A touch further to go today, we pushed off and soon passed a boat we’d be leapfrogging, NB Narrow Escape. Is this the Narrow Escape that we met on our first time on the Oxford, did they suggest Somerton Meadows to us? It’s a while ago now, but it could be them.
Pretty boat
We pulled in at Grafton Lock to fill with water, a load of washing had been on the go since we’d set off, the tank now after a week needed replenishing. Here the tap is not situated well for a downstream facing narrowboat. The short hose ‘someone has left’ was about 2 foot too short to reach our tank even with us pulled as far back as possible and the hose threaded through the cabinet door. A sign suggests the Lock Keeper may be able to assist, but Mick decided to see what he could do first.
Too short!
Some tape and our hose at least meant we’d get some water, but it would be far slower and such a waste of water as it dribbled along our hose and filled up the cabinet. Mick walked up to ask the Lock Keeper if there was a better way. There was, facing upstream would help. Words are carefully used by the friendly Lock Keepers on the Thames. They don’t want to be seen to give you an inch.
It was soon obvious that we knew the uphill boat in the lock, John on NB Thermopylae, we’ve met him a couple of times on the St Pancras Cruising Club Tideway Cruises, last year he’d offered to crew for Mick when I was in Chippy on panto. Being a single hander he was keen to stop for a cuppa, the Lock Keeper was not keen on him pulling into the layby but he could breast up to us as we filled with water. NB Narrow Escape came along also wanting water, they were waved into the lock as there’d be an hour wait.
Thermopylae
Thermopylae was tied to Oleanna and the kettle put on, time to set the world to rights with John. Just as we finished our cuppas the water tank started to overflow. We did a do-si-do so John could fill with water as we headed for the lock, all watched over by a rather beady eyed cat.
We hoped for a space above Rushey Lock on the meadows, another few miles ahead and one more lock. As we approached we spotted a possible space some distance upstream. The next one was taken, NB Vienna’s stern sticking way out. Then the good length of mooring was just about full, NB Narrow Escape having grabbed the last space. We tried pulling in at the near end, but bushes would have given our paintwork an exciting look at the stern.
Sad Oleanna
Only one thing for it, reverse. It was quite a way to the space we’d seen before, but Oleanna quite likes going backwards with purpose and thankfully the wind played fare. We pulled into a space by ourselves, long grass stretching out as far as you could see, we thought Tilly would love it. Well she didn’t maybe because from her level all she could see was tall grass, there were some sideways trees and a tree too, but she wasn’t too bothered with it all.
It’ll still take quite a bit of work
More work for the walkdown of Cinderella. A tiled rostra and steps, maybe a touch complicated, but if I can make up some big stamps for each colour it should be quicker to paint.
This is rubbish this!
Mick was on cooking duty again, kedgeree, yumm!
2 locks, 5.9 miles, 0.5 in reverse, 1 full water tank, 1 cuppa with John, 3rd brood, 1 spot reserved just for us, 1 unimpressed cat, 4 steps, 15 lanterns.
Sunday, we could have returned to watch the airshow at Ian and Sally’s today, but work needed to take over again. During the Geraghty zoom the planes started to go over head, not as loud as I’d thought they would be so hopefully on Saturday Tilly wouldn’t have been bothered by them too much.
Red Arrows?
I concentrated on stone work and archways today. Mixing colours that I wouldn’t normally put together, they seemed to be right for what I was after, it is panto after all!
Orange and purple!
Mark and Liz from NB Azzura popped by to say hello. They’d arrived in Lechlade yesterday and had serious fun winding up by the Roundhouse in the wind. They had booked the electric boat mooring at St Johns to charge their batteries for their return journey. Good to see them again.
Monday. Time to start to make our way back down stream. Many people seem to travel back to Oxford in a couple of days, we’d be taking it slower and todays move was more about giving Tilly some shore leave than anything else.
A mile marker ?
We didn’t need to push off today due to the wind. What we needed to do was plan our departure well. Mick took out the extra spikes that he’d hammered through the loops on the first ones, crossed spikes had helped us cling to the bank for nearly a week. Then the bow spike was pulled out, I coiled my rope and climbed onboard whilst Mick headed to the stern to pull the spike out there. Whilst this was happening the wind blew the bow out from the bank, just as it started to loose it’s power the flow downstream took over. Oleanna did exactly as planned and winded herself, Mick hopping on just at the right moment to help keep her away from the off side.
Lounging around at St John’s Lock
Sunday had seen a few boats leave the moorings, this morning at least one narrowboat had left and four cruisers had headed to St John’s Lock. Our arrival wasn’t timed so well as the last two cruisers were sat on the lock landing waiting for the lock to fill. There was no room for us and the wind was really quite strong. Mick reversed us upstream so the wind was more to our stern so wouldn’t be pushed into the offside bushes. As soon as the cruisers moved off we moved up.
