More Snow

Opened one eye at 7:30am to see Jan looking up at the snowflakes falling on the glass in the Houdini hatch.  Waiouru was lovely and warm despite the Refleks being set slightly below 1 on the settings.  I don’t think we can set it much lower without cutting off the fuel.

After a good breakfast of hot porridge with brown sugar and yogurt I sent Jan out to assess the conditions!   She eventually returned through the white swirling flakes to report the back deck needed to be cleared of snow as it was building up against the rear doors.  Jan told me she couldn’t see the broom on the roof of Waiouru and thought it was out of reach on the far side.  Obviously it was my time to get into the jacket, scarf, gloves and beanie.  The broom was on the near side but covered in snow.  Sweeping the snow of the deck took very little time although I did note within 5 minutes there was a layer of snow back on it. 

This cheeky fellow has been hanging around Paul’s boat.

I decided to make the weekly long walk today as I have a project meeting with Andy tomorrow morning.  After considering a number of options the plan was to walk east down the towpath towards Reading and halfway divert through Theale to the Sainsburys at Calcot where Jan had asked me to purchase a loaf of bread.  I’d then cross Calcot and into the Linear Park which would enable me to regain the towpath west of Burghfield.  The plan actually worked out, although I’ve previously walked the same route but in the opposite direction.  It even gave me the opportunity to record two footpaths not shown on the OSM.  These have now been uploaded to the map database.

Apart from the shopping the other reason for choosing to walk the towpath was to view other occupied boats and see how effective their insulation was compared with our own.  The method I used was to compare the amount of snow on the roof.  Less snow indicating more heat loss and therefore poorer insulation.  It was pleasing to see Waiouru was in the top 5% of boats based on the amount of snow.  Or am I just gloating!

When I reached Reading I could see the water following over the top of the upstream gates on County Lock.  It’s likely to be the reason why CaRT has closed it to boats.  Interestingly, further downstream there was a widebeam in Blake’s Lock heading down to the Thames.  The river didn’t conditions didn’t appear very different to when I was last at the junction of the K&A and Thames.  The only difficulty experienced during the walk was the icy conditions underfoot on the towpath from the outskirts of Reading through to the centre of town.  I had to be very careful where I placed my feet to avoid assuming the horizontal position.  Early in the walk there was far more snow on the rural portions of the towpath making walking much easier. 

Rather than turn round and walk the 11 miles home I wimped out and used the senior’s bus concession card to make the return journey using the Jet Black 1 service.  By the time I arrived back at Waiouru I had a serious headache.  That’s when I realised I hadn’t had anything to drink since yesterday evening.  A silly error allowing myself to become so dehydrated.  Leaving without water was someting I’ve never done bush walking in Australia.  Lesson learned!