Woke up to find the weather most excellent! One of those really warm days - the heat is still a novelty after the cold of winter, and the mosquitoes haven't hatched yet in numbers sufficient to make life a misery.
Left Frouds Bridge Marina at 10:15 and turned right, heading towards Reading.
Met up with nb Apollo (Nigel and Annie) at Aldermaston Wharf and teamed up with them for the day - the Kennet & Avon is blessed with double locks (which is great) which unfortunately means double gates (which is not great). They are big and heavy and with two boats sharing the workload you get along much quicker. Its also nice to have someone to natter to while waiting for locks to empty and fill.
Apollo was in the process of forsaking the Kennet & Avon in favour of the Grand Union Canal. Marinas are more expensive darn' sarf, so they were upping sticks to the Midlands, saving a cool £1400 a year in Marina fees.
Note to self: Learn brummy. It may come in useful one day!
By lunchtime we were creaming passed Burghfield Lake where we keep and race the RS Vision. A wistful pang popped to the surface but a quick look up into the trees stopped the pang dead in its tracks - not a breath of wind! Once passed the lake, the canal disappears beneath the M4 motorway, a sharp and noisy reminder of 21st century bustle and get-there-in-a-straight-line efficiency. Wonderful as it was to meet with silence again, we were quickly reminded of 18th century sod-it-that-will-do technology where the canal (vaguely straight) joins the unimproved meandering river (wildly torturous). Navigating a 54 foot 15 ton narrowboat around sharp bends when you cant see 50 feet ahead because of the trees and with a fast current going your way - is close to a roller coaster ride (except you don't pull as many Gs). Meeting a similar length narrow-boat parked on the outside of one of those bends gave me a chance to display my steering skills. Except I didn't have them with me at that moment - Bang!
After another lock (7th today) we pulled in at the Cunning Man for a swift one. We waved goodbye and good luck to Apollo and all aboard her. The Doom Bar is off at the moment but will be back on tonight so I think we may tarry awhile....
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