At last! Untie it!!
A volunteer and Lock Keeper helped us down the lock, now we pootled our way downstream. The slight increase of flow sped up our journey. That line of trees coming and going again.
On the biggest tightest bend we of course came across a boat heading upstream. Mick kept Oleanna under control as both boats passed carrying on towards different locks.
Cruisers ahead
At Buscot Lock we caught up with the cruisers. They checked if I’d be alright closing up after them, not a problem especially as Mick was already heading to lend a hand with the gates. Lock refilled and we were on our way down behind them. Using the long pole to open and close the bottom gates was fairly easy, the gates move a lot easier than most broad locks on the canals.
Above Buscot Lock
We wiggled some more watching those tree come and go again. Then as we approached Kelmscott we had our fingers crossed for a mooring. Not wanting to climb the steep bank and fight our way through the undergrowth, we carried on past the first moorings. The good space had a boat on it, so we carried on to the hard bank which was free.
See ya!
Mick had thought here would be better, but the height made it a little awkward to get on and off for us, but we managed and tied up ready for Tilly to have the rest of the day as shore leave. The gap and height of the bank was not a problem for her. Off she went to explore the friendly cover and sideways trees.
Bananas of many sizes
An afternoon of working again. It all went a bit bananas!
Not your average farm vehicles
Mick had a walk round Kelmscott, still as pretty as it was four years ago. A shame we’d arrived on a Monday, the house not open until Thursday and the pub not doing food. Next time, the house is certainly worth a return visit. Mick was incharge of our evening meal tonight, sausage slop. Instructions were given whilst I continued to paint more and more bananas.
2 locks, 3.4 miles, 1 perfect wind, 2 in front, 1 excited cat in the window, 1 long pole, 1 high bank, 5732 bananas, 6 sausages chopped into 24.
Time to settle down to do some serious days work. Jotted down in a margin I worked out how long I thought each job might take me, I needed to make the most of three days on the trot when we’d not be moving to be able to have a day off. Wednesdays goal was to finish all the leaves and get them stuck onto portals and cloths. Painting them was one thing, cutting them out another, then touching in their edges. Blimey they went on and on forever! And some more!! And even more!!!
Add into the mix the number of planes going overhead heading for Fairford and the Royal International Air Tattoo. Big planes, little planes, a helicopter, jets, display teams that arrived flew over the airfield then split up to come round to land. On Wednesday I decided to keep a tally of the number of planes (you know how I like numbers), a little hard as you couldn’t really tell which planes were circling round before landing. My tally got up to 128ish. The sky was certainly very busy.
With all the noise, Tilly stopped sitting out the back. With all the noise Tilly’s legs shrank and she started looking upwards and cowering. Time to make her a cave to feel safe in as the aircraft would carry on for days! A bit like my leaves!!! The escape pod came out and was zipped together, nestled next to a big bag on our bed, the curtains left drawn. Soon Tilly had taken up residence and we’d only see her first thing, dingding time and if we were lucky she’d sit on my lap in front of the tv for an hour late evening long after all the planes had stopped.
Wednesday evening we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out, we crossed over Ha’Penny Bridge closed to cars after an incident a few weeks ago! The New Inn was the obvious choice, it had been four years ago. Not the cosiest of pubs, we were offered a table in the back room which was chocka, we opted to sit in a front room, which soon became chocka too. Four years ago I’d thought about a gluten free burger, but that option on the menu meant having a burger without a bun! Instead I opted for a duck breast with mash and red cabbage and sniggled a chip off Mick’s plate. Blimey it was busy, the air show had very much moved into town.
A nice duck breast
Thursday I continued with leaves, getting up early to finishing cutting them out, returning to bed for a cuppa before breakfast. By the end of the day, backings had been stuck on card, the first two types of leaves added. Just the breadfruit leaves to go, a shame they weren’t quite dark enough. The skies were quieter, not so many arrivals. Tilly checked on the weather then stayed in her escape pod for the rest of the day.
Friday. What a wet day. I think it didn’t stop raining for a full twelve hours. It didn’t really matter to me as I had my head down. A new schedule to aim to keep up with. Breadfruit leaves added and everything went into the model box, at last! I still want to do a little bit more to them, but that will have to wait as other things need paint on them first.
At last something’s in the model box!
The Town Square was painted up. One house and the Town Clock turned out really well the other buildings may get revisited. Tilly avoided the rain unlike Mick who headed into Lechlade to pick up a few supplies. On Wednesday he’d treated himself to a sausage roll from the sourdough shop, today it was a pork pie from the butchers. The butchers turned out to be quite useful for things other than meat and a lot closer than the Co-op which he didn’t find.
Pork and pickle pie
Today was the first day of the air show, not that you’d really know it. Due to the rain and wind we didn’t notice much in the skies. The red arrows cancelled their display. However more boats arrived in the rain.
