Saturday 9th June – still windy but some sunshine at last so we headed off to Wallingford and managed to moor downstream of the bridge. It was quite shallow along the bank which meant we were the only boat on the mooring; the narrowboats couldn’t moor without going aground.  One tried, and got stuck in the mud for a good half hour before getting towed off by another narrowboat – which promptly got stuck after going through the bridge and trying to moor on the right hand side.   It was there for a long time half blocking the bridge arch.

Wallingford Bridge

After lunch we explored Wallingford and discovered some geocaches. This involved a fair bit of walking around parts of the town and surrounding countryside that we would not have known existed and at times had some fantastic views of several red kites soaring above the tree tops. I could watch these birds for hours.

We finished our afternoon’s walk in hot sunshine with a refreshing drink at ‘The Boat House’ – fantastic end to a fantastic holiday experience.

A welcome end of holiday drink at the pub

Sunday back through Benson Lock and on to a pontoon at Benson Waterfront. Here we were able to offload our belongings and prepare the boat for road transport back to Cambridgeshire.  I have to say that we got great service from the Guys at Benson.  They are incredibly helpful and its a great location to start any trip on the Thames.

Bye bye Grumpy see you back at Buckden soon……

Grumpy Bear Too was safely delivered back to Buckden Marina on Tuesday by Riverside Marine and Leisure.   Great service from David once again.

Grumpy Bear Too waiting to go home to Buckden