one of the mooring places listed in Nicholson's guide - but our copy is quite old so they've probably been discontinued.  That's not a problem though, as there are plenty of meadow-side moorings available and we prefer mooring away from the madding crowds anyway.

The bird life continues to be diverse and amazing. We've seen plenty of Swallows, Lapwings, Buzzards and a couple more Barn Owls hunting but the one bird that's noticeable by it's absence is the Kingfisher. We haven't seen any since we came onto the Thames.

The other morning we were awoken by this herd of cows grazing beside the boat. They were very curious about us and only moved off when the farmer came past in his van. Needless to say I had to be very careful where I trod when I took Chico out for a walk and although it was a lovely spot to moor we moved off early as the cow pats were attracting some horrid looking flies.

I couldn't quite decide if these swans were fighting or mating. The one in front was quite nonchalant while the one at the back was getting quite excited so I reckon they were having a bit of "afternoon delight" .

I've been surprised at the sheer diversity of craft on the river. We've seen rowing boats, many canoes and several of these punt type boats.

I have no idea how they manage to keep their balance but they were having a great time. Later on some teenagers come past punting on surf boards in the pouring rain!

Now this is more the type of craft I'd expect to see on the river. This Dutch Barge is just my type of boat. Maybe one day if we ever win the lottery this would be on my shopping list.

We're now moored at Lechlade and are planning on staying here for a few days. These are the first paid for moorings we've come across and the farmer was round at 8.45 this morning for his £4. I can't blame him for wanting to make some extra money from his land, but there aren't even any rubbish facilities or dog waste bins.

We had a quick walk into the village yesterday afternoon to see what's there but as it was Sunday most of the shops were closed. Some of the roads were closed too with diversions in place. This is because there's been a big music festival on over the weekend. We followed the "beer diversion" to the Riverside pub but didn't stop for a drink as they didn't have any real hand pumped beer, just Fosters and other gassy rubbish. There are plenty of other pubs in the village though, so we'll try again later today.