M found the traffic noise in Newbury intrusive after the peace of the rural places we have been recently. We were moored alongside Victoria Park in the centre of Newbury between two road bridges, a pretty location but very noisy during the day.
Dennis & Co on nb "Turtle Dove" waved as they set off east and shortly afterwards, nb "Barneswood" passed us, heading back east at quite a rate of knots. They waved goodbye too!
M packed our travelling case, while R started off east towards Newbury Marina where are leaving MM to go home for a few days. R backed MM into the berth very close to the three other Kingsground boats in the Marina, "Rachel Linden", "Splash" and "Morse," and very close to the smallest narrowboat we have ever seen: nb "Victoria".
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We walked to Newbury Railway Station to catch the train, which the indicator boards were warning was "full and standing." Hardly surprising, as it was the train from Cornwall and it is the last few days of the school holidays. Naturally it was far too much to expect First Great Western to put on additional carriages at a peak travelling time!
We went to the very last door of the train, hoping to find it less crowded and were surprised to find ourselves in a Guard's Van! We didn't know that they still had such things. There were just two bicycles in the Guard's Van and a door with a "Do Not Enter" sign on it. So we stayed put until we were about to pull into Reading (the next stop), when the Guard walked in through the "Do Not Enter" door. He was horrified to see us there and said we had to leave ("more than his job's worth") and walk through the carriage to get off - obviously the rules said that we should not have been there, although there was nothing on the outside door to discourage entrance! We felt like two naughty children caught getting up to mischief!!!
And so home to Reigate for a few days. We will be back on MM on Thursday.
Today: 1 mile, 1 lock and 0.8 hours.
Trip: 250 miles, 257 locks and 211.7 hours (362.8 total).
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