THEALE > READING (Big bad city)
Last night in a quiet mooring just before Theale, I looked out of the window and saw, silhouetted against the moonlight, the stalks of grass covered in dew and the meadow beyond blanketed in a quiet fog that was so thick it looked like dry ice. Everything was so still. It felt like I was the only person awake in the world.
To me, that is the essence of travelling. When you capture a moment, that you otherwise would have been completely unaware of. And you realise, that as you go about your daily business - moments like this happen across the world which sort of puts your shit into perspective. You don’t have to hit the tropical beaches of Brazil to figure that out - you can get that moment in Theale and it’s why I’ll always keep moving.
The following morning we set off early on our journey to Reading. Though it was only 5 hours of boating - there were a lot of new challenges for us and we found it pretty tiring - a few notes to be aware of for anyone else planning that route:
Reading is big and sprawling where lots of people march around with alarmingly furrowed brows, shouting down their phones or checking their wristwatches. On the opposite end of the scale, we saw lots of homelessness. Cardboard boxes in doorways, park benches, and tents in parks and along the waterside. There’s a huge and boring high street with quite a few pubs and bars around and there’s lots of waterside parks with the Thames and the canal to enjoy. Town planning consent was obviously just waved here so aesthetically some of the buildings are eyewateringly ugly.
Refering back to the first paragraph, on the theme of 'putting your shit into perspective' we found an ethical food store The True Food Community which provided bulk buy and package free dried goods - you can pick up pasta, rice, bread, grains, dried fruits etc here without any of the useuless wrapping it comes in. Also does Ecover refills. It's a good shop to stop by and stock up on dried goods just remember to take some containers with you to fill up with the goodies.
Ok - that's it for Theale > Reading because tomorrow we set off on our first leg of the Thames and that is biiiiig.
To me, that is the essence of travelling. When you capture a moment, that you otherwise would have been completely unaware of. And you realise, that as you go about your daily business - moments like this happen across the world which sort of puts your shit into perspective. You don’t have to hit the tropical beaches of Brazil to figure that out - you can get that moment in Theale and it’s why I’ll always keep moving.
The following morning we set off early on our journey to Reading. Though it was only 5 hours of boating - there were a lot of new challenges for us and we found it pretty tiring - a few notes to be aware of for anyone else planning that route:
- Fobney Lock has been designed by a sadist. The Nicholson Guide does point it out to you but it doesn’t point out that you need to be a wizard to navigate it. The problem is that the landing station on the other side is very short and there is no towpath so if you get it wrong and miss your crew, then they’re walking to reading - but the torrents of water coming from either side really don’t help! If you have crew, have them wait for the boat on the landing stage and THEN go back and close the lock up.
- For County Lock moor up under the Inner Distribution Road bridge on the opposite side to the towpath. Head off and operate the shallowest lock ever and then swing the boat in with some gusto to avoid the weir. At the end of the lock is a tiny landing station, with a traffic light. Press the button if it’s red and be patient, we waited for about 15 minutes. Prepare yourself for a winding navigation right through the shopping centre - we found it very surreal after a month of rural surroundings.
- None of the bridges after County lock are numbered, which makes it easy to miss the turn for the temporary mooring before Watlington St Bridge. The turning is two bridges after the pretty stone bridge, and if you go past 3 big recycling pods on the right then you have probably gone too far.
Reading - right through the middle of it
Reading is big and sprawling where lots of people march around with alarmingly furrowed brows, shouting down their phones or checking their wristwatches. On the opposite end of the scale, we saw lots of homelessness. Cardboard boxes in doorways, park benches, and tents in parks and along the waterside. There’s a huge and boring high street with quite a few pubs and bars around and there’s lots of waterside parks with the Thames and the canal to enjoy. Town planning consent was obviously just waved here so aesthetically some of the buildings are eyewateringly ugly.
Refering back to the first paragraph, on the theme of 'putting your shit into perspective' we found an ethical food store The True Food Community which provided bulk buy and package free dried goods - you can pick up pasta, rice, bread, grains, dried fruits etc here without any of the useuless wrapping it comes in. Also does Ecover refills. It's a good shop to stop by and stock up on dried goods just remember to take some containers with you to fill up with the goodies.
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| True Food Community |
Ok - that's it for Theale > Reading because tomorrow we set off on our first leg of the Thames and that is biiiiig.
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