Beth said she wanted an adventure, so we had a few!
First, she deserves special mention here, because she stayed awake and alert for over 24 hours, map reading for over 20 of them! She claimed never to have navigated any route in a car before, but although a little hesitant at first, could have fooled me for most of the time.
She got us to a place I had struggled to find in the past, managed to get us to places even when I drove past turnings, working out the alternative routes as we went, predicted features to navigate by & stayed remarkably calm about the whole thing. Remember much of this was by torchlight, in the wilds of Wiltshire, rural Berkshire, busy Reading, Windsor or even Central London. They say women can’t map read, blondes in particular – they got it wrong this time. She even seemed to enjoy it!
However, in the middle of the night things went a little awry … twice! I share the responsibility here, I’ve supported DW more than a dozen times & been map reading for over 40 years.
We found Thatcham Lock OK, we found car parking for Aldermaston Lock OK, but struggled to recognise where the lock was in the dark. Three of us had actually been there only a few weeks ago, but the chair used as a turn marker on Waterside B had been moved, so Cat & Gilly had just run past before we spotted it.
Then the trouble started. Both of us suffer from the same short term memory dysfunction – remembering the direction we arrived from. From Aldermaston it should have been a short journey back to the A4 – 2 minutes. Instead of north we headed south, eventually driving past Altermaston Depot, the scene of the 1960s/80s/2004 peace demonstrations. Well we might be lost, but it was of historical significance to those of a hippy disposition. I was a bit concerned that we might get arrested if we drove past too many times.
How could we get that wrong?Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of Ordnance Survey, © Crown copyright.Finding our way back to the lock, we restarted and got it right, but having delayed a bit decided that we might miss them at the next lock & went to Froud’s Bridge with ease. Well it seemed easy, but the 500 metre run down the road in pitch darkness … in the wrong direction, was a bit bizarre. We were actually parked right next to the bridge. In the end, it was not a good venue for spotting a crew in the dark, so we headed off for Dreadnought Reach, the other side of Reading.
I had spent ages looking for this the first time it was used as a compulsory portage & finally given up! Beth was not phased by this fact and took us straight there. It was a welcome comfort break, a chance to chat to old friends for me & to see kit changes & some more of the crews as they passed through.
A few of the next sequence of Locks are barred to supporters, awkward to get to, or involve long runs. Unless you need to get there, they are best left alone. Someone would be there anyway, so we went straight to Marlow with little difficulty except for a wrong turn that I always seem to make, just before the lock. I think I say this every time I do it & still do it next time. Cat & Gilly passed through it good spirits, after a little massage & some refreshments.
After that, things got a little strange. We left Marlow OK, but whether I took a wrong turn, or the road had been changed, we never found Old Windsor which was our aim. We got close - Datchett is not far away and we got there! Beth could not get the roads outside to match the roads on the map, & in fairness the map is a few years old, so the roads had probably been altered, closed or moved, housing estates built & new roundabouts, flyovers or junctions constructed. At one point we seemed to be in a spiral, but neither of us could decide if it were an inwards or outwards one.
In the end I decided that if we could get to Staines, we could find Penton Hook. We did … find Staines that is … from 3 directions. We eventually managed to get through the town centre & out on the B376. Yep! Penton Hook is still there, although there is now another posher housing estate between the one that was there before & the river! We were there with ages to spare & time to recover from our wanderings. Cat & Gilly again arrived & went on their way, while we returned to map reading & driving.
Our adventures subsided for a while, in fact until after the finish. Have you noticed how all the road signs in the centre of London are designed to keep you there. They all point to other places in the centre of London! We tried the spiral technique again when it was time to go home, taking a tour of Westminster & surrounding area. We managed to see the Changing of the Guard (no joke) Buckingham Palace & a protest camp in Parliament Square. We somehow missed Piccadilly Circus the first time & avoided Trafalgar Square altogether, but the second time round we found Park Lane & Marble Arch. From there I spotted a sign for Kilburn & knew we could escape to the M1.
So that was about it for adventures.
