Dorchester R Thame Tuesday August 30 2016

Not such an early start this morning after a very quiet night last night. The temperature actually dropped into single figures early this morning and there was a very heavy dew.

We were away at 8-45 am and shared all the locks. One was on self service so no lock keeper present, we went up with 2 other Narrowboats and although the lock is supposed to be 133 ft long, I didn’t have a bollard behind me and I had to hold the tiller over to miss the walkways, maybe the chap at the front was holding back.

Today has been a day of Kingfishers but I only managed to photograph one of them, we saw two chasing each other and I managed to capture this one flying, you can see his shadow below him. We passed L’Orage looking as lovely as ever. For those that don’t know she is one of the Little Ship that went to Dunkirk to help with the evacuation and was owned for a long time by Raymond Baxter.

This strange structure is I think an artificial cliff for Sand Martins to nest in, I have no idea how successful it is but there is a Sand Martin Charity

 

Approaching Benson Lock from below you have to keep well to the left as you come up to the lock moorings as the area is very shallow and protected by these green buoys. Tonight we planned to moor in a spot we have used before when we have been this way, its the mouth of the River Thame which runs up to Dorchester. Luckily for us there was no one else there. There is now a charity doing conservation work on the river, cutting weed and pollarding trees but there are still several half fallen trees near the entrance which is a very sharp S bend so I decided not to try to get to town this time. I do know people that have done it. While I have been typing this (do you type on a computer?) a couple in a canoe have just been up to the town and back.

Today’s Journey 

13 Miles, 3 locks in 4¾ hours