Valmik's Adventures: Day 3 on the Thames

Summary

Early in 2008 I bought a little, old wooden Folkboat called Valmik. I was going to spend a few months on repairs and begin sailing her around Europe, with Australia being the final destination. As my knowledge of boats improved, so did the thoroughness of the restoration. I decided to become very involved in every aspect of construction, doing almost all of the work myself: making my own sails, doing the fit out and all woodwork, splicing my own rig and wiring in the 12 volt electric circuit. Self-reliance, I suppose, is the goal. Follow the link to my photo albums for a detailed documentation of the work and some videos.

For a long time now, I have been striving to achieve my goals and begin an adventure. I had planned to complete a circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland in the summer of 2015 with my wife. Unfortunately, this will not be possible and I went back to work. Valmik is ready to sail, however, and I am finally in a position to start enjoying her for what she was designed for. Of course there is a never ending list of modifications and enhancements with a small section for repairs. I will be sailing as much as possible and documenting my adventures on this blog.

My plan is to build up to a epic solo sailing Adventure.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Day 3 on the Thames

We woke up in Henley this morning to a beautiful sunny day. There was frost on the fore deck and it was very quiet even this close to town. The boat had not come to collect their mooring fees, oh well we had to go.

The cruise today was again stunning with lots of gorgeous scene's which gradually appeared into view as we motored up the meandering river. After Marsh lock there is a special little stretch with a row of amazing house's which appears after a maze of wild islands. The next lock which is called Shiplake was my favourite lock. It is a very pretty and well maintained lock with rolling hills in the distance and a colourful welcoming willow overhanging the river.

The river is very lush at the moment and we are lucky to not have much traffic at all.

Today as we were enjoying the scenery a small arched bridge appeared before us. Sonning bridge it is and we soon discovered that it had a powerful fast flowing weir stream cutting across the path you must take. The arch we needed to aim for suddenly became very difficult to line up for. I needed to step on the power and get back on course. It was a relief to come out of the powerful cross stream and snap back on course just as we entered the archway.