06-20 Reading - Forbury Gardens on the River Kennet

Friday 19th June:  Another lovely warm sunny day today.  Our son David joined us this morning at about 9:30 at Goring and we set off down river for Reading.  We passed through Whitchurch and Mapledurham locks before cruising the long stretch of river through Tilehurst into Reading.   The park was covered in No Mooring signs (although it seems plenty of navigators were ignoring them) and the mooring we used at Caversham last time we cruised this way was out of bounds with a new footbridge under construction right by the island.  We stopped briefly to pick up 'Scottish' John a friend of Davids who lives nearby (even this brief stop attracted attention!) made our way through the construction works to Caversham lock.  The lock keeper agreed that mooring in Reading is a bit of a no-no with moorings for casual visitors on the Thames limited to only about 8 boats given that the Tesco moorings are not controlled and overused.  We adopted plan b and turned onto the River Kennet through Blakes lock and into Abbey loop where we found a mooring (rather shallow!) after a line of 'permanent' moorers near to the Bel and Dragon where we all went for lunch.


Saturday 20th June:  David and Harriet arrived with Harriet's folks about 10am and we set off round the rest of the loop and back down Blakes lock onto the Thames.  Objective, lunch in Henley, but the weather forecast was somewhat dire and it didn't look too promising.  At Sonning lock yours truly managed to miss lassoing the bollard at the same time as leaving the engine in gear.  Result rope round prop and a red face!  We were help out of the lock onto landing where we spent the next 20 minutes down in the weed hatch!   Next two locks passed without incident and we enjoyed the scenery and ogling the expensive riverside properties.  Once in Henley we did a circumnavigation of the island looking for a 60' gap alongside the park  and succeeded in beating Colonel's Follie (which we had passed through the lock with) to about the only one left!   Walked down to the Anchor for lunch amongst all the visitors enjoying a Saturday out in Henley.  The return journey was equally eventful  as the dire weather arrived just as we left Sonning lock.  Rain came down in buckets and thunder crashed overhead as everyone but me retreated into the boat.  Even Mac eventually gave up and was led inside before he was drowned in the deluge.   The rain eased as we turned onto the Kennet although the river towards Blakes lock was black with storm water and we were pushed around by the torrents of water joining the river from storm drains.  Back onto Abbey loop although this time we made for the Reading Council 24 hour moorings outside the jail!   Reading really knows how to make it's boating visitors feel welcome!