Cruising on " Lottie " July to September 2014: Wallingford to Beale Park Moorings

As it was Sunday we decided to walk along the Thames Path back to Wallingford for a look around and breakfast. Before we left we had an e.mail from our friends Peter and Jeanette Earley who are also on this part of the river (they passed us yesterday) and they invited us to raft up on their boat "Joanie M" for a catch up and cuppa. There were some interesting shops in Wallingford, although being Sunday they were closed so we didn't get to look inside any of them. The one that was really amazing in such a small village was the Milliners. There seemed to be hundreds and hundreds of hats filling the place. Then it dawned on us we are now in Royal Berkshire and Ascot and society weddings came to mind so perhaps they are well placed to serve. We had a light breakfast did a bit of top up shopping in Waitrose and headed back to the boat. We then set off in search of Peter and Jeannette who said they were moored a couple of miles downstream from us. The Joanie M" came into view after about half and hour so we gave them a toot! rafted up and got the kettle on. It was good to catch up on all of their travels over the last year and likewise us to them.
We then set off making for Goring in the hope of getting a mooring. It was not to be, as it was Sunday and the cruisers had taken up most of the spaces allocated with a few narrow boats amongst them. So it was plan B and onto Beale Park where we had moored a few years ago. It is a lovely stretch of river with plenty of mooring space on the bankside and a perfect satellite TV reception for our nights viewing. We will probably pay the park a visit tomorrow for our daily exercise.