Home to Aston

Arrived back at Aston this afternoon.

 Alas we attempted to moor on our jetty only to find a visitor on it! Grrrrr!!! This has happened before and we were not amused as we had rung them a few days ago and warned them of our return. As it turned out the message left by Nicki was not acted on and we had to moor on a different jetty that appeared to be empty. Not good enough Aston!
After speaking to Nicki she informed us that the person on our jetty had a broken leg and had come in for a month, this we do not mind but why our jetty when there are loads of others available, it seems to always happen to us.
Anyway the jetty we pulled in on V20 (sorry Ray and Di, you can't get away from us!) turned out to be vacant as George and his wife had left to go to another marina nearer their home, so we can have this one permanently. We are now nearer to the gate, so will have less walking on icy jetties in the winter, so alls well that ends well.
The evening before we left Shugborough a hot air balloon inflated and took off, enjoy the photos

 

 

 

We are in the marina for a few weeks so will continue the blog in the Autumn. Bye, Bye!!

Locks 291    Total  Miles 499    Tunnels (7) 10,965 yds

Shugborough - Nearly Home!

Arrived Shugborough after a cold start to Rugely, where we stopped for a snack at Morrisons after a boat pulled out of one of the last moorings in town, which we handily took. Little did we know that while we were shopping the rest of the boats on the canal system would get moving! We found ourselves stuck in very slow boating traffic and a queue of 6 boats at Colwich lock that took an age to get through.
Sun is out now and we have been for a walk around Great Hayward including a look at the river and Shugborough Hall. We really like it here, although this stretch of  canal seems to be attracting some rather unsavoury permanently moored tramp boats.
Below is a picture I took when we went through Armitage earlier this morning. It must be the home of the famous Armitage-Shanks!

Anyone need the loo!

Will be our last blog tomorrow as we will be returning to the marina for a few weeks mains electric!!
We may well continue with the blogging in October - watch this space.

Weston On Trent to Fradley

Left Weston early, 6.00 a.m. on a sunny, warm day. We left early to do the deep locks 10'11 and 12' 4 before the rush started. On our way we passed  Ray and Di, nb. Ferndale, moored near Swarkestone. They were just about to set off on their trip to Shardlow for some work to Ferndale. Nice to bump into you both, will catch up properly  in the Autumn. 

After passing the time of day with Ray and Di we headed along to do Stenson lock, a whole 12' 4", one of the deepest broad locks we had done for a long time. Two boats were in the lock when we approached. I went and helped with the paddles and to open the gates. When it came to opening the gates neither gate would open fully! In effect both boats were stuck inside the lock as neither could get around the other to get out the gap between the gates. Eventually with a lot of manoeuvring one of the boats managed to get out, thus allowing the other one to leave. Luckily for us we had no other boat with us, so Andy brought Jojo in and we proceeded to do the lock without further trouble.
After leaving the lock we moored up for breakfast!

Stenson Lock

It's lonely in here!

About a couple of miles further along the canal we were going along quite nicely when a narrowboat approaching us suddenly veered into our bow and forced us into the trees on the right bank, thus causing the stern to swing around and allowing the same narrowboat to hit our stern! Andy was not amused and he let the other boat know so!! Apparently the lady steering had 'turned the tiller the wrong way' we were told by her husband! They did not alter speed or attempt to steer away from Jojo. We realised it was a time share boat from our marina called Black Watch. I can remember everything going in slow motion, thinking they are going to ram us and just waiting for the collision. We thought from the force of the crash that they had done a lot of damage. On closer examination there is only some minor damage to the paintwork. Inside the boat I found all the cupboard doors open, a drawer front had popped off the frame in the galley and everything was thrown on the floor. Luckily most fragile things I had put on the floor before we set off as I know that the incoming water in the broad locks can sometimes throw the boat around. In  the end all we found broken was one wine glass that had fallen out of the cupboard when the doors had been flung open.
This event did nothing to endear us to the 'time share boater'. They were not our favourite boater and remain so!
Having calmed down we carried on our way and came across another Josephine. She was moored by Barton's Turn lock, so we took a picture!


