M down in the Engine Room and a New Battery.

Tuesday 27th July 2021 at Henley.

Once more, the engine was started with the jump leads and we cruised up to Maidenhead where we moored up and R set off in search of Halfords (a mile away) and a new battery.

Not long after, R called M from Halfords because he had forgotten to measure the old battery before he left and he asked M to measure it while he waited on the other end of the phone. M blanched at the prospect because it involved lifting the heavy engine cover, then standing on the engine and carefully lowering herself down on to the baseplate next to the, still quite hot, engine. M has only short legs and the base plate is a long way down! All this with a tape measure in one hand and her mobile phone in the other to get directions. The failed battery is not easy to access and measuring it involved leaning over the hot engine. Having successfully completed the task, M declared that she never, ever, wants to do that again; although in the future she will have a greater appeciation of what is involved when she asks R to get the washing line out of the engine room (it normally sits on top of the battery box!).

While sitting on the back deck recovering from her ordeal, M noticed a number of media broadcast vans on the road next to us. A passing lady asked if we were aware of where we had moored up; M said we weren't. So the lady explained that the house opposite was where Tom Dean, (who won two gold medals at the Olympics) lives, and both TV and radio were there to interview the family. Apparently, the entire neighbourhood had congregated in the family's garden at 3:00am and the celebrations went on well into the night!

R eventually arrived by taxi, due the the weight of the battery, and quickly installed it. It worked! Hurrah!

We set off through Maidenhead's beautiful old road bridge.

 At Boulter's Lock, the lockkeeper busied himself looking after the pretty gardens while the lock was filling. Good man!

 

Cliveden House, infamous as the site of huge political sex scandals in the 1960's but now a highly respectable National Trust property.

  We smiled at this, a kid's canoe club all gathered around a large "Danger" sign!

By now it was getting late and we had been on the go since early morning. Despite the fact that several mooring sites were marked on the map along that stretch of the river, there was no sign of them in reality. However, R knew that there were lovely moorings just north of Henley and we eventually stopped there just as the warden arrived to collect our £12 mooring fee, which we were very happy to pay.

Today: 14 miles, 6 locks and 6.2 hours.

Trip: 330 miles,188 locks and 168.9 hours.