The Woolhampton Village Shop.

Tuesday 25th September, 2012 in Aldermaston.
The day dawned bright and fair, but the forecast was that the weather would be unreliable. There are very few shopping facilities around Aldermaston, so we walked up to the little village shop on the A4 in Woolhampton. We only intended to buy some milk, but ended up staying for an hour and a half! It's a delightful little shop run by Steve and Roz and offering local produce as well as the usual staple items.

M immediately noticed that Steve was wearing a splendid "Tour de France" T-shirt. Inevitably a lengthy and lively conversation ensued between them, while R enjoyed an excellent cappuccino.

We ended up sitting outside with another boater, Andy from nb "Molly and Lily," named after his two daughters. It was a trifle noisy, due to the "tin boxes" on the A4 but we very much enjoyed sitting in the sun chatting to Andy over a coffee. We walked back to MM along a delightfully narrow and overgrown footpath.

Our extended visit to the village shop meant that we were a little later than planned leaving Woolhampton - but that's the joy of narrowboating - no one's in a hurry and everyone has time to talk.
The electric swing bridge at Woolhampton presented no problems and as usual, M rejoiced in her ability to bring the traffic to a standstill while R went through with MM.  The River Kennet joins the canal just before the bridge and all the water is funnelled through the narrow gap under the bridge. A resident boat owner, whose boat is moored at this point, has taken wise precautions against the possibility of other boats getting out of control in the fierce current!! 

With all the rain yesterday, the river was running quite fast and so M was quite surprised to see the speed with which MM raced through past the bridge!

We moored up in Aldermaston for lunch, just past the boatyard there, and will stay here for a couple of days as M has to go back to Reigate for choir practice on Wednesday. Apart from one short shower, the rain held off, so we went for a walk up to Ufton Lock and back - a total of about three miles - before tea. In the evening we watched the film "The African Queen," which reminded us of the narrow, reed-infested sections of the canal near Honeystreet!
Today: 2 miles, 2 locks and 2.9 hours.
Trip: 279 miles, 290 locks and 241.4 hours (394.1 total).