Josephine No 5 on her moorings

No1  meets No5

Whilst doing the lock another boat approached and I realised I knew the people on board and it turned out to be nb. Obsession who used to moor at Aquaduct with us and their son James worked part time in the office. They left Aquaduct soon after us and moved to Overwater, near Audlum. Whilst chatting to them they mentioned seeing Martin and Jackie's boat Headway leaving on it's first cruise around the Four Counties Ring with it's new owners.
We arrived Alrewas on late Monday afternoon. It is a very popular spot and we thought we would have trouble mooring but luck was on our side and we took the last space in the village!
Having achieved this and had an eventful day we decided to teat ourselves to dinner up the pub. We walked to the George and Dragon where we had lunched before a few years ago. The landlady was quite sharp with us when we asked if the specials board was the only menu. She proceeded to say yes and rushed us out of the dining room until she had sorted the reserve tables out. We went to sit out in the bar area and checked out the board again. Nothing really grab us but we thought we would give it a whirl after the day we had had. Andy went to the bar to order food (which was expensive, nothing below £9.50) and was told that someone will come to the table and take our order. The landlady then arrived with place mats etc and asked us if we had dined here before. I said yes a few years ago and she sharply said that they do not take credit cards! To which I replied but you do take debit cards? Only to be told no - cash only. We had cash but her attitude after a long a tiring day was the final straw. We checked out the second pub in the village and they were not doing food! What a way to end the day. But all was not lost as we found a Cantonese takeaway and it was the best we had had for a long time and certainly was half the price of the pub! So if you are ever in Alrewas do not go to the George and Dragon else you might meet the dragon! Next time we plan to try out the William the Fourth pub which we found on Tuesday morning when going to the Co-op.!
Did some shopping in the village and arrived at Fradley this afternoon. We plan to try out the Mucky Duck this evening. Andy has a fancy for Scampi and Chips!!

Weston On Trent

Arrived at Shardlow on Friday, after a long day cruising from Birstall and visiting Kegworth Marine on the way. We decided to do another long day as the weather forecast was for thunder storms at the weekend and we did not want to be on The Soar or The Trent in heavy rain.As it turned out the thunder storms have not materialised and we have only had the odd spot of drizzle.

We stopped at Kegworth Marine to chat to Pau,l who amongst other things, reconditions old Francis lights. For those not in the know, these are the old spotlights that used to be on fire engines and green goddesses and also some naval ships. We decided we might treat ourselves to one but they do not come cheap!( hHe has just sold one to Michael Parkinson for his cruiser on The Thames)
Having chatted to Paul we have decided we may go back and purchase a brass one in September when he is back from his hols. They do look nice and we thought we would give Jojo a treat. The headlight we have (much inferior) is getting cracks appearing on the caseing so we do not think it will last many more seasons.

When we arrived at Shardlow late afternoon Friday, we found it very busy and limited mooring, so we proceeded another mile and moored not far from a very busy noisy road. This was not ideal but we were so tired having started out  from Birstall at six oclock, that we could not face another lock!

As our body clocks were used to early starts these last few days we got up Saturday and decided to move another couple of miles and two locks to Weston On Trent, to get away from the noisy road. We got up at 6.00 and went for it! We were moored up by 8.30 a.m much to the surprise of the other moorers who had wondered if we had come late the night before! We had breakfast and wandered off to find a local shop for papers.

This became a mile and a half walk into the next village as there no longer was a shop in Weston. We walked back to the village of Aston which had papers and other nice village shops. Cheese rolls were particularly tasty for tea!

Today we have stayed put and are both doing the 'housework'. The rain has not materialised but it is overcast and quite sticky. Lots of boats on the move as it is Bank Holiday weekend.
We will probably move off tomorrow and head for Burton On Trent, before heading for Alrewas which will be familiar territory to us!

BIRSTALL

There were very few boats moored last night at Kilby Bridge, and the few that were there and heading our way were already paired up for doing locks. So finding that we would be on our own to do 15 wide locks and 12 miles to reach the safe mooring of Birstall, and knowing that most of them were anticipating an 07:00 start, we decided to get up 05:30, have quick breakfast and get under way by 06;00hr in order to get a good head start.

