So we had our away days upstream (Thursday to Tuesday) just short of Oxford, then had to return to Thames & Kennet Marina to buy everything for Nik's birthday bash on 5th May!  For this we went back upstream 2 locks to Mapledurham on Friday, to be sure of a mooring at this popular location.  In fact we were the first and for most of the time the only ones moored!  The complicated problem of getting the campervan home was solved by Marius coming down to take Nik shopping at Tesco, and drop me at the Marina, then drove (it went perfectly!) home then Tad picked me up and took me back to the boat.  Perfection.  Here's the cake:

So realistic - no really, Bern made it.  The scene was quite festive overall:

We now take the great yellow gazebo with us in the boat, after all we are hoping to need shade!!
I'll publish now as the connection is so slow the pix are taking ages to load, so I have to reduce the quality (not of the photography of course!).