Layover in Reading

As we approach Reading we spy a lovely bank which looks ripe for mooring.....
Not So!    No Mooring signs abound.

Further along in fron of some apartments there are more No Mooring signs although we wonder how official they are.
These signs just add fuel to Geoffey`s grumping about being on the Thames....

However we found the town moorings just before Reading bridge and there was space so we have a nice convenient spot.

Just after we arrived we saw the boats who were swan upping.
Note the new pedestrian bridge over the river which is very convenient.

with Her Majesty`s banner

There are 2 relatively new boats moored a little way behind us with these strange notices on...
Intriguing

One of the boats is a wide beam and the other a barge type, both nice enough looking boats and I must admit to a certain curiosity about the notices.

The African Queen
Note the ripples on the water....the wind was blowing very strongly Thursday and Friday

An extra large swan guarding the cygnets......it gave me a filthy look as I took the photo...

I managed a night out in London with Emma and Dave...the excuse was to collect our prescription.....good meal out at Cote for their early bird menu......and a trip to their local greasy spoon for brunch on Saturday.   Later Emma and I got on the scales in Boots.........maybe that was a mistake!   The new bridge makes it extremely convenient to reach the station from here.

The sun has shone for part of our stay here but we have also had a lot of wind and rain.

Sunday was the day I walked too much!   The church Geoff wanted to go to was a good half hours walk, then shopping in Aldi followed by another fair stretch for Sunday lunch in the Toby Carvery Geoff had found........not one of our better decisions.....

The service was poor and the queue for the carvery was horrendous.....right up Geoff`s street!  In addition there was a family with a screaming child......however in its favour the cost of the carvery does not seem to have increased since our last visit which must be a couple of years ago at least.

So onward we go tomorrow, probably as far as Sonning if we can find a mooring.   First of all I have to go to town to fill our prescriptions and we hope to stop at Tescos for a stock up.   Geoff walked over whilst I was away and thought there seemed to be a lot of long term moorers there so hope  we can squeeze in somewhere......otherwise he'll be grumping again.....