A Tale of Two Bridges

Yay we are back online again...our monthly allowance re-started at midnight so we caught up with the blog, emails plus I like to read the Aussie papers online, not a lot of good news at the moment from over there.  On that front, they have dropped interest rates again plus the Aussie dollar is getting a bit of a battering - mustn't grumble and all that, we have had a very good run up till now.  We didnt go to sleep til 2.30 am and consequently we didn't get away till nearly 11 am this morning (first light)!

The first bridge incident was the Ufton swing bridge, which is a electric swing bridge with lights and barriers, Elaine hit the button, the lights flashed, the barriers started to come down when this nob in a Merc came speeding down the hill blasting his horn, he went through the red light and got under one barrier but not under the next, so he stopped just before  he got a nice dent in his roof,  Elaine reversed the bridge and off he shot, still talking on the phone stuck to his ear.  I should add that Elaine always checks that there are no cars coming before she actuates the swing bridges but you could not see the cars approaching one side of this bridge because of a bend and he certainly wasn't close because it took a while before the barriers started to move.

Into the big steel Towney Lock...


She gets a bit turbulent in there!

Spotted this nice des res on the outskirts of Aldermaston ...

We havn't filled with fuel for a month so decided to fill up at Aldermaston Wharf - home of Tom and Jan's  NB Waiouru for a long time.

I took a couple of pics for Tom...check out the price of the diesel - gulp!  It's a lot cheaper up north tha knows - but they did let us use their fast filling water hose!

Another one for you Tom ...

Then onto the lift bridge ... bugger, it was broke and the man from the council would have to come and operate it three times a day.  We just missed the 13.00 so sat around and had a nice lunch whilst waiting.  We also got chatting to a couple of Aussies in the boat behind and a nice fellow on his own in front of us.  

At 16.00 the bridge was raised and the three of us went through; the council chap said that yesterday thirteen boats went through at the 13.00 opening and caused gridlock, the bridge was up for ages.

Sammy decided to go to sleep with his head buried in my shoe ...

Six hours later he still hasn't woke up, I fear he may be dead! 

We all travelled  in our little threesome convoy all looking for somewhere to moor for the night, but there were very few places as its a bit overgrown ...

Very friendly duck on this lock ...

 

 

We passed Barn Owl No 5 ...

We last met these guys in Manchester in May ...

We shared a lot of locks with the Aussie boat ... each to their own and all that but I don't know why you need to tie up in a double lock.

Still nowhere to moor, we thought we were going to end up in Bath.

We then arrived in Thatcham, and there was enough space for all three boats....result!