Monday 4th July

We woke up to mouse entrails on the carpet – obviously Millie has made herself at home again! While we were at home Richard made her a cat flap door which we insert into the main doorway at night so that she can go in and out and we don’t have to have the door open. We only had four more locks to do on the River Kennet today before cruising through Reading and out onto the Thames. Our first port of call was Tesco as they have a mooring outside – it’s a great place to stock up on the heavy things. After lunch we set off up the Thames. Caversham Lock was the first lock where we should have got our Thames licence but were told that the “woman who does” was at lunch and that we should go on to Mapledurham – which we duly did. Richard came back from the lock office with the most wonderful icecreams – really creamy and whippy :-) A couple of miles up the river we came to Pangbourne Meadows where we had planned to stop for the night. It was quite late and most of the mooring spots were gone but we found one (not the best) and jumped ashore with the lines. The chap in the boat in front of us looked up and said that they were leaving – so we ended up with a really nice spot! After dinner we went for a walk and came across a moving molehill! I had never really given any thought to how molehills are formed and it was fascinating to stand and wait for the next bit of earth to be thrust to the surface!