Category Archives: Moorings

Waiting For The Grey Boat. 7th October

Thrupp to Kidlington Green Lock 43

An apt boat for today

A dry but chilly morning, time to nudge one more step towards Oxford. Plenty of boats were heading north and at times there were several waiting for the lift bridge, we headed southwards for water and a suitable place for Tilly.

Knowing we’d be able to fill up ahead the washing machine had been active whilst we’ve been in Thrupp, the gauge now reading a quarter full. We pulled up at Langford Bridge which isn’t the best place for a water point. Just after a bridge on a bend. We opted for mooring with our stern in to the towpath and bow sticking out, a fender strategically positioned hoping that the freshly painted gunnels will survive a day un marked.

A useful sign

Once full, we pootled onwards having ear marked a mooring we thought would be good for Tilly. At Roundham Lock we swapped with a boat coming out of the lock and had extra crew to help us down as a hire boat awaited their turn accompanied by a lady sat in their bow playing sea shanties on an accordion .

For those from YorkPaws to protect the hull

With moorings above and below Kidlington Green Lock we pulled in above and I walked to see what was available below. I had a suspicion that the boat that would be our neighbour had a cat as there was an escape board pinned into the armco at either ends of the boat. Mick confirmed this on my return as he’d seen the cat having a bath in preparation for coming out of it’s cat flap. We decided as there was plenty of space below the lock with sunlight we’d move down.

Only two more locks to Oxford

A boat had just pulled in, most probably for lunch, they had a whippet who dashed along the towpath towards us. Maybe above the lock would have been better! Once we’d tied up Mick walked down to ask about their dog and how it is with cats. Not good was the answer and they were expecting another whippet to arrive shortly but would be moving on in an hours time. This did not go down too well with Tilly!!

They’d tied the outside up. She’d written down the magic numbers. The magic music had been played. There were trees. There was a big huge field to run around in. I’d been locked in for days, weeks, years!!! But she didn’t recite the rules, just a ”Sorry Tilly, when the grey boat goes” !!!!! We hoped that the lady kept to her word.

The grey boatShore leave at lastJust as she said they pulled off an hour later and as she walked past informed us that the dogs were safely on the boat. Tilly and I stood and watched the grey boat go past, a stairgate visible at the stern to keep their dogs in. It was now safe. “Three Hours, no friends home, dead or alive or putting them on the roof for later …..”etc. One happy cat.

FazilDuring the afternoon I finished off my first Fazil for panto. He still needs eyes a tongue and some markings, but the shape is good and he fits on my hand as well as Micks. A one size fits all snake. Another two to make, but I’m going to have a break from snakes whilst I do a bit more towards a big order I’ve got. Multicoloured wool put away and subtle cream and red back out.

Wow!

As our roast pork cooked the sun set over the far side of the field behind us. What a lovely sight, whilst trying to encourage a still giddy cat to come home for her dingding!

DSCF7114sm2 locks, 2.33 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 accordion, 2 planks, 1 pawprint rubbing strake, 1 mark, 1st female DR, 1 aptly named boat, 1 snake, 4th pair started, 1 Sunday roast, 4 hours of pouncing, digging, climbing and running around like a loon!

