Easter Bank Holiday: Shillingford

On Saturday morning we covered the remaining 7.5 miles to Shillingford and moored up by the Shillingford Bridge Hotel. (It costs £10 to moor overnight and that includes electricity and the use of the hotel's facilities, which I think is good value.) The afternoon was spent walking up the river to Days Lock, enjoying lunch in the sunshine at the Fleur de Lys pub in Dorchester, walking back along the river to Shillingford and relaxing on the boat in the evening. There's a word for days like this: idyllic!

Easter Bank Holiday: Good Friday 'traffic' on the River Thames

We sorted out the problems with the motor (see below) and decided to take advantage of the 4-day Easter Bank Holiday to go as far upstream as we could: to Shillingford. It's 50 miles there and back, which isn't far in driving terms. But in boating terms it's quite a hike because you average about 3.5 miles p/hour on the river (taking into account the speed limit and the time spent getting in and out of locks). So we left London at 10am on Good Friday, arrived at the marina 45 minutes later and set off on the first leg of our trip: 17.5 miles to the The Leatherne Bottel riverside restaurant just above Goring, where we had dinner and moored overnight. It took 5 hours to get there, but as you can see from the photo, it's a very picturesque journey.