The Queen's 90th Birthday and MM's 2,500th.

Friday 24th August 2018 at Crofton Pumping Station.
Sunrise highlighted the mist rising on the canal in the early morning.

Reflection in the still waters of the canal reminded us of David's narrowboat "Still Waters", which went ahead of us last night and we hope to catch up with him again this morning.

Nb "Simply Messing" went past us at 8:00am, heading for the next lock, just as we were preparing breakfast. A hasty decision was taken to follow them and "buddy up" to go through the locks together as it is so much easier with two. There are two locks close together to get up on to the summit pound (the highest stretch of the canal), which is about three miles long. The gap in locks across the summit gave R a chance to eat his porridge on the go.

There is a tunnel on the summit pound, which took M by surprise; so she came through the tunnel instead of walking over it. She was disappointed, as it is the only tunnel on this canal and she does enjoy walking over them. She contented herself with trying to take a photograph inside the tunnel. Those are R's legs - he was perched up on the "Barry Seats"!

Having done 54 locks going up since Bristol, we now approached the first of 53 locks going down towards Reading. The GWR trains run very close to the canal along here!

MM and "Simply Messing" approached the penultimate lock before Crofton.

Since M had been walking ahead to set each next lock, she walked on to check the moorings opposite the pumping station and was delighted to find that David on "Silent Waters" had arrived and moored up just a few minutes before us. She was also happy to see that there was space for us to moor up in front of him. R brought MM into the mooring, while "Simply Messing" teamed up with another boat that was just leaving and carried on through the next locks.

The main line runs between the canal and the pumping station and we were delighted to see this GWR engine celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday.

David's lovely collie dog "Sky" decided that R was a soft touch to throw sticks for her. She really is a gorgeous dog, 11 years old, but she looks and acts like a youngster - very well behaved too.

The four of us (including Sky) decided to walk up to the pumping station for a cuppa in the café. We met an enthusiastic volunteer tending, what he called, a "small fire" in the boiler, which is started on Thursday morning and is designed to "warm everything up". Tomorrow morning at about 7:00am they will light a "proper" fire to start making steam.

On the outside of the building is a plaque celebrating that the older of the two engines was installed in 1812 and is the oldest steam engine in the world, still in its original location and still fully capable of performing the task for which it was installed.

Access to the pumping station from the canal is via a tunnel under the railway line. A friendly sign!

After coffee and cake in the café, we came back to find both boats firmly aground with a distinct list. We had to push them well away from the edge to get them afloat again.

Today, MM passed the milestone of 2,500 hours of cruising and she has hardly missed a beat. Thank you MM for carrying us all this way safely and comfortably.
Today: 4 miles, 8 locks and 2.9 hours.
Trip: 220 miles, 127 locks and 150.1 hours.