What a great decision, not only was it lovely weather conditions at this early hour, but the first 6 locks that we arrived at were already set for us, we only had to open a gate, get the boat in and lock down. By 07:05 we had already completed 3 locks and a couple of miles.

The route through Leicester City was not the dreadful experience we had been led to believe. The water was deep, hardly any rubbish floating, a lot of straggly weed but nothing to tangle in the prop, no anti-social types throwing bricks or obscenities, just lots of cheerful people waving and saying hello.



Leicester City Football Ground by Freemans Lock

Think this is part of the Space Centre

Belgrave lock and Space Centre

Slacking1 - Can't get the staff!

There was a useful BW secure visitor mooring available right in the middle of town, {offside from towpath} enough room for about six narrowboats to moor on a floating jetty that is secured from inappropriate access by fence and a gate locked by use of regular BW watermate key.

This has to be one of the least used waterways on the system, the first boat we saw moving was not until 4 hours after we had set off, and by the time we had arrived at Birstall 13:20hr, we had only seen 5 boats in total.

Nicely relaxed now after having a shower, and supping a nice glass of chilled Pino Grigio, we are going to treat ourselves to a pub meal tonight to celebrate a good day of cruising.

Plan to get up same time again tomorrow and head for Kegworth Marine where we hope to look at a new tunnel light ( Francis Light ) for Josephine as ours is no longer watertight, and has become untrustworthy in use.

Kilby Bridge

Arrived here lunchtime today, having set off about 9.30. from a lovely mooring at Wistow.The seven double width locks were quite hard work as the lock gates would not stay closed and I had to keep going back or approaching an empty lock and closing gates first. This involved a lot of extra walking around the locks! I am sorry to say in the end I gave up and left the gates open that refused to stay shut.
As we approached Kilby a lady jogger went past us, thought nothing of it as we often see these keep fit types. As we came around the bend she was running back towards us looking a bit distressed. She hailed us over to the bank and asked for a lift! There was a swan around the bend with 6 signets who was naturally protecting them and the jogger could not get around the 'mum'.(Hen?)
She hopped on and we took her twenty yards around the bend and put her back on dry land. She said we had saved her a six mile run back around the way she had come! This must have the shortest trip we have ever given anyone!
Now moored up for the day. Weather lovely, hardly any rain forecast in the next few days. We hope to do Leicester tomorrow, but have been advised by several boaters that it is not safe to moor overnight in Leicester (apart from a gated section in the centre, but as we are not sure how many boats it takes). So we are planning a long day, starting about 6.00 a.m and hopefully we will have done the 20 locks and 10 miles by late afternoon. Watch this space!

Wistow

Yesterday we had a visit from Mo and Johnny, (Jojo's creators and previous owners). We went for a short cruise up the Leicester Arm and returned for lunch at the Foxton Inn. Lovely to see them both and it was a pleasure to take them on a cruise for old times sake. We also met Jojo 2 out cruising and it was nice for Mo and Johnny to meet up with her new owners as well.

Today we cruised further up the arm to Wistow. There is a small garden centre here with various other out buildings, a farm shop, a maize maze, a small model village and a café bistro. Enjoyed a cuppa and a cake before walking over the fields back to the boat.

Various shots of the model village. Afraid it is looking a bit tired and in need of some tlc.

Market Harborough

Raining today (Saturday) and we are expecting Sue and Peter to come for the weekend. Sue and Peter arrive and after sorting out difficulties with overnight parking (thanks Mandy) the rain stopped and I went and reported to the lockeeper who said we could come down straight away but stop halfway. We started our descent of Foxton staircase locks. We had visited here on foot many times , but no brought a boat down. We got to halfway down and pulled over to let a hire boat full of youngsters who hadn't got a clue on what to do pass (thank goodness for the lockkeeper) . As we waited a lady came to report to the lockie and said she was Josephine. I immediately said no I was Josephine and we had a laugh and it turned out to be Josephine No 2, Mr and Mrs Watson (the new owners of Mo and Johnny's second Jojo!) We had a brief chat it turned out they were going to Market Harborough as well so we said we would meet up there.Thankfully there were not too many Gongoozerlers and we managed to come down the flight in just over an hour.

Someone let me out if this lock!

Does my bum look big in this?