https://goo.gl/maps/yYNYgrYoTDv

Fast Flow, Toes, Sofas And Too Much Barking. 29th September

Hayes Lift Bridge to The Pig Place
Frosted
Mick got up to put the kettle on. Outside the morning looked very chilly, my phone suggested –1C. Steam rose from the canal and the greenery around us had had a visit from Jack Frost scattering his icing sugar over everything. Then Mick noticed that the canal had a flow to it. Not unusual in itself, but this was flowing faster than the Llangollen Canal. We both looked out of the window, it didn’t feel right. Yesterday when we’d pulled up I considered doing more to the gunnels as the towpath was at an okay height to reach them. But this morning they were out of view, the pound had dropped by at least 6 inches if not 8. Oleanna was on a list.
Striding out through the rising steam to try to stop the flow
The gas was turned off under the kettle and we both got dressed, Oleanna pushed out and with windlass in hand we set off to walk down to the next lock. Maybe someone was coming up in the lock and hadn’t closed the bottom paddles properly so water was flowing through the lock. Maybe someone had opened the paddles at both ends of the lock (the cause of the Middlewich Branch breach in March). Maybe there was a breach and the water was disappearing into a field somewhere. As we walked towards the lock the flow of water was still fast, through bridge holes it rushed past.
Such a pretty morning
A hire boat had passed us before we set off, would they sort the problem before we got there? Were they aware that there might be a problem? We got about half way to the lock when the flow on the canal slowed, then it stopped. No point in carrying on as the plug hadn’t been pulled after all. So we turned and headed back to put the kettle on and let Tilly out for an hour or so.
It's nice and warm up here now the stove is lit
After breakfast Mick got a bike out and rode back towards Banbury to Morrisons, about a mile for our Saturday newspaper. Once back we wanted to make a move so I gave Tilly a half hearted call from the hatch, she appeared and jumped on board, perfect. Why doesn’t she do that every time? Because I get busy!
Single gates at both endsTwo paddles still
We pushed off late morning and headed to the lock. Here at Grant’s Lock the design of the locks changes. Instead of having two bottom gates there is just one. This means that they are heavier and that the locks have to be longer, therefor more water needed to fill them. But it does mean you don’t have to hop across the gap or walk round to open and close both gates. Once down the bottom gate was a touch reluctant to open fully, but Oleanna managed to get through. From here I could see that a boat was coming towards us, but they were getting on for over half a mile away, So I closed the gate behind us.
Kings Sutton Church
A mile and a half to Kings Sutton Lock, the church spire in view for much of the journey. As we approached there was a boat just leaving, perfect timing. Another chap stood waiting to help as his boat was waiting below. We chatted away for a bit and I soon came to the conclusion that I knew of this chap, we’d met once before. They moored at Cropredy, had just had a month out on the Thames and were finding it hard to adjust back to being on the canals. This just had to be Neil from NB Herbie. Neil writes their blog, an amusing read, but his wife Kath keeps up to date with other peoples blogs.
Neil from NB Herbie
Neil suggested that the rushing water this morning may have been C&RT letting water down into the next pound as that pound tends to get quite low. Certainly a possible explanation.
Kath and Herbie
As we came out of the lock Kath spotted that it was us so we paused mid channel for a chat. Luckily what ever we got round the prop just as we slowed down managed to drop off by itself. We had known our paths would cross soon and it was good to say hello again. I didn’t do too well at taking Neil and Kath’s photos though!
By the time we reached the Pig Place we were peckish. The moorings here had just filled up and at the time we didn’t spot that there were rings on the towpath. Just as we passed, one of the boats pulled out. We paused to let them pass and then winded to return and take their mooring.
The Pig PlaceThe Pig Place is a Farm Shop with fringe benefits. You can’t miss it on the bend with three piece suites laid out on the grassy hill. Each area has a fire pit and logs are for sale. There is a bar and cafe selling bacon butties amongst other things. Over the last few days we’ve been trying to work out where to spend Christmas, here they have moorings with electric hook up, so it was worth an ask. We climbed the hill and talked to the lady who weighed out sausages and bacon for us. Their winter moorings were full, taken from November to March, so no space for us for a week. The shop has lots of jars of jam and bottles of beer, then lots of pork to buy and cook. But very little in the way of fresh veg and fruit to tempt us. So we left with our small purchases and headed back to Oleanna pushing over to the towpath for lunch.
One of the many lufted lift bridges today
Now we’re facing the wrong way! We decided to leave that problem for tomorrow and opened up the back doors for Tilly. She was too busy trying to convince me into letting her out for her to notice she was being given todays rules and that the back doors were already wide open. But eventually the penny dropped and off she went.
If it wasn’t for the long lean woofers across the way in this outside it would get a Mrs Tilly stamp of approval. Just how am I meant to surprise friends when they bark at me! At least they didn’t want to come and join in with my fun. Every time I came out of the friendly cover they announced my presence! Which we quite liked. It did mean that we wouldn’t have wanted to moor here anyway for the safety of Tilly.
2 locks, 4.21 miles, 9 lufted lift bridges, 2wice under the M40, 1 wind, 1 blogging boat, 2 feet, 1 paper, 8 sausages, 6 rashers, 1st autumn cooking on the stove, 1 clean boat inside, 2nd pair of socks finished.

