An elderly couple both with walking sticks turn onto the towpath behind us. We wave good morning and they wave back. 5 minutes later I look back and am horrified that they are almost alongside! I quietly lean forward and up the throttle - mustn't let them win! Seconds later the old lady stops - a stone in her shoe. Great! this means we can win and we are fifty yards ahead by the time they move off again. Over the next 30 minutes thy slowly reel us in until at the next lock they are right alongside again. Sadly we do have to stop at locks, whilst they hobbled sedately by. By the time we were out the other side, they were long gone. Drat! Beaten. I realised it was the same feeling you get when you are out-dragged by the car next to you at the traffic lights!
Lots of 'live aboard' boaters plant flowers in tubs and place them all over the boat. Passed one rusty bucket displaying the usual tubs of plants without another thought. Annie announces in hushed tones.... see those tubs? Its weed! Well they do need weeding a bit - very untidy. Penny drops... ah! Then - and how do you know?
Annie spotted 2 cormorants perched in a tree and we later spotted them fishing. Thought they were sea birds! but bird book says they can live inland.
During the afternoon we met several hire boats returning to their hire base at Reading Marine after their hire period. All were going far too fast - are these people given any instruction before they are let loose? The last one just kept coming at us on full throttle, despite a fallen tree sticking well into the canal - right where we were going to meet them. He just glanced us, ripping off one of our fenders, before piling into the bank. We left him trying to remove his grounded boat from up on the mud which was some consolation!
Got back to Frounds Bridge around 6pm - what an excellent weekend.
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