Above Eynsham Lock (River Thames) – Wednesday 10th May

A surprise and very pleasant catch up.

Pinkhill lock had no lock–keeper – oh sorry it did!

  

Pinkhill really is a lovely lock which is overlooked by a row of horse chestnut trees.

  

Muffin decided to chat up the canine lock keeper – Riley!

  

I posted a photo when we were in Shepperton of the Lock Cottage with scaffolding all over it – well I reckon a good 60% of the Thames lock cottages have scaffolding on them somewhere.  The Environment Agency must be forking out masses of money to get them all up to scratch.

Pinkhill Lock

Eynsham Lock

We moored above Eynsham Lock where Richard did some more painting on the roof – it is almost finished now – sadly he managed to paint a good t-shirt too ☹  We then sat out on the bank and read – it was so nice to be able to do that in the sunshine.  The mooring on the meadow is really lovely.  This is the view

  

Between us and Swinford Bridge is Swinford Manor Farm where they have started glamping. The tents look really nice on the website though they really are only sleeping tents.  Each tent has electric heating. This is automatically available when booking for April, May and September and available upon request for the remainder of the season. Hot water bottles and extra blankets are also provided for those cooler nights!

 We went for a short walk to the lock and realised just how badly Swinford Toll Bridge is eroding.  The bridge, half a mile from Eynsham, was opened in 1769. It's been described as the finest of the many bridges over the Thames - it was built in the golden age of Georgian architecture, when both design, materials and craftsmanship were all very good.

 Just after the bridge we saw a familiar boat moored but no one was at home.

After some messaging we caught up with Maffi and he and Molly came up to join us on Mary H for the evening.  It was a great evening – I think we talked locks and batteries to death though!

3.44 miles

1 lock