Planks and poles in a dry window
They did their best to fit in where ever they could. The shallow stretch a short distance behind us has seen two narrowboats stuck bow in. It took Mick and two other chaps with planks and poles a while to get one boat free.
The Town Square tucked away for safe keeping
Here’s hoping the sun comes out tomorrow as I’m having a day off work.
0 locks, 0 miles, 128 at least planes in 1 day, 30 the next, 2 stuck boats, 12 hours solid, 1 very bored cat, 1 extreamly wet day, 1 model box starting to look like something, 179 leaves, plus some spares.
Such a lovely mooring it would have been a shame not to have stayed a little longer, so we did just that. A Chorizo Day for Tilly as I’d be spending much of it painting palm leaves for my Colombian Rainforest.
The sun first thing was very very bright, it shone in through the bathroom porthole soon after 4am, so this needed blocking out with the aid of a bung to encourage more sleep.
Left over fried potatoes instead of hash today
Mick did the honors for breakfast as Tilly headed into the long grass to explore. Then it was time to get on with painting leaves. My aim for today was to finish the leaves, but that very soon became obvious that I wouldn’t achieve my goal. As I’m hoping the portals will be printed this means that I have to be ever so ever so careful with how I paint them, any slight mistake will end up being enlarged to 25 times the slight wobble of brush. The extra time is warranted, I just hope I’ve enough time to paint the rest of the model before my next meeting. As much as I like writing blog posts and try to keep them limited to certain times of the day, they can take up an extra hour or so. Posts may be shorter or missing in the coming days.
Oleanna needed an oil change, Mick started to get himself set up. One of our chairs was on the engine board, it got moved out onto the stern for a moment. A gust of wind caught it and off it blew into the river. Mick grabbed a boat hook, but sadly it had already sunk and drifted too far to be saved.
Was the frame magnetic? The sea searcher magnet came out, so did I to see what Mick would catch. A long throw, slowly pulled back towards the boat. He’d caught something first time! Was it? Could it have been our chair? I thought I could see the frame.
Then whatever it was dropped out of view again. Several more attempts with the magnet and something was caught again. Slowly Mick raised it into view below the water. Yes it was our chair! Holding it steady I reached down with the boat hook and managed to hook part of the frame. Up it came closer, except it was under the stern of Oleanna.
Rescued
I held onto magnet and hook whilst Mick leaned right over to get a hand on the frame. Phew one chair rescued! One of us wouldn’t have to sit on a stool outside. It was left close by, far enough away from the bank edge to dry off. I think it may take some time.
Mick did an oil change, Tilly got bored with the outside and I worked. A few boats came past, mostly from upstream including a beautiful steam launch called Duet, sadly my camera wasn’t to hand at the time. More info can be found here.
Toadless Hole
This evening we had the remainder of what we would have eaten last night had it not been such a lovely evening. Toadless Hole and roast veg.
Pinkhill Lock 24hr moorings to Rushey Lock Meadows
The covers were rolled up after breakfast then we sat down to chat with the Geraghtys, we’ve missed a few zooms recently so it was good to see those who were there and hear of a recent visit to near York.
Moo!
Time to make a move, we had a destination in mind for the day a few hours cruise away. The sun was out, blue skies that every now and then were covered with cloud.
The Thames now wiggles and winds it’s way. A look at our map for moorings, did we remember them from four years ago. One came past, yes we’d stopped there maybe for a night.
Hollyhocks
No other boats seemed to be heading the same direction as us, in fact there were few boats on the move at all. At Northmoor Lock I hopped off with the boat hook so as to be able to grab the bow line once in the lock, the rope having been left on top of the cratch for ease. More wonderful Hollyhocks and roses at the lock cottage.
Could this have been where I was a bridesmaid?
Onwards upstream. New Bridge, was this the pub where my cousin had his wedding reception back in the 70’s. A check of photos later suggests not as there isn’t a stone bridge featured in the photos.
At Shifford Lock the sign said Self Service, but as I walked up to open gates a volunteer came out from the hut, we’d disturbed his lunch break. Yesterday had been a really busy day for them, 26 boats, today we were one of just a few. This was where we’d hoped we might be able to moor for the night. The volunteer pulled a face, he didn’t say we couldn’t but he also didn’t welcome us. The mooring on the back of the lock island is reserved for electric boats until 4pm, so he was right to discourage us.
Volunteer opening the gates for us
I then asked if we could pull up right at the far end of the lock landing so we could have lunch. Another face pulled, the Lock Keeper would be back at 2pm and he’s quite strict! I spied a water point, we’d fill up and have lunch, sorted. This we did and were soon on our way again.
