Lechlade to The End and Back to Newbridge.
19.5 Miles 6 Locks.
Sunday. Not much to blog about today, weather has been OK, sunny with a few clouds in the afternoon, I walked back to St Johns Lock with a bag of rubbish as they have bins there.
St Johns Lock, the Lockie is at Lunch so Self Service is displayed.
Enterprising Lock keeper.
Father Thames now at St Johns Lock, The original shovel was steel but it's replacement is wood.
The Statue of Father Thames which was Sculpted by Raffaelle Monti in 1854 for the Crystal Palace, it had lay at the source of the Thames, but was the victims of vandals so was moved to St Johns Lock in 1974.
Serious Times.
As part of the WW2 Anti-Invasion preparations these large Pillboxes were placed at strategic points along the north bank of the Thames, this one is about half mile from Lechlade, the river was seen as a natural line of defence against the expected German invasion from the south.
We had a knock on the side of the boat this afternoon, it was from the people off the boat moored in front of us to say that there was a cabin cruiser adrift and gently floating down on the current.
The un-manned Cruiser
I managed to get hold of it and tied it up behind us, it was one of a fleet of Budget hire boats from a marina on the far side of the bridge, by the word budget I mean untidy/badly maintained/bits missing etc etc.
We were also told that the farmer who owns the field where we are moored would be round for the mooring fee, £4 a night, sure enough at 5.30 a lady appeared and took our money, you have to adjust your head where moorings are concerned on the Thames after coming off the Canals, apart from Environment Agency 24 hour moorings which are free, any other place where the water is deep enough at the edge and near a Pub or Village will be charged for.
Monday. The furthest point of the Thames where No Direction can get to is just past a footbridge where the River Coln enters the Thames at Inglesham, it is also the point at which the derelict Thames and Severn Canal joins the Thames, as the name suggests it originally ran through to the River Severn 36 miles away, fortunately it is under restoration, so on Monday morning we set off up stream as far as we could, the building at the junction is known as the Round House it was built as accommodation for the Lock keeper on the upper level and stabling for horses on the ground floor.
The Round House at the Junction, the round bit is partially blocked by the trees, and the Derelict Canal to the the Right of it.
Turning No Direction in the mouth of the River Coln, its very silted up and we got stuck, but not for long.
We were now pointing back down the River, the way we came, at the first Lock, St Johns Jayne bought a couple of books from the Charity box and donated a few as well.
As I said in a previous blog the bends are very tight on this section and it is easy to run aground if you cut the bend too tight, the very shallow areas are marked by Bouys.
Bouy,s mark the very shallow area,s, travelling up stream go to the right of red one,s left of the Green one,s
travelling down stream go to the left of the red and right of the green.
Taking on Water above Grafton Lock.
The Cratch cover is rolled up so that in the Locks Jayne can throw the front rope over a Bollard and hang on.
After passing the the 2 Pubs at Newbridge we were surronded by Canoes from a local club, they soon passed us and we decided to look for a mooring as it was starting to rain, round the next bend we found a concrete wall without any "No Mooring" signs next to the Thames Path, so that was it for Monday.
Our mooring for Monday Night.
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