Our run deeper onto the K&A is continuing today.. It ended up being a very quiet and nice evening moored against the farmers field – need to remember that spot.
First on the cards.. Ufton Lock, which now has no gates.. but does have a swing bridge.. so through that one..
Through Towney Lock.. Bit of an odd one this.. because the channel is narrow on approach to the lock, we need to drop the crew off 200yrds back and then move through the channel to the lock when its ready – can see when its clear, but its an odd one!
And the boat wont half bang around in that one if given half a chance to…
Through Padworth Lock..
Through the lift bridge at Aldermaston. As this one is on the A340.. there are times when the bridge will not open.. Mon-Fri, 0800 to 0900 it will refuse to operate. Thankfully, were outside of those times, so no issues getting under it today! Onto the water point for a tank of water.. and then up through Aldermaston Lock.
Past Frouds Bridge Marina entrance – on the left heading towards the weir.. for now.. its a right turn for us..
Were heading upstream on the river section.. and this tree, which is not going anywhere anytime soon, is going to cause issues on the way back down – must remember that this is here, as its on a fairly sharp corner..
Now.. onto this interesting section.. Firstly – a large swing bridge….
But.. that’s not the issue. After this is a lock.. but between the bridge and the lock, the river feeds in from the left with quite a flow. And due to that flow, there is no stopping., get the lock ready, open the bridge and do both at the same time. There are signs warning boaters of this, and we did this stretch a few years ago so I know what to expect, but the boat that joined us to get through here didn’t.. so they were duly warned..
If you wondered why this boat is covered in tyres.. it’s after having many a un-expected hire boat shoved against it by the flow coming under the bridge.. simply heading to the lock wont cut it here.. need to point the nose at the bridge and let the flow push the boat sideways to get into the lock..
Once up through the lock, No space at the mooring for us.. however – there was a wide beam on the end of the mooring, who asked if we were looking for a spot.. and yes please.. so they pulled out, and we pulled in. And.. its a hot one today – so this is enough for us for now..
And there are a lot of hungry fish in this section!