It was quite windy in the basin at Union Wharf, Market Harborough but Andy managed to get Jojo turned and reversed onto a vacant jetty. We had previously rang and booked a place for the night, so that Jojo could go on mains electric and I could run the washing machine, joy of joys!
Low and behold after we had taken Sue and Peter into town to do some shopping we returned to see Josephine No2 moored next to us. It is a rare event to get the two boats together although we did sometimes bump into Mo and Johnny quite a lot when they owned her.



The two Jojo's at Union Wharf

Had a lovely evening with Sue and Peter and enjoyed Market Harborough, although the restaurants were very busy, quite a lively town. We ended up at Wetherspoons and then we got the last table, although food was good the place was very noisy. We came back to the boat for strawberries and cream, followed by some Madeira wine Sue and Peter had bought us to try after they had enjoyed the real thing on their recent holiday to Madiera.

Sue and Peter Key

Glenna and Tim Watson

Sunday morning we invited Mr and Mrs Watson onto Jojo No 1 to see inside as they were curious to see the difference between No1 and No2! Tim and Glenna were then returning to Crick mid week.
We untied Jojo and headed back to Foxton locks where Sue and Peter had left their car. Today the weather was much sunnier and warmer and thankfully not quite so much wind.

After a coffee and snack at the café at Foxton we bid them farewell and returned to the boat. We hope to go and see them in the winter and christen their new conservatory! Thanks for your company, hope Elgar was OK.

Foxton Locks

Arrived at the top of Foxton Locks yesterday and got a nice mooring at the top. Karen came for the day by car and she and I went out shopping in Market Harborough. It was lovely to spend the day with her. Thanks Karen, enjoyed the day.
Whilst Karen and I were out, Andy walked down the flight and who should be coming up the flight with nb Just Billy but Wendy and Roger. Haven't seen them since last year. Shared a cuppa and half a cherry cake with them! Lovely to see them again and we promise to catch up with you in the winter.
Expecting friends Sue and Peter to visit us today for the weekend. We plan to take them down the flight and into Market Harborough where we hope to hook up to mains electric and give Jojo's batteries a boost!

Arrive top of Foxton Locks

Since our last entry we have thoroughly enjoyed our cruise along the summit level of the 'Old Union Canal'. It is at least three years since we last cruised this section, and then it was only as far as Yelvertoft marina. It is so nice to be on a canal where you can enjoy total peace and quiet at night time. No trains, no cars, no aircraft flight path and for two nights no other boats anywhere near us.

We came through the infamous wet Crick tunnel with hardly a drip!

Looking back, having just entered Crick Tunnel



Our roof lights in Crick Tunnel and the far end.

 Considering we are in the height of the summer season it is remarkably low numbers of boats cruising this section, from past experience it used to be very busy at this time of year, and if it were not for the Hire boats which are probably 90% of what is moving along here, you could be forgiven for thinking we are suddenly in the winter season.

The only disappointment for us has been the desperate need for some sections of the canal to be dredged. We have found it necessary to go on low rev's when passing oncoming boats, and even then have found ourselves dragging on the canal floor, let alone trying to maintain progress at all.

Yesterday we moored just before 'Freemans Bridge' (48), but try as we might could not get a TV signal on the aerial or sat' dish, so we decided to have a cuppa and rest for half an hour prior to moving on. After ten minutes or so we heard a lot of shouting and calling of a name from the direction of the boat that was moored a little way ahead of us. We looked at each other and both thought 'Oh no, another misbehaving dog up to no good and probably going to pee or crap on our ropes and  gunnels'. After a while I got up to look through the cratch window and saw a young woman clinging desperately to the stern of the boat in front. Jean and I ran out the back of our boat grabbing our recently purchased telescopic ladder as we went. Despite the dreadfully shallow water that we had endured cruising through all morning, this poor woman had been sunbathing on the roof of the boat, rolled over and fell into the canal where it turned out to be almost six feet deep. On arrival at the stern of her boat her 'friend' Lizzie had just appeared from inside the cabin and was trying to calm her down and giving her a 'life ring' to cling onto. I extended the aluminium ladder and placed it over the stern, but found the water so deep I had to cling onto the top step while she climbed out of the water. Not easy to do and somewhat painful to do, but there is no way we could have lifted her out, she was rather a 'Large Portion of Womanhood'. Oh well its all in a day, and certainly proved the worth of investing in the ladder.



