The second set of Abingdon Lock Gates were being lowered back into position today after their inspection and refurbishment at Sunbury.

Then began the work of connecting everything back together again so that the gates would open and close, and hold back water.

The lock keeper and volunteers are working hard to clear round the overflow channel that flows from upstream of the lock to rejoin the Thames by a culvert beneath the lock. This channel has been hidden for many years.

This channel was previously crossed by a wooden bridge, but in the 1960s a more solid path was engineered with a culvert beneath. The recent clearance has revealed the large rocks of a former rock garden – the work of a previous Lock keeper.

Steve sent me a picture of a yellow survey boat that he saw motoring up and down between Abingdon Lock and Culham Lock today. He did not say what it was surveying, but the colour indicates it is nothing Top Secret.

Rowers from Abingdon School, and Abingdon Rowing Club, are often to be seen out – early – on one of the best stretches of the River Thames – that is the stretch between Abingdon Bridge and Culham Lock.

The willow tree leaning from the Margaret Brown gardens trails weeping branches near the water.

The adult swans have parted company from their young. I read, while investigating the origins of Valentine’s Day yesterday, of an old Oxfordshire country notion that birds start pairing up from February 14th.

The mist soon lifts and, as the sky turns blue, St Helen’s Church becomes as clear as the Iron Bridge.

I see that the Hire Boats are back at Nags Head Island. I did see on the internet that the day boats operated by King Craft at Abingdon Boat Centre were for sale , and there was the worry there would be no hire boats in Abingdon next year. So it is good to see they are back.

I gather that the Nags Head Island theatre and footbridge project that we heard about in the Spring is not going to happen.

But there is another rumour circulating that Salter Steamers have acquired Abingdon Boat Centre.