25 April
So any way, we cruised merrily out in to the Thames and headed north towards Oxford, our first stop was the Tesco moorings a few hundred yards upstream so as to replenish our stocks, the moorings as usual had been taken over so had to tie to a couple of trees and in doing so caught our cratch (the triangular board on the front) on an overhaning branch and was brough up sharp by the sound of breaking wood and Shelley tutting! Oooopps! so the cratch was removed altogether making it easier for Shell to throw ropes etc in locks. Once a strong coffee and shopping had been completed we set off, at the first lock you are supposed to obtain a licence for the Thames but no lock keeper, or at the second or third, we are now moored for the night at Goring, licenceless!
26 April
Awoke to sunshine but a cold wind so all wrapped up and ready to go, no lock keeper at the next lock but had to cough up for a licence at the next, motored up a very quiet Thames to arrive at Walingford for lunch and a look round the town before moving on again for Abingdon, we went from snow showers to hot sun in minutes, the joys of living on a Polar Front I suppose, we will stay here tomorrow to look round Abingdon then move on to Oxford on Thursday.
28April
After a day chillin' in Abingdon we set off this morn in the frost, the ropes frozen to the cleats but soon thawed as the sun crept higher, we stopped for water above Abingdon lock then set off for Oxford arriving at lunchtime, after creeping under Osney bridge and turning off onto the Oxford canal and into our first narrow lock for 2 years now we know why we bought a narrowboat! This eve we had a pint in a local pub nearby. Friday was spent wandering the shops and sites followed by a lunch in a little pub tucked down an alley off the main street, Saturday we decided to do the open bus tour so got up early and after brekkie headed into town, we were a little early for the first tour but luckily there was a coffee shop by bus stop :) we did 2 tours then back to the boat, later in the afternoon we walked up the canal and into the Jericho area of town and had a well deserved beer in the sunny garden of a tavern. While we were here I managed to mend the cratch with glue and a new plank obtained from Abingdon, result!
1 May
Another month and we are on our way again, leaving Oxford and its dreaming spires behind we are soon out into the country tackling locks and lift bridges aplenty, we keep going, finally reaching Lower Heyford to moor for the night and a meal in the local to celebrate Shelley and I being together for 10 years, we shall stay here tomorrow as we have one of Shelley's friends visiting us.
3 May
After a noisy night moored with our ears on the fast down line of the main London/Birmingham railway ( at least by then most of the trains were touching 125 mph so noise didn't last long) we moved round the corner to the lift bridge which would give us better access to the pub as we were meeting Shelleys friend, Olive, her son Oliver and hubby Nigel for lunch. We watched a day boat from the local boat yard attempt the pass the lift bridge and wished we had a movie camera, it would have been worth £250 of anybody's money! There were 3 men and 4 dogs onboard, firstly as they approached the bridge one dog fell in, once rescued 2 of the men set off to raise the bridge but failed so was joined by the 3rd, having raised the bridge successfully they realised they were on the wrong side and nobody on the boat to move it, so the bridge closed and the lighter of the men returned to the boat at which time 2 over excited dogs fell in, having retrieved the retrievers and locked them in the cabin engaged gear and headed for the bridge only to be brought to a stand still by the stern rope that was still attached to the bollard behind him and no amount of revving was going to move them, finally he spotted the rope and untied it and they managed to continue their trip.
We had a good meal in the local and a peaceful night on the quieter moorings, this morn we were up early, refreshed and set off at 8:45 thus managing to get ahead of 3 hire boats although we did get stuck behind a CRT working boat for 7 miles then they managed to get it stuck in a lock for 10 mins, oh well! could have been worse! We shook them off when they moored soon after the lock and we continued to Banbury where we are now moored for a couple of days.
5 May
Woke early and following brekkie trudged off to the supermarket to stock up as we will be out in the sticks for a few days, then cast off and sailed off stopping for lunch and an ice cream at Cropredy before climbing up the Claydon flight to the summit of the canal and moored out in the middle of nowhere for the night.
6 May
Set off this morn for Fenny Compton to moor near the Wharf Inn as our friends Dave and Mark will be visiting tomorrow, we arrived at lunch time and spent the afternoon painting the boat and touching up parts that needed it followed by a much needed pint in the pub garden then a meal on the back deck.
8 May
We had a great day yesterday relaxing with my friends Dave and Mark who drove up from Surrey to visit, much time spent in the pub catching up, today we awoke early and set off across the summit of the Oxford which hugs the contour of the hill so covered 11 miles to go 3 as the crow flies, finally dropping down the Napton flight to join the Grand Union and north toward Birmingham, we descended 22 locks today and by the bottom of the Stockton flight we moored near a pub and as it happened they had live music and a raffle at which we won a box of chochies :),
while we were on the Oxford we came across a novel mooring, someone had cut a channel into a field from the canal, floated their boat in then filled in the entrance thus creating their own small marina!
9 May
Woken by some smartarse starting their boat behind us at 6:30 this morn! couldn't get back to sleep so an early cuppa then breakfast, setting off at 8 we descended the first 5 locks on our own to be joined by a coulpe from Pewsey at the next, all was going well til 2 numpty's in a hire boat pulled out in front of us and crept along at tickover then panicking when a boat came towards them they pulled over to the wrong side so the oncoming boat was faced with them on the wrong side and us on the right side with a slalom in the middle! Unfortunately we had to share the next 5 locks with them and say goodbye to our couple ( who at least knew what they were doing) we finally made it into Leamington Spa, had lunch and went shopping, picing up some bargains in the process.
11 May
Yesterday was wet so stayed where we were and checked out charity shops etc. followed by a Wetherspoons steak night, nothing like a good steak to cheer you up! This morn still a little damp but set off and found a Lidls to moor outside and stocked up with goodies then on to Warwick and following a brief stop at Tesco's we climbed 2 locks to moor opposite the Cape of Good Hope pub as around the corner is the 21 Hatton locks which we will attempt tomorrow.
13 May
Well blog fans, tomorrow came and went and we set off up the 21 Hatton locks on our own, the first six are not too bad as they are spaced out but once you turn the corner the rest of them can be seen climbing the hill in front of you, we only encountered 3 boats coming down and there were 2 boats 3 locks behind us and they had a crew but we still beat them to the top and were 4 locks ahead, not bad going as most of the locks were against us, someone once worked out that if you had to empty each lock first then enter and then fill it you would have to do 2016 turns of the windlass, no wonder we headed to the cafe at the top for a well deserved ice cream followed by lunch on the back deck before continuing our journey, we found a good place to moor by a bank covered in bluebells but no internet signal! We set off this morn and climbed the Knowle flight of 5 locks and rocked up at Catherine-de-Barnes on the outskirts of Solihull, we will stay here tomorrow as our friends Nikki and Richard will visit us, we had to venture to the local pub to find out their postcode, oh well better have a drink now we are here, result!