Matts Dream, wet boater who we rescued

Today we have travelled just under three miles and moored at the top of the Foxton Staircase locks. Karen is coming over tomorrow for a visit and bring our post. Then we are expecting our friends Sue and Peter to join us on Saturday when we will hopefully go down the locks and cruise up to Market Harborough. Arranging car parking for them has been a nightmare however as the 'Long Term' car park stipulates no overnight parking, any contravention costing £60 fine, whereas the 'Short Term' car park says no more than four hours permitted and no overnight parking (£60 fine) but next to it a sign says 'Free Parking between 18:00hr and 09:00hr. The mind boggles.

Watford Locks

Left Braunston today and as we approached the first lock, I was informed by the lockkeeper that a boat was coming backwards down the lock, so would we mind waiting. I went and warned Andy and sure enough eventually this man appeared walking the boat backwards with the centre rope tied around his waist! It took him forever to get the boat in the lock, he appeared to have no steering. On speaking to the lockkeeper it became clear he had been to a beer festival at the pub above the lock and was now returning to his mooring below the lock and the easiest away for him was backwards! He was well hungover and looking at the mug of cider on his back cabin he was still drinking!!  A second lockkeeper arrived and decided to go and "have words" with the boater, regarding the safe steering of a boat under the influence of alchohol!!
Another boat joined us and we came up the lock flight with hire boat "The Andrew" from Calcutt. These boats (think there might be more than one) are hired out to navel personnel and their families, and are run as a charity I think, I might be wrong. Well!!! If the man coming up the flight is current member of the naval service , God help us!
He had a young boy, his son with him, and at the start of the flight sent the boy to do the paddles. He was about 8 years old. No way could he have done the paddles. Luckily the C&RT lockkeeper was on hand and he did the lock with me. He was so worried about this boy that he told the boat to get inside his boat with daddy and proceeded to do the whole flight of six with me. We had a great laugh, he had a good sense of humour! The man on "The Andrew" did not talk to Andy at all and spent most of the flight on texting or phoning on his mobile. I did not even get a thank you! He was the most ignorant, arrogant person I have met. What a good start to Monday morning!

Headed up the Leicester Arm and arrived at the Watford flight. We reported in with the lockkeeper and there was a queue of about an hour and a half, so we had some lunch whilst we waited for 5 boats to come down the staircase. Our turn next. As we turned the corner I met a woman who instantly said 'I know you, we've met before' . We both recognised each other but where from?? She and her husband had met us earlier this year (May 20th) on the Buckby flight as we were going down to London and we shared a pint at the New Inn at the top of the flight. Their narrowboat is called Sylvia and they were heading down to the Thames but as yet undecided which route to take. They helped us up the flight, a very nice couple who moor at Yelvertoft. Such a shame we can't remember their names!!

Mr nb 'Sylvia'

Me and 'Mrs nb Sylvia'

Andy and Mrs 'nb Sylvia'

Go girl go!

Bridge 100 South Oxford

After a brief visit to Braunston and bumping into Elly and Mick again, we arrived Bridge 100 for the weekend.

Andy has started re-lacquering the mushrooms on the roof. We have nine of these so it is a long job! We first lacquered them about 4 years ago and they are looking sad now. We found some lacquer remover and he is laboriously removing lacquer and polishing and then re-lacquering. He is hoping the weather stays dry! He is well and truly lacquered at the end of the day!!

You will admire our temporary mushrooms!

Temporary rain covers!

Before

After - slightly better!

Hilmorton Again

Now on our return trip to Braunston and then on to the Leicester Arm. Took these photos of the lock arms on the Hilmorton flight. The wording has been carved into the lock arms.

 

Rugby/Hilmorton

Did all our shopping at Rugby and winded outside having said goodbye to our South African friends Brian and Cecelia on nb Life after Work, when we came across our New Zealand friends John and Elizabeth on nb Helen Louise. Unfortunately they were not on board so we will catch up with them later on.

