Struggling on to Abingdon!

Wednesday 24th October, 2012 in Abingdon.
Clare said how well she had slept on MM, which was nice. Once more the weather was misty, grey and chill. Clare helped R steer on the stern while M plied them both with warm drinks to keep out the cold.

Again the river flow was very strong and at a couple of the bridges, where the river narrows, the current was so fast that we could barely keep moving forward. The section from Clifton Lock to Culham Lock was the only part of the Thames still "Red Boarded" but it is always the last section to clear as it has a very strong flowing weir half way along it.  However, it's not a problem if you know it's there and keep well clear. Today, we travelled for nearly six hours to reach Abingdon.
We moored up in Abingdon just below the town bridge. Again we took the last available space, as there were many boats still waiting to move. Our mooring was opposite our old friend nb "Queen of Hearts" on which we had met our friends Penny and Harry four years ago. M had sent them a text to say we would be in Abingdon, but unfortunately we didn't hear from them.

As we were running a bit short on supplies, we decided to walk into the Waitrose in Abingdon across the lovely old bridge for a "few bits."

It's a good thing there were three of us as the "few bits" were even heavier than ever!!
Today: 10 miles, 3 locks and 5.7 hours.
Trip: 331 miles, 321 locks and 317.9 hours (471.8 total).