New hide
I checked the blog for where we’d moored four years ago. One place was not far away, we kept our fingers crossed that it would be free, even if Tilly had stayed out to really late there! As we rounded the bend it was obvious the mooring isn’t used so much anymore due to the overgrown friendly cover on the bank. Peeking from inside was also a sign saying no mooring, Nature Reserve. Fair enough, they wouldn’t want Tilly out looking for friends! What a shame it was a lovely mooring. A new hide stands opposite.
Safely passed
Where should we try next? Next possible was at Tadpole Bridge. More wiggles to navigate, this time with canoes and paddleboarders thrown into the mix, several not knowing they should pass on the right.
Would there be space at the pub? Would we have to go in for a pint? Would the sausages I’d defrosted have to wait for tomorrow?
Pippin facing down stream
NB Pippin sat tied to two posts. Behind there would have been space for us except there was a canoe. Mick called out to the owners of Pippin, despite the front door being open no-one was home. No-one came to the canoe. We decided to pull alongside Pippin . This was all happening as the latest test match in Leeds was getting very close to a conclusion. As the English team scored runs Mick stood out the back of Oleanna incase someone returned to Pippin.
Across the way a young lad went overboard from his canoe. Dad took photos of the poor lad clinging on for dear life. Plenty of drinkers enjoyed sitting by the river, just not the people we wanted to see. Oleanna was far longer than Pippin and getting off would be tricksy, Tilly certainly wouldn’t be allowed out here. We conferred. We could stay, not an ideal mooring or carry on, the next mooring on our map at least 90 minutes away. Onwards!
A Lock Keeper was on duty at Rushey Lock, they’d just penned down a boat so the gates were open for us. As we ascended I asked if being a good gardener was one of the qualifications required to be a Thames Lock Keeper, the lady nodded. Mick asked if there was anywhere to moor nearby, we had recollections of Sue from WB No Problem XL having a favourite mooring here. The Lock Keeper described it’s position not five minutes up stream. Right then left and there it would be.
The right needed negotiating as a boat was just coming round it. Then to the left. Yes we remembered it now, have to check to see if we stayed here last time or not. No-one else was moored so we had the pick of the bank. Where I hopped off there was a sign warning of a wasps nest, we pulled along a touch further and banged our spikes in. This would do us, far Far better than the pub mooring.
What a lovely mooring
Tilly was given three hours, the long grass something to be negotiated. I did a couple of hours painting in banana palms before we set up outside to cook the sausages that had been destined for a toad in a hole. Just enough veg for kebabs too, I just need to get reacquainted with cooking on lumpwood charcoal again to reduce our carbon intake! Everything was cooked through and edible just a bit dark on the outside.
What a lovely mooring to watch the sun go down. Thank you Sue for having mentioned it years ago and to the Lockie confirming it still existed and giving us directions.
Setting sun
3 locks, 13.2 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 sneaky lunch break, 0 room for us, 1 git gapped pub mooring, 3 lovely gardens, 2 close calls, 1 perfect mooring all to ourselves, 37 half leafs painted, 6 sausages, 2 and a bit kebabs, 0.5kg potatoes, 1 sunset.
Today was going to be wet, how far should we travel? And would we get soaked?
Lock ready and waiting for us
By the time we’d had breakfast Mick had spotted a Lock Keeper, time to get ourselves a licence. We’d deliberated as to what duration to get. Two weeks would be £155, if we stayed on the river for longer then a months licence would be cheaper than three weeks. Mick returned having spent £155 and in return we had a licence to display in a window. I was all ready to tape it to the inside of the cratch where it can be seen by Lock Keepers no matter which side they are on.
Covers were rolled up and we pushed off into the lock soon followed by a second narrowboat that had just come into view.
Pippin and Oleanna rising together
The Lock Keeper was on duty for both here and Pinkhill (the next lock upstream) today. Unless there was a problem up stream she’d likely be staying at Eynsham. We chatted as we turned the wheels to operate the sluices. The EA has kept the same number of Lock Keepers, but reduced the number of seasonal keepers this year. She said the locks were the same as ever at this end of the Thames, but we’d notice things were different up stream, our last visit being four years ago.
On leaving I thanked her and wished her a dry day. This was not to be however as the heavens opened fairly soon after leaving. Waterproofs on we wound our way round the meanders of the river. Most of the moorings along here were occupied, one boat was the first boat we ever went to look at NB Cream Cracker, it had cream leatherette panels in the ceiling and a trad stern so we’d discounted it very quickly.
We kept up with NB Pippin, I hopped off on the lock landing and went up to help open the bottom gates. Here the Hollyhocks stood proud in the lock cottage garden, muted colours suggesting they’d faded with the sunshine. Not much of that for us today, it was now really quite wet.
Pinkhill Lock
NB Pippin was on a touch of a mission, they hoped to reach Lechlade today, then would take their time returning over a few days. We let them go first whilst I closed up the lock behind. We might see them at the next lock, but might not.