Moored at Hilmorton today as Andy is going to give Jojo an oil and filter change. It is our eleventh wedding anniversary today! No plans. Happy Anniversary Andy X

Braunston 2

After finishing the blog yesterday our friends Brian and Cecelia on nb Life After Work pulled up along side for a chat. We last saw them on the Thames heading in the opposite direction to ourselves. Luckily the boat moored behind us decided to leave so Brian and Cecelia pulled their boat in. Andy was trying to fix the grease tube on the stern gland along with Neil, and Brian came along to help as well. After a few hours of tinkering it was decided that the mending was a failure and further attempts would be done in the morning. Brian and Cecelia offered to share their briar with us. (I believe that is South African for BBQ) We had a very pleasant evening putting to rights all the things boaters moan about!(I think cyclists came up quite a bit!).
In the morning Andy went back to Midland Chandlers and bought a new complete unit and with the help of Brian's drill managed to fix a new pump. Thank you Brian. Nb Life After Work then left for new moorings and we waved them off.

Brian and Cecelia

We walked to the pub (The Boathouse) and met up with Steph and Ant who had come to see us and bring some post. Had a nice sunday roast and then went for a walk into the village before looking at all the boats for sale in Braunston Marina. We then took Steph and Ant for a trip on Jojo back up to the pub where they had left the car and we carried on cruising to Onley. Sorry Steph and Ant but I forgot to take your photo for the blog so have put in an earlier one!

Steph and Ant on a previous visit

As we approached Onley we saw nb Life After Work moored and invited Brain and Cecelia on board for tea and cake. Thus finished a very sociable weekend!

Braunston

Here as promised is the photo Elly took yesterday after they popped on board for a coffee on their way to Warwick and then a little break to Wales. Nice to see you again and lets hope you come back to Aston for the winter!

Elly, Mick, Jean and Andy

We are now at Braunston. Andy has been to Midland Chandlers and is now tinkering in the engine room, as men do! Probably will be back there tomorrow to get more bits to tinker with! Arrived here and moored next to Neil and Mary n.b Isandlwana who are still here, having left us yesterday. Had coffee with them on Gongoozerlers Rest and shared some boating chat, like you do. Steph and Ant coming so will pop to the pub for lunch. Also passed Carol and Barry n.b Winton's Folly moored outside Braunston! What a social weekend we are having.

Bridge 100

Arrived here (Bridge 100) yesterday and cruised through a very hot day. On route from Banbury we passed Cropredy Marina which has witnessed a few improvements since we looked at it on foot a couple of weeks ago, namely some water (not full yet) some brick edging to the entrance and what looks like a wooden hut where the services and office were going to be sited. Still can't see it being opened in the next couple of weeks. There was no sign of any water and electricity stantions to the jetties and still some jetties to be planked.

 

When we arrived here yesterday we spotted nb Isandlwana belonging to Mary and Neil Downes who we knew a couple of years ago when we moored at Hayford Fields marina near Bugbrooke. It was nice to have a catch up.

It was such a hot evening inside the boat that we sat out and I managed to get a shot of our solar lights on the roof, this was taken about 9.30 p.m .

Having passed Barry and Carol on nb Winton's Folly moored up yesterday, today we were tooted by our Austalian boaters Elly and Mick on nb Parisienne Star, who moored up behind us and we spent a couple of hours chatting about our travels. Elly immediately got stuck into my jigsaw puzzle. (Have finished it now Elly, alas 3 pieces missing). We hope they will moor at Aston with us again this winter before returning to Australia next year. After a couple of attempts to get the timer right, Elly took a photo of us all and is going to email it to us. Watch this space or theirs!

We plan to go to Braunston tomorrow and then on to Rugby for supplies. After that we think we go up the Leicester Arm and attempt the river Soar before returning to the midlands.

Banbury

Arrived Banbury yesterday, despite a bit of a traumatic journey from the last lock, as the water levels had dropped and there was little water in the 2 mile pound to Banbury. Loads of moored boats were aground and sitting at precarious angles. Too late to go back we continued cautiously hoping not to run aground and that we would get to Banbury. The boaters we met said they think the paddles were left open on the last lock all night and therefore the pound had run very low. C&RT had been informed during the night, but as yet nothing had been done, this was at 9.30 a.m. Water levels must have been down by nearly 2 foot for the whole 2 miles.
We made it to Banbury below the lock by the services and realised the 2 boats here were not aground, so we attempted to moor. Success! We tied up and hoped that the water levels would rise during the day and sure enough they did.
A very wet evening with heavy rain also helped top up levels!

