Abingdon

This delightful town is as far as The Up River Angel has managed to get so far.  Since we're probably going to be getting an even bigger boat soon, I don't suppose we'll ever get much further - but I'll be happy to put in pages from my fellow cruisers that have ventured all the way up the creek.

There are plenty of moorings at Abingdon, both above and below the bridge, but watch your draught if you're going above the bridge.  As you approach Abingdon watch out for the wide sandbank marked by a warning buoy on the bend - don't try and go inside it!

The bridge at Abingdon is supported in the middle by Nags Head Island, which houses a chandlery on one side and the Nags Head on the Thames pub on the other.  They have a good snack menu with yummy baguettes and salads, and they do a carvery roast lunch with is both good and cheap with plentiful portions.  In the good weather the pub also opens its barbecue shack and the smell drifts temptingly across the river to the Meadow.  If you want to moor your boat for a while and let someone else take the strain Salters run a regular boat trip service into Oxford from the pub grounds, so you can have a pint while you wait for the boat. 

Jerome K Jerome wrote, “Abingdon is most famous for being old.”  There is an excellent Tourist Information Office just over the bridge from the moorings if you'd like to investigate the town properly.  If you fancy the theatre, it is the Unicorn, behind the Upper Reaches Hotel and the Tourist Office keeps details of what is playing.  There is also an open-air swimming pool just behind the theatre, and Abingdon museum is only a short walk away.  A well kept secret is the abbey, housed in what looks like a little cottage at the side of the Hotel.  If you follow the signs, you'll be led through to a very quaint old abbey which is preserved by its friends and donations.

Abingdon is considered the oldest town in Britain, and its heritage goes back through Roman and Anglo-Saxon to Prehistoric finds which have been unearthed locally.  The MG car company is perhaps Abingdon's most famous export, but there are beautiful examples of architecture and some of these are open to the public.  One such house is a medieval merchant's house in 26a East St. Helen Street - very close to the moorings. 

 If you need to stock up on anything, there is the biggest Waitrose I have ever seen in the town centre, with everything you could possibly need.  For those that don’t fancy the Nags Head, you’ll have no trouble tracking down another eatery.  Just cross the bridge and count them off as you go!  You’ll find Indian, Chinese, pubs, restaurants, French, Italian, fish and chips, kebabs, burgers – it’s almost as good as being back in London!

On Monday mornings there is a tiny market in the square, with clothing and jewellery stalls as well as the now obligatory new age stall - but this one is worth a look for the unusual fossils and meteorites that she carries.