As we rounded the next bend a space on the picnic moorings called to us. If the weather forecast for today was correct then we’d only be getting more and more wet as the hours went on. Or we could just stop and sit out the rain. We decided on the latter and pulled in.
What!!!!
Tilly was not impressed! Rain at both ends of Oleanna, So not fair! But the rain passed over and shore leave was deemed to be okay again and off she went looking for friends.
Should we stay the day or risk the rain. The weather didn’t seem as bad as it had been forecast, but had we not seen the worst of it yet? One job for my panto model would require several hours in one sitting to paint the backgrounds for the majority of the set. Today could be that day, or tomorrow. We chose to stay put.
Blue
The paints came out and I mixed my first shade of blue, azure mixed with white for a pale shade, this was for the floor. After two coats on relevant model pieces more blue was added, the next band painted, two coats. This continued throughout the afternoon until I’d reached the top band which was just about black at the top of the cloths and portals.
Mick had to be Dreamie monitor for the afternoon to try to keep Tilly away from my model bits. A shake of wetness could leave marks that would end up being printed twenty five times bigger! However I tend to be the Dreamie dispenser, so she naturally came to me on returning from shore leave. Thankfully though my model survived without any added splodges.
Shades
The weather was surprisingly not constant, we had sunny intervals and rain at times. Paddleboarders came for an explore, dropping into the river between us and our neighbours. A family came to fish, the kids playing whilst Mum and Dad sat with rods to our bow, the rain didn’t seem to bother them much. All afternoon groups of teenagers walked past, the lead person with a big map in hand, everyone carrying big rucksacks on their backs. Were they doing a Duke of Edinburgh walk? Or was it a whole school year walking the Thames Pathway. They kept coming and coming until early evening.
In one sunny spell we headed outdoors ourselves. Time to set the towpath barbers up and give Mick a haircut. Much better now.
Kidlington Green Lock to Eynsham Lock, River Thames
Mick pointed me to additional adjustments on the laptop this morning. Could I balance the contrast, brightness and colours to make the screen more comfortable? I tweaked a few things then started to type.
Whenever there is new tech on the boat and I am the new user, Mick can be seen wincing over several days until I’ve found all the things that have changed. The program I use to watermark the photos for the blog wasn’t there this morning, an easy thing to solve once you remember if you’d paid to have a better version or not. The next thing, which English? I can only put up with colour being underlined in red for so long. This is an easy fix and one I can do myself, it’s just annoying as I know my spelling is correct, in English English!
Drinkwater’s Lift Bridge
We pootled down the canal. Drinkwater Lift Bridge was wound up, no vehicles or walkers to stop. Then we slotted in at the waterpoint and topped up the tank very slowly, even slower as the washing machine was working hard.
As Oleanna dropped down Dukes Lock a small, varnished to within an inch of its life, rowing boat shot round the corner in front of us heading to Dukes Cut Lock, it did have an outboard motor. I walked round and at first couldn’t see the boat, blimey it must have shot through the lock too! No it was so small it was hiding waiting for the lock to empty, the owner clinging onto it’s red rope.
Does this paddle actually do anything?
It took forever to empty and it took two of us to push open the bottom gate. We may have just fitted in the lock along with him, but neither Mick or I wanted to try. I paced it out, borderline. Best not to share. The paddle was lifted, not even two turns possible. Was this actually doing anything or was the lock just filling by itself around the top gate. An extra push on the beam had the water leveling out quicker, the chap heading off into the distance upstream. Time to do it all again for Oleanna.
Pootleing away
Eventually we were up and level with the River Thames. Slowly past all the boats that live in no man’s land in Dukes Cut. Some are interesting, one very much afloat yet on such an angle! A couple sat in a clearing with a big big speaker blasting out what at first sounded like ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’, but it wasn’t Ant and Dec, something more modern.
Floating but on quite a list
The floating pontoon just before the junction was empty, we pulled over tying Oleanna up around the willow branches. Yellow water tank required emptying then we had lunch. Time to get Oleanna river ready, well yesterday would have been better, but it didn’t happen. The anchor chain and rope bucket were brought out from a locker, one end attached to the bow T stud the other to the anchor. Life jackets found in the shed.
Back on a river, deep and wide
Now, should we stay put in the shade? Or should we carry on? The hours on our schedule have decreased a touch, but being close to a road today would be handy. We carried on towards Eynsham Lock, the sun shining down on us as Mick checked our quarter wave.
Boats were nestled into the banks here and there, the further we got away from Oxford the fewer they got. The chap in his pretty rowing boat had pulled onto the bank a short distance on, enjoying the days sunshine to read his book.
The 24 hour moorings below Eynsham Lock were empty, we pulled in. On a bend in the bank, we started to pull along to get a straight edge to the high bank. The Lock Keeper came down to check we were alright and requested we pull right up to the other end of the moorings.
