The Hodma'dod: A boring mooring at Goring

Actually thats not true but I just couldn’t resist it as a headline - perhaps I should go work for the Sun!

Its Sunday pm at the time of writing and we are moored up at Beale Wildlife Trust in the middle of a thunderstorm and the rain is pounding on the roof so hard its difficult to hear each other talk.

We spent two nights at Abingdon and it really is a town worth visiting, very pleasant atmosphere and a wealth of historical buildings with a great display in the town hall of the towns history which included an MGB on the top floor made at the local works before they closed down. At first glance its very much a question of getting a ship in a bottle but rather than have everybody ask the question they have a video showing how they did it. I wont spoil the story in case you do visit. Its also worth a visit to the roof for a view over the town.

On leaving Abingdon I decided to fill up with diesel and as we were going downstream and had quite a strong tail wind I thought it might be easier and safer to turn the boat round and come up to the fuel jetty upstream. WRONG! The river looked as though there was plenty of room to turn around and I suppose there was but both banks were lined with Tupperware and with the strong wind and current controlling Hoddy was nerve racking. I could see myself sideswiping a few cruisers and sending them to the bottom. As it turned out I somehow managed to avoid contact with any and it all went well but something I’ll thing about harder in the future.

From there we moved on to Wallingford, which from reading the guide books sounded as interesting as Abingdon, but its not. Most of the history is Saxon which turns out to be humps in the ground where walls etc once stood. Not as clean or as smart as its near neighbour but perhaps a better selection and mix of independent shops. We stayed the one night on the town moorings which were very convenient location wise but very inconvenient from a boarding perspective as the quayside was about 4 feet above deck level so poor T n T had to be lifted on and off. Off wasn’t so bad but getting them back on board was fraught as Teazle in particular went totally stiff and dug her claws in not to be moved from the towpath.

From there it was down to our “boring” mooring at Goring. Its actually very pleasant, just below the lock, an easy walk into town and plenty of towpath to walk the dogs. Strange town, very small, very pleasant architecture with a larger than expected number of shops, including a bicycle shop a fabric shop and a butchers amongst others.

So from there to our present location. The wildlife trust is only 100 yards or so away but we wont be visiting as its not something for the dogs and I think we can see enough wildlife without paying for it.

Tomorrow we plan another short hop down to Mapledurham and then our holiday ends and we return to the hard work of the canals at Reading. The Thames has been a joy. I didn’t originally think I would enjoy it but its so different from the canals - travelling at supersonic speeds of up to 5 miles per hour, lock keepers on the majority of locks, if not they are electronically controlled or easy to operate, fast acting water supply points that you don't have to spend 45 minutes at to refill - that is going to be quite a shock going back to the slow speed and the heavy locks, especially as in the first 33 miles of canal there are 44 locks and innumerable swing bridges.

A selection of photos around Abingdon: