Wallingford to Abingdon

Mon 4th Sep  Wallingford to Dorchester

Hobby Horse, the boat on the outside of us, left with a new crew. Apparently it is a family boat used by several parts of the family.

We went to Waitrose to stock up before setting off.

Leaving Wallingford

Approaching Benson Lock

We timed Benson Lock badly, while it was self service. There was a cruiser and two narrowboats before us.  The cruiser went in first, at the far end, on the right. The other two narrowboats went in next, one on the right, behind the cruiser, and the other on the left, just inside the gate. There was room for him to move up alongside the cruiser to allow us in behind him, but he refused.  If the lock keeper had been on duty, he would have asked the guy to move up. The lock is 133ft long.

So we waited for the next lock, and we shared with another cruiser.  The lock keeper was back on duty by then.

Then we had a gentle cruise past Benson boatyard full of “Le Boat” hire boats, and past Shillingford Bridge. 

Hire boats at Benson

Impressive homes at Shillingford

We moored by the junction with the River Thame, hanging onto a tree at the bows, and with the stern rope attached to the bridge.  A boat called Salaga was moored in the Thame, partly under the bridge. We noticed that new barbed wire fences had been installed where there had once been open fields.

Moored at the mouth of the River Thame

New fences

Hugo was a bit anxious at first, but enjoyed the location when darkness came.

There was an unusual bird sound in the woods opposite, sounding like a kite or buzzard, but with a wavering finish. We never managed to see the bird making the noise, but we guess it was a young bird of prey.

1 lock, 4 miles

Tue 5th Sep  Dorchester

Thousands of teasels

We walked to Dorchester, accompanied part of the way by the man from Salaga, and had a look round the abbey, followed by tea in the George. We had taken our brollies but we hardly had any rain.  There are lots of old buildings in Dorchester and the place is used for Midsomer Murders locations, as is Wallingford.  We saw a remarkable wisteria growing along one of the buildings.

Dorchester Abbey East Window

The Tree of Jesse Window

A Knight’s tomb

The Abbey tower

The George Hotel and the main street

A timber framed house

Wisteria

We walked back to the boat along a different path, past the Dyke Hills.

Wittenham Clumps

Dyke Hills

No boating today

Wed 6th Sep  Dorchester to Long Wittenham

Reflections

Salaga under the bridge

The first port of call was the facilities island below Days Lock.  Elsan and rubbish here, but no water hose.

While we were there we heard a lot of horn hooting and shouting, as Rodney and Valerie on Hazellnut went past heading downstream.  James was out of sight at the time so he never even said hello as they didn’t stop. No photo for the blog.

Approaching Days Lock

We shared Days Lock with a boat called Saul. They had a Darwin Ichthus although they said they were Christians.

Above Days Lock, we noticed that a lot of the willow trees had been severely cut back, and one of our favourite shady moorings was now just a grassy bank with no shade at all.

We followed the long curving reach round to Clifton Hampden Bridge, and then we went past the end of the Clifton lock cut and continued up the old river course to Long Wittenham, where the Plough Inn has a long garden, with a mooring made out scaffolding at the end. 

Clifton Hampden Bridge

Thankfully there was just enough space for us to squeeze on, using the stern rope and the centre line.  Our bows stuck out into the river, alongside a white cruiser which moors there permanently apparently.

Moored at the pub

We had a pub lunch which was very pleasant.  

Later we saw a kingfisher flying past.

In the evening we took our instruments up to the pub for the singaround session which takes place there every Wednesday.  We sang eight songs. Great fun.

1 lock, 4 miles

Thu 7th Sep  Long Wittenham to Abingdon

Morning reflections

 The mooring at the end of the pub garden

We retraced our cruise back up to the lock cut and waited for two boats to emerge from Clifton Lock before we could go in. After Clifton Lock we spotted Salaga moored up just above the weir.

The next three miles of river between Clifton and Culham Locks we call kingfisher alley as we usually see several of them here. Today we saw none. What we did see was three miles of competition fishermen, ever so serious, staring at their lines, willing them to twitch to signify a bite.

At Culham Lock there were boats going up ahead of us, and we realised that one of them was Gill and Geoff on Petroc, last seen in Henley. James also chatted to one of the volunteers who was keen that we should visit the free museum in Abingdon and see the last MGB on display there.

Petroc in Culham Lock

Culham Lock seems to be one of the deeper ones, and throwing the ropes round the lock bollards is sometimes a hit and miss affair.

Culham Lock

At the end of Culham Cut we passed the entrance to the Wilts and Berks Canal, under restoration.

Wilts and berks Canal entrance

On the reach upstream from Culham Cut, there were still more fishermen. We also saw a narrowboat covered with camouflage netting for some reason.

Fishing competition

 Camouflage

Abingdon

Approaching Abingdon, we saw Petroc moored on the wharf below the bridge. We had decided to go under the bridge and moor on the right, where there is some cover for Hugo, and the bank is a bit lower and easier for us.  Thankfully we found an ideal spot.

Abingdon Bridge

Our Abingdon Mooring

We didn’t leave the boat after we moored up. We had a little rain later, and Hugo brought us a deceased mouse as a present.  In the morning we found evidence of two other demised rodents on the mat in the stern.

2 locks, 6 miles, 3 mice

Next: Heritage weekend in Abingdon, before moving on to Oxford.