Many Meetings: Breakfast in Pierreponts with Linda, Water Woes, and Gilly and Den Visit.

Friday 30th July 2021 back at Reading.

Early morning in Goring. Rare to get a very clear mirror image opposite our mooring on such a large fast flowing river.

Pierreponts in Goring is one of our favourite breakfast venues and we had arranged to meet M's good friend Linda (from their school days) at the restaurant for breakfast at 8:30 when it opened. Linda was there already when we arrived. R had his usual boiled egg with Marmite soldiers. Love the egg cosy! Even though Pierreponts has changed hands since we first went there, the food and service are still excellent.

M and Linda always knew that they had been at junior school together but, in the course of conversation today, they discovered that they were also at the same infant school at Sidlow Bridge in 1952, nearly 70 years ago!

Although we were taking Linda back to Reading (where we needed to be tonight), we were very short of water and so first had to go in the opposite direction through Goring and Cleeve locks to get water at Cleeve. There are very few water points on the Thames and there was a queue for water. There are two taps, but the flow is very slow and the Environment Agency has put rediculous restrictors on the taps, so that if your hose is a bit thin or too long, water gushes out from the tap and the flow is even slower. Quite how this waste of water is environmentally friendly is beyond us. In the end, the flow was so slow that we only filled to half way or we would be there still (we will be coming past here again on Tuesday to top up).

As we arrived at Mapledurham lock, this trip boat arrived. The Captain had a lock key and so could operate the lock like a lockkeeper. He decided that it would be safer if he went in first as he had a new crew and didn't want to run into us! Good thing that he was there, as the bottom lock gates kept on getting out of sequence and he was able to override them.

We had arranged to meet up with Gilly and Den at Reading. We were hoping to take them for a trip but a series of delays meant that, by the time we got to Reading, it was too late. Also the only mooring we could find was right under the footbridge, tied up to a tree and a buddleia bush! Some of the boats on the south side of the river had even resorted to tying up to the "No Mooring" notices in desperation! There really is a woeful lack of moorings on this popular river during the summer holiday season.

Fortunately, Gilly and Den seemed happy just to come on board to see MM and have afternoon tea. Afterwards, they made their way back to their car across the footbridge. It was so nice to see then again after so long.