Our Dutch barge Karanja‘s second trip, upriver again from Thames & Kennet Marina to Goring, was more eventful than our maiden voyage (see previous post) – but all good practice.
After a bit of traffic, the Karanja came up to Caversham Lock behind a hire boat under the control (understand that I use the term loosely) of two retirement-age couples: this was their first lock, they said. We were to share it with them, along with another two boats that came in behind us. That the wine was flowing freely probably didn’t help, and it was with relief that we passed the revellers before the next lock. So, two new experiences: sharing a lock with other boats, and having to sound our horn to request another boat to move to starboard when it’s about to be passed.
Goring Lock and its adjacent weir
Goring was as lovely as our marina friends had promised. We were lucky to score the last space on the 24-hour free mooring, on the right, just before Goring Lock.
Our mooring at Goring…
… and from the other side
It’s an exquisite old waterside village of flint-and-brick dwellings, complete with desirable facilities for its evidently affluent villagers. We popped into: McColl’s store (for milk); The John Barleycorn Inn (Strongbow on tap, hake goujons and herby olives in a sunny garden); The Goring Grocer (scrumptious fare straight out of their oven, including the best and fattest pork-herb-garlic sausage rolls ever); and The Miller of Mansfield, an 18th-century coach-house with an award-winning restaurant (for dinner).
The Miller at Goring
Roy in the beer garden at John Barleycorn, Goring
Our marina friends also highly recommend Italian restaurant Rossini’s, and neighbouring Moulsford’s Beetle and Wedge Boathouse, doubly immortalised in Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows and Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat. We’ll have to do that next time.
And I made a new friend on the towpath – a South African called Michelle, who told me how to deal with cattle that might block your way. (There literally was a bull at a gate.) “Make yourself as big as you can,” she advised. “Hold your arms wide, move them back and forth, and go ‘Wo, wo!’ as you march forward, to show them who’s boss.” Well, I’ll know for next time. Thanks, Michelle!
Above: Charming sign in Goring’s village green; Below: Goring lockhouse
Homeward bound
Though we’d sworn to be fair-weather sailors, and it was raining quite steadily, after two nights in peaceful Goring it was time to head home to our berth at Thames & Kennet Marina.
Three hours of cruising downriver through the rain brought a few new firsts:
* Turning into the downstream current from our berth
* A brief encounter with the lock wall at Whitchurch, where we lost about six inches of paint from the “rubbing straight” – that’s what it’s for, isn’t it?
* Practising an emergency stop
* Coming up to canoeists spread across the river right where we needed to turn across the river to enter the marina
* Berthing in the marina in the face of a strong wind – not easy!
The more we cruise, the more we learn about handling a barge in various conditions. Our next trip will be downstream to Sonning, which involves negotiating the reputedly tricky Sonning Bridge.
