Our new adventure day 21

[Debs]

WOW! We have been on the boat for three weeks! Three weeks of rain ish, but not today. We woke up again to a beautiful morning. Our geese were still hanging around to see if we were gullible enough to give out some more bread. Tuff luck geese, it's not happening today! There was a little bit of a drama with a boat trying to turn round to moor up. Unfortunately, they hadn't accounted for the current and their bow thrusters weren't able to cope with the turn. They ended up blocking the river with another Boat's occupants shouting: "You're going to hit the boat, you're going to hit the boat!" It has to be said, this did not help the poor bloke trying to turn his boat round. Mick tried to help by taking the rope but, as hard as he tried, he couldn't hang on and rather than end up in the water, had to let go! Once the bloke had finally moored up, he was nice enough to come and say thank you. 

We eventually made our way down the long bit at Henley where the racing is usually carried out. It's not the prettiest of sections but, when the sun is shining, all is good! I put some sausages in the oven to wait for an ideal opportunity to stop and have lunch. This turned out to be Marlow. However, at Hurley lock, a pleasure boat came through with a brass jazz band on it. What a sight! It was really nice to see. We were amazed to get a mooring spot at Marlow! Although, I think the eight or more swans on the bank where we moored weren't very impressed and there was a little bit of hissing going on. We had lunch, washed down by a beer or two then, just after 2 pm, when the lock keepers had finished lunch, we made our way down river. We were on the lock staging with a really pretty day boat. Unfortunately, it had major problems getting into the empty lock as it didn't steer very well and ended up across the lockbentrance. It then had to be helped into the lock by the lock keeper dragging it in by its rope! Eventually, we got in the lock after it. When the lock emptied, we were told to leave the lock first but within seconds, the day boat was overtaking us! Clearly, it was ok on the straights! As the clouds built, we made our way steadily down the river. 

We have ended up mooring at Bell Meadow, Cookham, under a willow tree. Literally, under a willow tree! We will be fine if it rains but the solar panels think it's winter already! Cook ham is a very pretty little village and, if you can get moored here, it's well worth the £6 to do so. 

I am now very stuffed after having a meal in The Crown pub. Good food decent prices. I just need to sink a couple more drinks before ambling back, through the graveyard, back to the boat for a night under the trees. Amazingly enough, it hasn't rained for the second day on the trot! Let's see what happens tomorrow!