We had a late start this morning as we couldn’t decide whether to stay
put or move on. The weather forecast
wasn’t good but we want to get to Abingdon tomorrow which is a long day in one
go. We “umed” and “ahed” and eventually
decided to go up to Shillingford. Of
course as soon as we were through Cleeve Lock the rain started. Muffin and I were nice and dry down below but
poor Richard was getting wet. I had my
turn though at Benson Lock getting nicely drowned while holding the bow line –
it just poured down.
Even though we planned to get to Shillingford we hoped we might find a
mooring in Wallingford as Richard was so wet but every square inch was taken.
We moored up outside the Shillingford Bridge Hotel on very nice mooring
posts – we’ve never moored to anything like it before. According to the chap on the boat in front
the moorings belong to the hotel and they charge £10 a night but if you eat in
the hotel they don’t charge. Apparently
it’s fish and chips tonight so we might just give them a try and save £10 – not
good for my WW regime though!
 |
| Strange mooring post |
The afternoon turned out into a lovely one – a little cloudy but the
sun shone most of the time and it was nice and warm.
 |
| A motor cruiser moored up right behind us! |
At various times the river crossing at Shillingford has been a ford, a
ferry or a bridge. The present bridge was built in 1827, replacing a previous
one built in 1767. The bridge is the
halfway point between Oxford and Reading.
I have searched the internet for something interesting on Shillingford
but other than the bridge there is very little to write about!
 |
| The view from the side hatch |
We went up to the hotel for dinner – the good news was that it is dog
friendly so Muffin was able to join us.
The food was OK but the presentation left a lot to be desired – very
strange! I should have taken a photo of
my starter of avocado, prawn and crab cocktail – it was served in a soup dish! Richard’s starter of garlic mushrooms came
with a mass of lettuce just thrown on the plate.
When we got back to Mary H two hire boats had squeezed in behind the
motor cruiser behind us. It appeared
that there were about 12 young people on board and I guess they were
celebrating a 30th birthday. They seemed
very nice but they sat on the bank till midnight having a great time – thank
goodness they were sensible and went to bed then otherwise I would have been
very grumpy!
7.88 miles
2 locks
No comments:
Post a Comment