Reading. A strange place to visit in Winter (or anytime perhaps ?)

Why on earth would anyone go to Reading in the winter? Or the summer for that matter. Well, the answer was simple - to see Graham and Pat . They haven't starred on here recently but were the folks responsible for pointing out Patrick's eerie resemblance to the dangerous chicken in Wallace and Grommit's  "The wrong trousers" film. They also have a tartan trolley shopper ready for us in Samos  (Greek island ) that we just have to go and collect.  So, so tempting as this is the view from their terrace and we would be anchored just where you see the white yacht:

Why are we going back to soggy Scotland this summer?? Any answers and suggestions for suitable therapy will be happily received.

We had a couple of very chilled days with them, enjoying a nostalgic walk along the river Thames - an area where we used to do our boating several years ago, only escaping to sea once a year.

Here is the famous Henley bridge view :

And Marsh lock which was always exciting for us  - we kept our boat in Bray marina and a typical weekend was a run up to Henley and back. Marsh lock was one further upstream and if we went through it, it meant vacation time!!

This calm looking picture doesn't show just how hard the stream was running (see the red warning board on the lock) or the chaotic water just behind us near the weir.

What did we do / have on the Thames? Well, here is our first river boat (a Seamaster 813 for those who are interested, under different ownership ):

And the second, a Broom 30 (like the Seamaster, photographed under new ownership whilst on the Norfolk Broads):

This felt seriously up-market with twin engines and an upper steering position too. Our last boat based at Bray was a Broom European. You can Google one or look at our post from Dartmouth last spring. Sometime we will post some pictures of the other boats we kept on the coast. This isn't the time though.

Enough ancient history. We were spoilt rotten by Graham and Pat, returning to Penarth by train happy, full of good food and with that content feeling. Patrick giving us the cold shoulder (it was 1 degree centigrade) upon our return didn't dent our mood too much either.