Reading and an image problem

The plan was to walk the towpath to Fobney Lock and have a look at the water conditions before heading away from the canal to B&Q.  Then walk back to the canal and into Reading.

Well the walking part was achieved without any difficulty.  The area around the canal just before the swing bridge at Theale has been cleared of numerous trees which has opened the area.  For the first time I was able to see the remains of the old water mill.

The water is still spilling out below Fobney Lock covering the landing.

You can just see the white tops of the mooring bollards in front of the fence.  The river also enters the canal to the right of the photo.  I turned off here and walked approximately one mile to the B&Q store in Green Park before returning to the lock.  Where I took a few more photo’s of a wide beam boat attempting to enter the lock from the down stream side.  He was unsuccessful and reversed back down the river where he attempted to wind the boat.  Unfortunately the river wasn’t sufficiently wide enough at the location he chose and the boat looked like it was going to become wedged at bow and stern.

A little further downstream it was possible to observe the two trees that boaters have reported as dangerously obstructing navigation.  They are on opposing banks and offset.  The upstream tree obscures the downstream and it’s apparent a boater moving downstream wouldn’t see the second tree until they were almost upon it.  Actually the second tree is more a  2” branch sticking out of the water at 45° with the last third almost horizontal just below cabin height at just the right height to sweep the roof clean. 

The branch was missing some bark and foliage indicating it had previously been struck.

All of this was photographed and would have been posted here except I discovered on my return to Waiouru the “beep beep” sound the camera had been making after every photo was to report the memory card was full!

Whilst I was away Jan decided to get some fresh air on the towpath.  A boat went past and the lady on board called out that she reads the blog <who would want to read all this boring tripe>!  Unfortunately Jan can’t remember the name of the boat but it was light green in colour, beautifully maintained, and highly polished!  Dear Blog Reader… If you read this then please leave a comment letting us know who you are!