Newbury Relax Day - Sunday 5th May 2013

A lovely sunny and warm morning and Phoenix and I walked up the hill in Goldwell Park for a great view over Newbury. Within the park are planted a copse of Oak trees to commemorate the Queens Diamond Jubilee with one oak for each of the past Mayors of Newbury who are still alive. They looked a treat surrounded by daffodils.

After breakfast, the couple on the Braidbar boat came up to tell us they were about to move off with their friends so we moved all of 200yds to the next 24hr mooring just beyond the swing bridge so that we could stay another day in the town without breaking any mooring rules.
No sooner had we moored up than all hell broke out with more boats on the move, both up and down the lock, than we had seen in the whole of the time we had been on the K & A. At one point there was a boat going down the lock, a boat moored on the lock landing and another moored under the bridge right up to where the river joins the canal. The boat going down would not move out because he would have hit the wall opposite as the river current would have forced him over. After a bit of negotiation I got the hire boat to come into the lock before the other boat went out and all was OK. It certainly created a spectacle for the gongoozlers.

June the went off to have some retail therapy and I walked Phoenix down the canal to Newbury Wharf where the old iron crane is still in position and some of the warehouses and transhipment buildings have been turned into a Museum although the wharf itself has been filled in to make a car park.

After walking passed Newbury Marina and onto the first lock I returned via the road and saw what is an unusual sight in this country a South African Shop selling such delicacies' as Boerswors (sausages) and Biltong. When I returned to the boat I mentioned it to Gordon on Nb Shiloh as they had lived in SA for several years and he said that he loved Boerswors. The shop reminded me of the shops we saw in South Africa on our recent visit.

Back in the town there was a Sunday Market in the square next to the Town Hall and I purchased some freshly dressed crab for our dinner. The Crab came from Selsey and the vender knew my brother and sister in law from the market they both attend at Deddington in Oxfordshire.

We had a relaxing afternoon with the river on one side of the boat and the Church with its bells ring on the other, lower down the river just below the lock the people were sat outside the Lock Stock and Barrel pub enjoying the lovely weather.

This picture was taken from the swing bridge looking back up the canal towards where we moored last night with the Mill Warehouse on the right.