Gorgeous Goring on Thames

-

Last weekend we made it up to Pangbourne and this weekend we put in the extra hour and went to Goring on Thames. We left Wargrave just before 3pm and moored up at 7.20pm. Four and a half hours is a long treck but I'd rather be in a boat on the river than in a car on the M4. Especially on a Bank Holiday Friday! Goring is really beautiful and we're looking forward to going on long walks in the surrounding countryside next time around. The only problem - apparently - is that it can be quite difficult to get a mooring because a) there aren't that many and b) it's a very popular spot. But it's worth if if you do. We had dinner at The Miller of Mansfield which is a restaurant, bar and hotel. The bar is very 'country pub' and the restaurant is very 'sleek boutique'. Great food and a very friendly service. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough lighting where we were sitting. I had to hold the menu over the tealight to be able to read it and couldn't really see all the yummy things that were in my salad, which meant I missed out on the visual pleasure of eating. And in the morning (as our toilet wasn't working - long story) we had a delicious breakfast at Pierreponts Cafe on the High Street. Then it was back to Wargrave to try and fix the toilet (which we did - hurrah!) and get to the bottom of why the engine cut out on us three times. After a bit of investigating we discovered there was a leak in the fuel system and air was getting into the engine. As it wasn't something we could fix ourselves, we decided to stay put at the Marina on Saturday night and head back to London on Sunday. A short bank holiday, but a lovely one regardless.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Along the River Thames: Richmond's Riverside Restaurant Reviews

-
I sometimes wonder whether I should change the name of this blog to 'Eating along the River Thames', because we do a lot of it. But there's a good reason for this. I see our weekends on the boat as a chance to get away from it all and relax. For me that means not having to cook, clean and wash up (in a tiny sink). So I take porridge & fruit for breakfast - and I make the porridge in advance by mixing it with apple juice and yogurt. Not only is it delicious, but it also eliminates the need to cook. And I take some cold cuts for lunch - although if we're going on long walk we often stop off at a country pub for a bite to eat instead. And in the evening we head to the nearest cafe or restaurant for dinner. Needless to say, as we've been spending quite a lot of time on the river since we got our boat last September, we've been to quite a few: La Bodega , the Sweet Olive , The Angel on the Bridge , Cafe Buendia and the Royal China in Henley; T...
Read more

The UK's last self hammering mooring stake

-
Image
I've spent the last few months looking for one of these: a self hammering mooring stake.  Because when we're mooring along the bank and Mr J wants me to secure the bow rope as quickly as possible, the stake and mallet option sometimes takes too long. Plus it's hard work. So when some friends showed me their self hammering stakes, I decided to get one. But first I had to find them.  My friends couldn't remember where they'd got theirs from and our local chandleries had never heard of them. So it was over to google. After hours searching the internet and cross referencing different key words, I came across a few forums that mentioned automatic mooring stakes. The good news was that the descriptions matched what I had in mind. The bad news was that apparently they didn't exist any more. Undeterred I kept looking and discovered that Viking Marine  in Goole used to stock them. So I picked up the phone and spoke to a lovely lady called Sue. There was more good news ...
Read more