All good things must come to an end and for us that meant us ending our stay in Marlow on Tuesday morning. We untied just before ten and pushed the bow out into the stream before executing a U-turn and continuing our journey downstream. A few minutes later and we reached Marlow lock where there was already a large cruiser descending. Three more cruisers were waiting to come up and by the time we were ready to go in, we had been joined by two more narrowboats. Once clear of the lock, we led the procession until we reached Cookham a little over an hour later. We were surprised to find rings on the bank when we tied up between two wide beam boats.

A few minutes later and Sue spotted this vessel passing, no photos because as it passed us, a cruiser stopped to ask about the mooring fees and completely blocked the view.

We of course wanted to explore the village but I also wanted to buy a new power supply for our mobile broadband router which had failed earlier in the morning. It’s a bit frustrating really because I have two or three at home that would have done the job but no spares on board. After checking train times we walked to Cookham and then on through to the station and caught a train to Maidenhead where there is a branch of Maplin.

Cookham is very picturesque and there seems to be an abundance of pubs but on this occasion, we did no research and passed them all by. Maidenhead was less inspiring, nothing really bad but after spending time in places like Abingdon and Marlow, the bar has been set pretty high! Anyway, our mission was successful and Maplin provided us with the necessary bit of kit. We did take time to wander around the town centre but other than a clock tower near the railway station, there wasn’t much to hold our interest. On returning to the station, we could see that the platforms were full of schoolchildren making their way home. We shared the carriage with about a dozen of them and what a racket they made! We were so glad when the eight minute journey back to Cookham was over and we got back to some peace and quiet. There were a few raindrops in the air as we walked back and we knew that rain had been forecast so we didn’t dally in the village except for a few minutes in the church. Our timing was good because we had only been back on board a few minutes when the light drizzle became heavier and heavier.