Well we left Frouds Bridge Marina as planned on Monday.  Did one lock and then moored up for lunch.  As we were finishing a boat came through the lock, so we joined up with them for the lift bridge at Aldermaston Wharf followed by another 4 locks and 4 swing bridges.  The boat was called Harlequin, and on board were Colin and Sandra.  Colin is Australian, but that isn’t his fault.  We moored together and they came on board for a beer that evening.  The next day we cruised together, finding a good cafe for lunch and arriving at Reading about 4.  Wednesday found Paul and I shopping in Reading, and we did manage to spend 6 hours and a fair bit of money!! So we finished off the day by going to Pizza Express (other restaurants are available) with Colin and Sandra in the evening.  Today we set off again with Harlequin through the first lock on the Thames, Blake’s Lock.  Here we parted company as they were heading east towards London and us west towards Oxford.  We got on well together and will definitely keep in touch.  Well good smells are now coming from the galley, so must away as dinner calls.

We spent a lovely 10 days in Poland with Richard.  We got the train, travelling first class, to Cracow for 3 nights in the middle of it.  First visit for Richard too.  We visited the Salt Mines, amazing place, huge caverns with salt chandeliers and statues.  We took a horse and trap ride around the city and visited the castle.  On our last night we went to a football match with Richard to watch Wroclaw win 1-0.  So now we are back on board and about to head out on to the canal to continue towards Reading.

Well the weather has been warmer again and cruising has been very pleasant.  We spent a night in Hungerford.  We had paired with a boat called Octarine for the locks leading down from Great Bedwyn and when we got to Hungerford the 5 of us went off to the pub for lunch.  We had a couple more night stops before we got to Newbury on Friday.  Spent a couple of nights there.  The mooring is by the park which is right in the middle of the town, so handy for a bit of retail therapy!!  Also there is a launderette not too far from the canal, so we are all sorted for a while!!  Yesterday we arrived at Froudes Bridge Marina near Aldermaston.  Falcon will stay here while we go to Poland to see Richard for 10 days.  So it will be about 22^nd of September before we are out on ‘the cut’ again.  So until then bye for now.

Well we are now spending our second night at a little place called Great Bedwyn.  The next place we will come to is Little Bedwyn!!  None of the villages around are very big.  Since I last wrote we have passed through Pewsey and also the Bruce Tunnel along the summit of the canal, bringing us to Crofton Locks and the pumping station.  The moorings there are nice so we spent 2 nights.  Have had a couple of nice days so Paul has been touching up some of our paintwork.  Looking quite posh for the moment, but don’t suppose that will last for long.  We are headed now towards Hungerford, then on to Newbury.  In just over a weeks time we will be flying out to Poland to see Richard, looking forward to that as we haven’t seen him since New Year.  Take care all.