We began the day with a shopping trip into Marlow - lots of small shops, restaurants and boutiques. Both supermarkets (Waitrose and Sainsburys) were on the small side but well stocked. The hardware shop was a real 'Tardis': a narrow street frontage but which went a long way back and had at least as many lines as the more famous 'sheds'. Indeed, we were able to buy some of the MR11 connectors we had previously hoped to get at Reading.
The rest of the day was a gentle cruise downstream. Being a bright, sunny and warm weekend, there were more boats on the move - and very varied. Several large converted barges passed on the way up as well a number of trip boats from Windsor and Runneymede.
Windsor Racecourse is alongside the river. Even more than further up the river, the properties adjoining the water were expensive-looking and sometimes just a little eccentric.
We had failed to buy an extended licence yesterday and for most of the day the locks were either unmanned or the keepers took very little notice as we passed through. Eventually, however, at Old Windsor we encountered one with a keen eye for licences (or the lack of them) but Christine managed to persuade him to upgrade our two day licence for a fifteen day one. Actually, that was what we had expected to purchase in the first place but were persuaded otherwise by the lock keeper at Oxford.
As we passed through Windsor, close to the castle, it did look as if everyone was out enjoying the weather and at some locks we were the side show for quite a sizable audience!
Negotiating the licence took some time so we decided to moor overnight before the next lock after Old Windsor where there were extensive public moorings.
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