Nadkey Bridge to Sovereign Wharf
A hire boat beat us setting off this morning, we followed them in towards Banbury. They passed the winding hole before Tramway, then another hire boat shot across the cut aiming to wind and go into orbit all in one go. We stopped and wait for them to turn. Their positioning hadn’t been right, so they ended up missing the hole. Several more attempts were made each one ending up with the same outcome, a barge pole stuck out the front. They let us pass and we suggested backing up further and trying again. As we passed under Tramway Bridge they were still facing the wrong direction.
At Banbury Lock the hire boat ahead was rising in the lock. The chap at the helm asked how far they had to go before they could wind. I checked my Waterway Routes map, about ten minutes a short distance after the footbridge they’d be able to turn just before Hennef Way.
A hire boat was on the water point above the lock, using his hose to wash the boat. He pulled forward as we came out of the lock. As I walked up to the lift bridge I could see it being wound up. A chap who’d been walking past with his shopping had stopped to do the honours. Once it was back down I noticed him slotting a windlass back through the gates at Tooleys Boatyard. Thank you.
Blimey Banbury was busy, glad we stopped short yesterday. We were wanting to stop for a couple of bits at Lidl, but there was not one space spare. Oh well we’d make do for lunch today.
In stark contrast Sovereign Wharf was almost empty, maybe everyone had headed to Cropredy to grab a mooring in advance of the Festival. We pootled onwards. Hang on, maybe they’d have room for us. We’d been planning on pulling into Cropredy Marina, but being in Banbury would be far easier. Mick put Oleanna into reverse, it being a Friday the Wharf office was open. A lady popped her head out, we enquired if they had room. She headed off to check with the owner and returned pointing us to a mooring behind us.
Oleanna really wasn’t keen on pulling into the off side, she’s used to mooring on the Spiceball Park side, but she relented in the end. We tied up and headed to the office to check in. Half the price it would have been at Cropredy including electric and an easy walk back to Lidl. It was only 10:30 too, brilliant!
It may look different but it’s still Bumbury!
Lidl provided us with frankfurters. A few years ago we went through a phase of having them for lunch, we’ve avoided them suspecting them to contain gluten. Today we checked the ingredients, today we’d have frankfurter sarnies for lunch!
The washing machine has been busy again, we’d been running low on pants and socks. I sent off an email for a revised panto quote for printing, called Tim the puppet man again who seemed very keen to help us out on panto, then I collated my paint requirements and emailed them to Gemma. Several jobs crossed off the list.
Mick has had a phone call from Ricky at Finesse today regarding our failed battery. They haven’t dealt with the company our batteries came from since Oleanna. Mick talked through the checks he’s done and Ricky agreed, we have a dead battery. The warranty is as Mick had sussed, not really worth persuing as we’d only be offered 10% off another battery from the same company!
1 lock, 2 miles, 3 lift bridges, 2 open, 1 lifted for us, 10 frankfurters, 1 bored cat, 3 loads washing, 1 tumble dried, 2 boaters with clean smalls, so many passing boats.