Today James and Karen came for a visit, bringing our post, thanks Steph. James also brought us a new CD/Radio, a Kenwood, as our old one was playing up. After spending an hour fitting and testing it we went out to lunch and wandered around Banbury.
We still have battery problems and Mat from Tooleys Yard is coming tomorrow to take a look. Fingers crossed he can solve the issue.

James installing new radio

OXFORD TO BANBURY

We set off early on Thursday and although we were the inside double bunked with another narrowboat, we managed to escape their clutches and head off up to the last lock that we would be doing on the Thames. We arrived to Osney Lock at about 7.30 a.m. long before the lockkeeper had arrived, so we proceeded to do the lock on our own!! It was slightly overcast and very fine drizzle was falling - they type you get wet in! Anyway we managed to operate the lock 'box' at one end together and opened the gates, Andy bought the boat in and we proceeded to tie her off on the dollies. This takes some time! After about what seems like 10 mins we were ready to fill the lock.I proceeded to push the buttons at the other end control panel and heyho it worked. Something electronic I hadn't broken! (I have previous for breaking things electrical, usually lift bridges!) Nothing went awry and we carried on cruising up the Thames looking for the entrance to the Oxford Canal at Sheepwash Channel. According to the maps it wasn't far from the Osney Lock. We eventually saw an arched bridge to what looked like a small stream. It looked quite daunting, but having committed Josephine to turn we had to proceed. Any minute we were waiting for the sound of her running aground, but having negotiated a tight section we found the small lock (Isis) that led up onto the canal. What a relief! How lovely it was to see a small lock. We hadn't done one of these since May!
We had previously walked this section of the Oxford and new that the services weren't far, so we cruised along a couple of miles and there they were, no queues! We did the necessaries, stopped for breakfast and then Andy cleaned all the debris off the roof that had landed on Josephine since the thunderstorm and also from being under trees for two nights.
Having been refreshed we carried on up the canal. Not far we came upon a CR&T man inspecting a lift bridge, of which there are many on this section of canal. Just as we approached the bridge he lowered it, even though Andy had sounded the horn! I proceeded to get off and go 'do' the lift bridge. This one required a key being inserted to raise the bridge. The CR&T man greeted me and proceeded with making notes whilst I inserted the key and attempted to turn it clockwise as per the instructions. NO. Nothing doing. I then turned it anticlockwise and although it turned it would  not release the bridge. Help! CR&T man just said well it worked perfectly for me a second ago......,   - well it doesn't work now! After a few minutes he turned my key anticlockwise and pushed hard on the bridge and hey presto it worked. 'Funny that' he said, 'someone had put a note on the bridge to say turn key anti-clockwise but I just took it off, I have a marker pen I will write it back on'. Is there any hope for C&RT!
Moored up for the night on a lovely quiet spot near a village called Tackley, very nice with only one neightbour. This morning we set off again quite early for Lower Heyford. We new there was a café here as we had visited it many years ago before boating days. We found a 14 day mooring and walked back to see if the café was still in existence. It was. Kizzies Bistro. We had a fantastic cooked breakfast, but being awkward as we are, we wanted the vegetarian bubble and squeak with our bacon and sausage. The chef duly obliged, and Andy, being the expert on breakfasts rated this 5 star. We will be back when we are ever in this neck of the woods.
After breakfast we carried on up towards Banbury. There are so many lovely old lift bridges on this section of the Oxford canal. I have taken some pictures of them.



Entering six sided lock

We cross The river Cherwell twice and there is an interesting lock each time we did. They are almost six sided, this means the boat travels around a bit in the lock! They are very pretty, especially at Aynho Weir lock, where the Cherwell goes over a weir. We have finally moored up just beyond there at Haddons Lift Bridge. Plan to cruise to Banbury tomorrow and find moorings for the weekend as Karen and James are visiting Sunday.

 

Think I had better hold onto her!

Under control, phew!

The weir for the Cherwell at Aynho