Approaching Abingdon Lock from Oxford you see these old hulks. I’m not sure they get used that much – given one has trees growing inside.

The black and white markers guide boats towards the Lock rather than the weir – always a good idea.

The locks on our patch of the Thames all seem to have a keepers cottage, and an office. The lock keeper’s most important duty is tending the weir, but we all know him as the Lock Keeper.

For more information on the Thames try the Visit Thames website. It has a piece on Roger Steere, who has lived in the Lock House since 1984. Roger and his wife, Gillian, agree that running this lock has been ‘extremely rewarding.’ A former programmer, Roger says, ‘When I was in computers, I thought ,”there must be more to life than this” so I became a lock keeper’.