Sunday 11th July

It was nice having a couple of days off but today we had to press on. We walked into town and did some shopping in Waitrose then set off up stream. Through Abingdon Lock we stopped for water and came across some people who have an identical boat to Mary H which it turns out they keep in Newbury and they live in Alton – small world! We then went through Sandford Lock and pulled over for lunch – fortunately under some trees as it was so hot. It did seem a very nice spot but I discovered later that we were in the grounds of the Four Pillars Hotel – however it didn’t say no mooring! We then got to Iffley Lock which was a really lovely spot. After Iffley you come to the nice part of Oxford where they were punting on the river and is where the Isis joins the Thames. The next lock was Osney Lock where we learnt that the Thames above us was about 5” lower than it should be! Just after the lock is Osney Bridge and its here that we lost all the big motor cruisers as the bridge is so low. The next part of the Thames is rather strange as it becomes very wide and very shallow with beaches on either side. The world and his wife were out either playing, swimming or barbecuing. The next two locks were Godstow and King’s – the locks from here up are all still manned but operated manually – no hydraulics up here! We pulled over for the night just above King’s Lock against a field of sheep who really couldn’t have cared less if we were there or not!!