Didcot Railway Gala and a Trip Home.

 Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd August 2021 in Goring.

Again, it was unusual to see such a clear early morning mirror reflection on the Thames, but the river  was flowing quite slowly and there was no wind.

We had booked Pierreponts for breakfast again and, while walking up, we found that there was a boat about to leave the mooring, making a space available. So, R quickly went back to MM and brought her up while M chatted to the owner of the departing boat.

What a relief to find a real, relatively secure mooring - not least because we were leaving MM for the day to go to the Didcot Steam Gala.

For safety, we left Guy in charge of MM. He's quite a good Guard Gorilla if you keep him supplied with bananas!

As we were leaving, we saw this very strange craft sail up to the moorings. It definitely looked top heavy.

It had an outboard motor on the back and it seemed that you had to look through it in order to see where you were going!

Didcot Railway Centre Gala was brilliant, with some six engines in steam and lots of movement.

This little engine is the oldest GWR locomotive still operating and it was taking people, including us, for rides.

At the other end of the site, this full scale replica engine was also giving rides. At this point it was reversing to pick up its carriages. We rode on that too! Woohoo!!!

Back in Goring, our dear friend Abbie walked down to MM (she lives close by) and had a glass of wine with us, followed by an excellent Chinese takeaway back at her house.

On Monday morning, we left MM at her mooring in Goring and took the train home. We stayed that night at home and came back by train on Tuesday. That is the first time in ten years that we have left MM overnight on the open waterway and not in a marina.

MM had the weekend off.