I said we’d need to see him for a license, he asked what our plans were and he suggested seeing the Lock Keeper in the morning, he’d not seen us today and the mooring for the night would be free, bonus! That makes our return journey and timings slightly easier.
In painting mode
A quick check around the area, then Tilly was given three hours to explore the nettles. I sent a message detailing our location to John at Chippy Theatre as some samples had arrived for me and he’d offered to drop them off on his way home tonight.
The afternoon was spent going through a costing list for panto that was about to be sent out to builders, painting in breadfruit leaves and round palms whilst Mick listened to the cricket. At 6:30 I got a phone call from John he was about five minutes away. It was a very quick five minutes as he was already at the locked gate envelope in hand. Hooray my samples, but not as exciting as I’d hoped, lots of dull green fabrics but some Chinchilla Habotai Silk that looks like a possible.
In for a dip
During the afternoon a group of teenagers had gathered on the opposite bank, many of them enjoying the river waters for a swim. That side is quite shallow so many of them could stand, what a lot of noise! At least they were having a good time. They were replaced with couples having a swim, a tent was set up was there fishing going on?We’re certainly back on a river.
Ideal location for our first night on the Thames
The chairs came out and two of the salmon fillets had a sprinkling of some Thai spices, some veg kebabs and potatoes were prepared, Mick lit the barbeque as three men rowed past heading for the lock. A short while later a couple came past standing up, rowing Venetian style. How very Thames!
But where is Montmorency?
2 locks, 4.8 miles, 1 empty yellow tank, 1 full water tank, 2 rights, 1 little boat, 1 slow lock, 1 anchor, 1 free day, 1 free mooring, 1 envelope, 6 shades of green, 61 leaves painted, 2 kebabs, 2 salmon fillets, 2 pimms, 1 big fat plane, 2 boaters and 1 cat back on the river.
Thrupp visitor mooring to below Kidlington Green Lock
Mick had to convince the Sainsburys driver that they were delivering to us on a boat rather than to one of the cottages we were moored in front of. The driver hadn’t read the instructions, but promised that he would do in future. I wonder what the people at 3 Canal Road would have made of receiving two bags of cat litter, Tilly was relieved. She also popped her nose into each bag to make sure her telepathy had worked, it had and we’d got more expensive salmon than had originally been ordered!
As soon as everything was stowed it was time to roll up the covers and get moving, not far today to keep to our schedule. The two hire boats ahead of us had already moved off so when we pulled out there was only one boat left on the 2 day moorings, I suspect they would fill back up by lunchtime.
Goodbye Thrupp see you in a few weeks
We gradually made our way south past all the cruising club boats and soon came across the boat we’d been following yesterday, they’d been towards Oxford to wind and were now heading back to base, only one day left of their holiday.
Warning of cats on the towpath
We passed the smart new (to her) boat of Franky’s, very different to her previous boat NB White Swan, the give away were the skulls on the hatch and her sign on the towpath warning of her two cats Shadow and Ghost. We’ve considered something similar, but never got round to it.
For the last mile or so there had been obvious signs of a rarely seen creature on the towpaths this year. We’d last seen some at Barrowford Locks on the Leeds Liverpool Canal.
A Lesser Spotted Mower
Along he came, sat low on his mower, bumping along the towpath. He slowed as we passed and he gave us a thumbs up. It looked like he was giving the towpath a full width cut which apparently this year is only happening once, lock landings and official moorings three times.
Gradually making his way north for summer
At Kidlington Green Lock I helped a lady with the bottom gate, their last day on a College Cruiser hire boat. These seem to have been more popular than the other hire companies, maybe their prices are that bit cheaper. Below the lock there was plenty of space for us to pull in. As soon as the ropes were tied back to Oleanna the rules were recited and the doors opened up for Tilly, six hours!
Time to try out a new laptop Mick has bought me. It’s taken him the last week to get it set up, knowing that he has a hard customer to please, me. Smaller than the laptop we bought during lockdown, it was on a special offer at John Lewis. First impressions were not about how it was set up which was a surprise to both of us.
An ‘F’, it has an ‘F’!
Where I tend to rest my wrists when typing the rounded corners have a sharp edge to them. I suspect I’ll adapt to these.
The other thing was that the monitor seemed to be a touch faint. I persevered for a while but the faintness of the text was gradually giving me a headache. Everything was very blue. A while ago I had requests on the blog to change the colour of the text to make it easier to read, I today was having the same problem. The laptop was passed back to IT support to see if there were settings he could alter.
During the afternoon Mick replaced the nut and bolt connecting our two good batteries with a better nut and bolt. This is still a temporary thing until we get the batteries fully sorted which won’t be until later in the year as it will involve some upheaval of things. But it is far better than the cobbled together solution we’ve been working with for the last week or so.
