I'm not sure what went wrong, but the update I sent yesterday evening has failed to appear on the list, so I'm sending it again with today's cruising added at the end.
Friday April 3rd - Lechlade to Abingdon 39 miles 2 furlongs, 15 locks, 11 hours 15 minutes. My early start was somewhat frustrated by the need to extract the mooring pins from the ground. I'd banged them right in, not wishing to come adrift in the night, and now they were proving reluctant to leave the ground. After 20 minutes struggle I finally had them loose and was under way at 6.40am. It was very misty and rather chilly at first, but slowly warmed up during the morning until the sun broke through around noon. Grafton lock is still being worked on, and looks a bit like a builders site. The workmen were there when I came through at 8.50am and were quite obliging - even closing up the gates for me after I left. I was talking to the lock keeper at Radcot when he said "'Arun', why do I know that name? Are you anything to do with the Tuesday Night Club?" I said I was, but that he more likely remembered the name from previous trips up there when Arun was in her old livery. Through Newbridge by 11.50am and Pinkhill lock by 1.30pm. I caught up with a hired narrowboat at Eynsham, just as they were going in. They worked me through and let me go first as they were going to close up afterwards. I never saw them again, as they were turning off up Duke's Cut. Caught another hire boat up at King's lock and had to show them how the electrics worked at Godstow. I thought they were coming through Osney as well, as they had said they were aiming for Abingdon that evening, but they tied up outside the Waterman instead, leaving the lock keeper and me waiting for them. Cleared Osney by 3.35pm and Sandford by 4.45pm. Another narrowboat was about to go into Abingdon lock as I arrived, so yet another one where I was worked through. Tied up for the night below Abingdon Bridge at 5.55pm. Saturday April 4th - Abingdon to Aston 41 miles 4 furlongs, 13 locks, 10 hours 30 minutes. It was raining when I woke up, so I set off (at 6.40am again) in full wet weather gear. Never saw a drop of rain, and ditched the wet weather gear after Benson lock. Ideally I would have been at Culham lock about 10 minutes earlier, 5 minutes before public power comes on. I would have had to manually wind down the bottom paddles but at least I could have raised the top paddles all the way without the electric timer system getting in the way. This lock takes nearly half an hour to fill using the electrics, as it pulls the paddles up an inch at a time and waits about ten minutes between each raise of the paddles. Left Culham lock at 7.45am and Day's at 9.20am. Benson lock was sat full with the gates open as I rounded the corner, and the lock keeper had the gates shut and the lock emptying even while I was bringing the boat to a halt with the centre line. I assume he was happy with me only using one line, as he didn't give me time to get the front one off. :-) Total time from entering Benson to saying goodbye, 4 minutes! Shared Cleeve with a small cruiser, and both of us caught up a larger gin palace at Goring. What a palaver that was. He ended up virtually broadside in the lock before the lock keeper got him sorted out. Even then, he had his engine started and his lines on board while the lock was still emptying the last couple of inches. He was off and under Goring bridge before the gates were fully open. I asked the lock keeper if he thought he was in a hurry. He grinned and nodded. Did him no good though, as he had to wait for me at Whitchurch lock. Again he shot off and I passed him while he was trying to moor below the bridge. There's a small café selling Cups of tea, bacon rolls and the like at Mapledurham lock, so I ordered a bacon bap which I ate while emptying the lock. It was that good, I bought another to eat after leaving the lock. Caversham bridge by 1.55pm, Sonning bridge by 3pm and Henley bridge by 4.30pm. Through Hambleden lock with yet another speed merchant who was off as soon as there was a chink of light between the gates. Moored to the little Aston jetty at 5.10pm. Off up to the Flower Pot in a bit to see if the food is as good a last week. Sunday April 5th - Aston to Kingston-on-Thames 41 miles 2 furlongs, 15 locks, 11 hours 15 minutes The food at the Flower Pot was indeed good, as was the ale. It was a bit of a late evening though, as it was gone midnight when I got back to the boat. This caused this morning's start to be a bit later than usual, it was 7am when I got under way. Hurley lock still thinks its on GMT, and the timer for the out of hours power didn't kick in at 7am as it should. A brief stop in Marlow to get some more milk meant I arrived at Marlow lock exactly at 9am, just as the lock keeper arrived. This was a bonus, as Marlow is one of the few remaining locks which doesn't have public power. Through there by 9.15 am and Cookham by 10.15am. From here on I was sharing locks with various cruisers all the way to Molesey. Even so, this didn't really have much of an impact on my progress. I spotted Janna in Windsor, but didn't see anyone on board.Through Windsor by 12.25pm, Staines by 2.35pm, Chertsey by 3.50pm and Walton on Thames by 4.50pm. I finally arrived in Kingston at 6.40pm where I am now moored for the night. Next job is to decide whether to leave the tideway at Brentford or Limehouse (or even Bow Creek). Terry Streeter NB Arun - Kingston-on-Thames
