Below Hurley Lock (River Thames) – Sunday 14th September

The walkers kept going all night!  I have to admit that they didn’t keep me awake but as I stirred to go to the loo about 4am they were still scrunching past!

The lovely Cliveden

Bray Lock, Boulters Lock then Cookham Lock – they seem to pass like a blur but we were on a mission!!  And of course the lovely Cliveden.  We did manage to stop at Cookham Meadow for lunch where Muffin couldn’t believe his luck as there was a Cockapoo walk just beginning and everyone was milling around – he got the chance to play with four poos!  The dinghies from Cookham Sailing Club all suddenly appeared just before we were ready to set off and were all milling around us.  With the dinghies and the wind blowing us back on shore it wasn’t easy to get away.

A Posse of Poos!

As we were approaching Marlow we came across Still Rockin and NoProblem – well we didn’t really come across them as I knew from their blogs where they were.  Still Rockin also used Navvygator so I knew exactly where they were.  Carol was cooking a roast and the smell coming out the galley was wonderful – just as well we had had lunch.  We had a quick natter then set off to Marlow Lock – of course we had missed our turn and had to wait for ages.

Still on Still Rockin

Sue's lovely roof garden on No Problem

We passed the lovely Bisham Abbey which is a Grade I listed manor. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside.  It is now one of Sport England's National Sports Centres and is home to a number of National Governing Bodies of Sport.

Coming in to Hurley moorings

We also had to wait at Temple Lock for quite a while as it is quite a small lock.  We had arranged a mooring at Hurley Lock and found it to be on the lock island beside a picnic area which was lovely.

Hurley moorings

Once we were at Hurley Lock I was able to phone my friend Jill who has a mobile home there which they live in during the summer.  They walked down to the lock and we had tea on the boat before going to Henley for a very nice meal at Weatherspoons.  It was then back to Jill and Dave’s mobile home for coffee before they dropped us back off at the lock.  I haven’t seen Jill for years so it was really nice to catch up and finally meet Dave!  We were so busy talking that I completely forgot to take any photos!

13.38 miles

5 locks