We forgot to finish on our blog yesterday regarding our unusual mooring spot last night. We were going all Robinson Crusoe and had tied ourselves onto two trees.
The Stern.
The Bow.
Toque mastering the plank very easily. It was a great spot next to a large meadow which was full of ducks, geese, swans and all sorts of fowl life. It gave Toque a great place to run around in.
Our plan was to walk into the town of Mapledurham which is a picturesque small village with a water mill, tea room and has one of England’s finest Tudor buildings. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a way from our mooring site into the town so just gave up and headed on up the river.
This is the Whitchurch Toll Bridge that costs you 40p to drive across. There has been a bridge on the site since 1792. The structure was renewed in 1852, 1902 and most recently in 2014. The original charges were a halfpenny each for pedestrians, sheep, boars and pigs, and two pence for each and every wheel of a carriage.
It was then onto the lovely village of Goring which is rated in the guide book as a ”quintessential Thameside Village”.
It’s wealth is obvious with convertible Bentley’s, Tesla’s and Porche’s gliding passed us. It is also where George Michael lived in the Mill House.
We wandered around the village for a bit and then found a great place where we sat and had a coffee and watched the world go by, but, only briefly as we still had a way to go.
The lock at Goring was certainly appealing. On the other side of the river was the town of Streatley. If we hadn’t read that, you wouldn’t have known any different but what is important to know is that Streatley is in the county of Berkshire whilst Goring is in the county of Oxfordshire.
You could easily see this scene on a jigsaw puzzle. We are travelling along an area where the likes of Agatha Christie lived and is buried and the author Kenneth Grahame wrote his children’s classic, The Wind in the Willows.
The villages along this stretch are also well known for location filming for such programs as Midsomer Murders, Miss Markle and the movie The Eagle has Landed but to name a few.
We wanted to moor in the village of Wallingford tonight as this location is used for the fictional town of Causton in Midsomer Murders and Di was keen to have a look around. Alas, all the moorings were taken up by yoghurt pots so we were forced to cruise for another half hour to the village of Benson.
Rowkin Rovings Blog 