Narrowboat Maid of the Mist Blog - September 2011

We hope you enjoy reading about our travels around the British Inland Waterways

1st - Having dropped our family back at Cowley Peachy, we headed straight back to Paddington Basin to pick up an overdue parcel from the Post Office.

2nd - Most of the laundry done today, so stayed overnight in the Basin again. It was a beautiful day. Will move off tomorrow and continue our cruise towards the Thames at Brentford.

3rd to 5th -Cruised to Brentford via a stop over at Bulls Bridge. On arrival, after a lovely sunny cruise, the heavens opened. How lucky were we? During a break in the rain we took Jack off to Pets at Home for some advise on worming, bought him a new bed and stocked up on his food.

7th - Having a domestic day today before moving onto the Thames tomorrow (we are booked to go through the lock tomorrow at 10.30 am).

Graham has done an oil change and cleaned or changed all the filters. He also removed a bag full of rubbish from around the prop. The black tank is empty and the water tank is full. Ready for anything.

8th - Out on the Thames now. Cruised from Brentford to Kingston Upon Thames. 24hr free moorings here on the towpath side, just after the road bridge.

9th - Moved to the Hamton Court Palace moorings and took a trip in to see it. The palace is a museum dedicated to Henry VIII and Mary II. We had time to take a look around the gardens and, of course, take in the Maze. Again 24hr free moorings.

Just a note to advise you that the entrance fees on the door include a donation. If you are unable, or do not wish to give a donation, you can buy your ticket online at the regular price. As we are both over 60 we paid the concession price of £11 which included the gardens and Maze.

10th - 12 miles today, with a couple of bouts of heavy rain. Moored up in time to see the tale end of a Dragon boat regatta.

11th - An early rise this morning as David Walliams swam passed us at 7.40 am today and we wished him good luck for the remainder of his journey.

Our journey today, as well as most days on the river, takes us passed some very impressive properties. We covered --miles and -- locks and moored at Bourne End. The moorings here are £5 per night, however, nobody came to collect our fee, so for us they were free on this occasion.

12th - A very windy day today. Cruised all the way to Reading. We went through Blakes Lock and moored by Reading Jail.

13th - Having had a bit of a lay in this morning, we had a leasurly breakfast and set off to shop at Tesco about 11.30am. It's nice when you have a superstore who cater for boaters. It enables us to stock up on the heavier items we would not like to carry any distance. Not that we do that any more, now that we shop online when necessary.

We cruised as far as Beale Park today, and despite the strong wind, we had an uneventlful, but pleasant journey. Free 24 hr moorings available.

14th - A long cruise today, our final destination being Abingdon. The reason for the long cruise was insufficient suitable and available moorings along the way. We also had an engine cut out which caused us to bank and a very kind holiday cruiser hauled us off.

15th - A day of rest in Abingdon. Beatiful weather, lovely moorings. Jack had lots of play and met some lovely friends. The only downside was battery failure for the engine start. Graham has temporarily attached the engine start to the domestic batteries, until we are able to buy a new one for the engine.

16th - Stayed in Abingdon an extra night, just enjoying the weather and chill out. Graham did a bit of gardening, while I finished painting our BW number on our new life ring.

17th - Moved to Oxford today and moored on the Thames opposite College Fields. The weather has changed now and I think summer is over.

18th - Today we moved off the Thames and onto the Oxford Canal. The London weather forecast was set to bursts of heavy rain Monday and Tuesday, and past experience tells us to move above Osney Lock as they have a tendency to close this lock after heavy rains because of the configuration of the weir above the lock. The current tends to pull boats across into the weir when running high.

19th - Although the temperature has dropped a little, it was a lovely day today. We passed the satellite dishes at Underdown and moored south of Lower Heyford, in the country. Unfortunately we have no internet signal where we are, so will be uploading tomorrow when a signal becomes available. It should be a very quiet night as there appears to be little or no footfall here.

21st - Arrived in Banbury. Will stay here a couple of days and take advantage of the town moorings for some retail therapy. Already taken a long walk to Maplins, which is situated on the Banbury Cross Retail Park, the other end of town.

22nd to 30th - Just moving steadily along towards the north for Christmas. Nothing of any real interest happening at the moment.

Author: Jean Beven

Kingston Upon Thames town centre

Kingston upon Thames bridge. The moorings here are free for 24 hrs.

Hampton Court Palace Fountain Court.

Formal display in Hampton Court Palace Formal Gardens