Most of the afternoon I got on with work. Every leaf for my portals, front cloth, backdrop, floor and steps were drawn out on sheets of watercolour paper, traced from the model. They then had a base coat of paint. My aim is to paint the leaves then cut them out and use them to layer up on top of the background. Hopefully this will give a more 3D effect without actually being 3D and it will be easier to paint the bits seen between each layer, but it is going to take sometime.
Haloumi Beetroot and Quinoa salad
2 locks, 2.3 miles, 1 delivery not to no 3, 2 boxes wine, 4 portions of salmon, 2 varieties of litter, 2 skulls, 1 favourite mooring, 1 happy occupied cat, 1 laptop returned to IT, 3 settings changed, 2 bright now! 3 sheets of leaves, 1st colour, 1 new salad recipe tried, tasty.
Still chilly, but not wet this morning. We needed to be moored up with good internet signal before 2pm today. As we descended Dashwood Lock I could see a Black Prince boat just setting off from below the lock. We caught them up at Northbrook Lock, it was obvious that they were very new to boating. The lady followed the chap around and she preferred to step into the welldeck and out again than cross the bottom gates. I helped (after asking!) and chatted to the lady. A boat approached from below so the gates could be left open, which was a touch confusing for the novice crew.
Just love their red moggy
Jane’s Enchanted Garden looks to have had a bit of a spruce up, the tea rooms now run by someone else elsewhere. By Pigeons Lock the sun was out, the world starting to warm up, we dropped down and swapped with an uphill boat.
Brickwork always makes for a good photo
By the time we were nearing Enslow the sky had split itself, one side blue the other very very dark. Coats and waterproof trousers were needed again, but thankfully not for long.
Bakers Lock had a downhill boat in it, but not the Black Prince boat. A single hander who offered to come back once she’d pulled in below to help with the lock. We were fine, she could enjoy a cuppa instead.
The flow on the river section wasn’t really noticeable today, the bends still required some navigating though. We pulled at Shepton Weir Lock in just as the hire boat was about to leave the lock. The lady had been asking how far to the pubs earlier. I’d told her about the choice in Thrupp, but I wasn’t too sure about winding holes. I’d consulted my map by now. They could turn just before the lift bridge in Thrupp, after that it would be another two hours cruise to Dukes Cut for safe winding. Armed with the information they headed on their way. Would they carry on, maybe grabbing the last mooring in Thrupp or wind and moor a little out of the village?
Scooby Doo!
We followed them in, trying to work out which space we’d had on the Cruising Club moorings a couple of years ago. Was our luck in, they seemed to have moored up at the services for water along with another hire boat. A lady from the cruising club walked up to the bridge to open it for everyone, all three boats, we were waved through first!
Open sesame
The line of boats on the moorings at first looked like they were nose to tail, would there be space for us never mind the two following boats? The 7 day moorings were full, but the 2 days empty! Brilliant, just where we wanted to be. We pulled in and tucked ourselves right up to the next boat, soon followed by the two hire boats, both taking up way too much space. They soon moved up when others arrived. Phew we’d made it and in time for some lunch before my meeting.
Sorry to leapfrog you both
Time to go through the model and drawings with Gemma the production manager. Each item of set was talked about, construction wise and finish wise. Gemma should now have enough information to get quotes from builders and for the printing of cloths.
I then set about drawing out leaves to paint in a new version of the rainforest. I’m hoping doing it as a painted collage that then gets printed will give it a different feel from other years. Blimey there’s a LOT of leaves to trace out and paint before cutting them out and sticking them in position. All this whilst Tilly complained at the back doors, shore leave not allowed in Thrupp after a near collision with car tyres a few years!
Look into my eyes! You must buy salmon!
5 locks, 6.7 miles, 2 lift bridges, 1 lufted holding some up, 2 hire boats overtaken, 1:15pm moored, 2 model zooms, 3 quotes required, 2 sheets of leaves, so far, 2 days TDF caught up with, 1 telepathic Tilly, 4 salmon steaks, 5000 hours!
A sausage day! Well it seemed like it would be a sausage day a I was allowed out to explore first thing, but it turned out not to be. She and Tom were up and outside chatting to Roots Tom and She quite early. I went along to check out their boat and their catwalk. A suitable size, but not such a good view inside. How’s a cat meant to be nosy?! They untied the outside, we’d still got hold of it so it couldn’t get away, and then they drifted silently away.
Bye, until next time
Time to find some friends!
A good vantage point, now go away!
Soon after breakfast there was a toot of a horn. Julie and Simon on NB Perseus had arrived a few boats back quite late yesterday evening. They’d seen a gap near us but hadn’t wanted to moor next to someone they didn’t know at that time of evening, little did they know at the time it was us.
Simon and Julieanother Lady of Finesse
They pulled in for a quick catch up in the rain. We’d all be getting wet today! Good to see them again and be less aware of keeping space between us, last time we met we had covid. Hopefully we’ll get chance one day to sit out on the towpath and have an evening with them, but today they were on a more serious mission than us, hoping to reach Henley by Thursday.
