Day 150 and we started early to try to get as far as possible before the weather deteriorated too much. We also want to get through Aldermaston swing bridge before they shut it for the weekend. Saw a horse boat at Kintbury being readied for a trip, managed to get past them before they set off, but their passengers were arriving as we went by.

Wind got up as day went on, really battling the weather (60ft boats aren’t the easiest in high winds) gusts of about 45mph according to the web. Made getting into some locks tricky at times, needing all our skills to do so successfully. Didn’t see any other boat moving for three hours, finally caught up another boat going our way for the last lock. Bits of tree and conkers falling into the cut. The conkers were like small depth charges going in. Found a good mooring on the west side of Newbury. Managed to get the shopping run done, including the local butcher, before it started to rain.

Day 151 and managed to get through the first swing bridge before it started to rain, but then it tipped down as we went through the first lock. Needed water and diesel so stopped for an hour in Newbury. At least the rain had stopped when we moved on. Not quite as windy as yesterday whilst we were moving but again very little traffic and we only caught up another boat at our last lock. Had help from a volunteer at Monkey Marsh lock, this is one of two turf sided locks on the canal, they take huge amounts of water and are really strange to be in as vegetation appears on slopes around you. They must be a nightmare for single handers as can only get on/off the boat in the lock at a very few places.

Stopped just above Woolhampton lock. This lock is in combination with a tricky pass through a lift bridge and a fast stream coming in at the bottom of the lock, we’ll leave that for tomorrow. Wind getting up as night came on.