By the time we’d finished our morning routine several boats had come past. Paul yesterday had warned us that only one top paddle was working at Somerton Deep Lock so it was taking an eternity to fill. We didn’t rush to get away, but also sooner or later we’d need to join the queue.
Notes, photos and phone calls
A group of high vis stood looking at the underside of Chisnell Lift Bridge. Was there something wrong with the bridge, we’ve seen it down before when the farmer has been in the field across the way.
Wonder how long this will take to move?
Arriving at Somerton Deep Lock we joined the end of the queue, three boats ahead of us and one already going down. The boats nudged up. One boat came up, another down, the filling of the lock taking forever. One boat was mob handed opening and closing the heavy gates. I picked up a windlass and walked up to see if I could help as did the lady from the hire boat in front.
A chap who’d been helping, headed to get his boat from below, he was a boat mover heading for Wilton. People around the lock helped him with the gates. A chap lifted the one working paddle to fill the lock. He paused halfway up and left his windlass on the paddle gear. This always makes me wince as it is bad practice. When he did it again after lifting the paddle fully I shouted across. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I did follow it up explaining that if anything should break on the paddle gear then that windlass would likely spin off at great speed, a broken arm, lost teeth possibly.
As we waited for the boat to come up I chatted away to the lady from the hire boat, they’ve been hiring for around twenty years, so quite a bit of experience.
The boat mover thanked everyone as he left and the next boat was brought into the lock. The gate was being closed by a lady from the boat and I walked up to add my bum to the job. As I walked up she walked away saying that as the paddles get lifted it would close. The gate was quite a bit away from being closed and would likely make a big bang closing this way. I continued to push the gate, the lady walked down towards the bottom gates then because she wasn’t needed she got onto her now descending boat, saying that she was now redundant.
Then mutterings could be heard about hire boaters from the couple on the boat as it descended. Were they complaining that the hire boat crew weren’t helping. The lady I was chatting to had to say something, did they have a problem with her? They obviously did have a problem. I walked up to see what it was. A tirade came from the chap at the helm. ‘Don’t you know you should ask before helping at locks!’
Leaving Somerton
I explained that we’d come along to help if needed and to be sociable. ‘My crew are more than capable!’ Well we hadn’t done anything other than help close a gate for them, no risk of us sinking their boat! If there had been need of anyone lifting paddles I would most certainly have asked if they wanted assistance, I never assume and never lift a paddle without confirmation, I even wait for someone to reappear at the helm if they’ve gone inside before winding my windlass.
The man was so rude. ‘Well we’ll have to make sure we don’t catch you up’ I said. Maybe he’d had a problem with me calling over to his crew regarding the windlass, or maybe he was just Hireist, those who are prejudiced against hire boaters no matter what. The lady from the hire boat was quite rightly p*d off with the amount of abuse they are getting from boat owners. We stood back and let them leave.
No-one was coming, time to fill the lock. I then asked the hire boat lady, ‘Can I help you with the lock?’ We both laughed.
One arriving to go up
Still a queue of four boats behind. Mick and I worked ourselves down, the following boat only coming to close the gate behind us. Except there was a boat arriving below, the chap walked away. Hope someone asked if they could help!
It was now raining quite hard. Should we continue or pull in on the meadows? There was space. If we carried on we’d want to get to Muddy Slipper before stopping due to there being a big black hole of everythingness around Heyford (no phone signal, internet or TV). With a zoom meeting planned for tomorrow and slow progress today we decided we’d best stay wet and carry on to the other side.
Googlie eyes
Heyford Common Lock, Allens (Alan! Alan!!) Lock, then the long section before you reach Mill Lift Bridge. Key of power was utilised here. Many hire boats were at home in Lower Heyford, one couple being briefed for a few days afloat.
Dashwood Lock then appeared on the soggy horizon. The hire boat just going down, another lady assisting with the bottom gate. I walked up to see if Muddy Slipper was free, it was occupied. Thankfully there is space for a couple of boats before the lock landing above the lock, so we pulled back and tucked ourselves up close to another boat. Time to dry off.
Still a temporary beam
An afternoon of Tilly not being overly impressed of the wet outside that we’d tied up. I got my paints out to see how best to paint my rain forest portals and cloths. Of course as usual I changed my mind. Tomorrow I’ll give it another go.
Hmmm!
This evening to help warm us and the boat up we’ve had a roast, well nut roast, but with squash, beetroot and roasted potatoes. Very tasty and just what we needed at the beginning of July!
3 locks, 6.2 miles, 2 lift bridges, 1 under examination, 2 cat walks, 2nd Lady of Finesse in a week, 1 very wet day, 2 miserable sods, 1.5 hours to get through Somerton Deep, 1 black hole cruised through, 1 router not working, 1 hot spot better, 2 versions to be revised.