Five Minutes Early. 25th September

Claydon Bottom Lock to Cropredy Lock

The scarecrows at Clattercote looking like they are about to be swept away by the wind

Our aim has been to reach Oxford this week so that I can visit the set builders for Panto more easily with more direct rail routes. However shortly after breakfast this morning my phone rang and it was my Production Manager. She’s been very busy looking after Ade Edmonson and Nigel Planer last week in Guildford so hadn’t been in touch for a while. Today she rang to give me possible dates to visit the builders, not next week but a couple of weeks away. They are quite a distance, so keeping visits to a minimum is needed so we don’t spend our lives travelling, a lot of things can be done over the internet too. So after we’d chatted Mick and I decided to take our time reaching Oxford. Moorings are not in abundance so we need to time our arrival well.

First lock of the day

We took our time in getting going. Boats came past heading for Claydon Locks and then boats started to come the other way. If we’d been a few minutes earlier setting off the locks may just have been in our favour, it didn’t matter as we met a boat coming up at each lock anyway. A Black Prince Hire boat was following us, a lady stepped off and headed towards the first lock that we were just exiting. I called to her that a boat was waiting to come up several times and when eventually Mick had told her the same she let go of the handle on the bottom gate that she was about to close and walked back to her boat to wait their turn. A single hander greeted us at one lock with a jolly face, not too many people offer to give him a helping hand.

Pawless puss cat

At the third lock a lady wearing lovely white trousers helped the boat in front of us. Her clothing and too big leather gloves suggested she was on her first hire boat holiday. They had stayed in Cropredy overnight and had been for an explore this morning enjoying a scone and tea in the lovely cafe. They had found their own way of working the locks, which we all do, but she was making her life a bit hard so I suggested a couple of things that would make it easier. As their boat s l o w l e y came out from the lock her husband said how exhausted he was with all the hard work he was having to do and how many more locks were there. Passing Mick I could hear exactly the same remarks. If I was his wife I’d have pushed him in by now!

Apples and fenders

Broadmoor Lock has a little stall by it, when we last came through we paused and bought a new centre line for Lillian. Today the same sign was up advertising fenders etc along with a box of freshly picked apples. We bought some, I think a couple of Russets and some Orange Pippins. As Oleanna lowered in the lock the Black Prince boat arrived behind us, the lady offered to wind a paddle that was all taped up, out of order. As soon as someone appeared from below with a windlass she asked them if they were coming up, yes, so she turned and walked away back to her boat. It takes all sorts.

Cropredy Marina

A pause at Cropredy Marina for a top up of diesel and a couple of bags of coal was needed, so we pulled in and got sorted. Mick made reversing out from the service mooring look like a breeze despite the one that was coming across the water at us. Oleanna arced her way out and back down the marina to then just be able to swing round to the entrance. No body but me watching as ever.

We pulled up onto the 24hr moorings and let Tilly out. This would do for today, no need to reach Banbury and beyond quite so quickly. Tilly came back in after an hour so she was left in charge whilst we went for a nosy around the village.

The Red Lion

The Red Lion pub looked cosy in it’s line of thatched cottages. A sign on the door suggested that it had been closed for a while, but announced it would reopen on 29th August. This still being on the door a month later suggests otherwise. A door or two up from the pub one of the cottages is for sale, a touch bigger on the inside than expected.

St Mary's

the way is St Mary’s Church. The earliest parts dating back to 1050, the church has undergone many alterations through it’s history.

The Doom painting above the archThis would make a great knitting patternIn 1831 the present clock was installed with it’s 14ft long wooden pendulum that ticks away over head. Sadly the clock is five minutes early, maybe to help locals arrive on time. There are eight bells, six that originate from the 17th Century and the latter two Fairport and Villager were added in 2007. Last year they had a lot of work done to the roof, scarfing in new timber where joists had rotted and had beetle damage, lead from the roof was taken away, melted and then refitted. Above the chancel arch is a ‘Doom’ Painting, worse for wear after it had been white washed over, then cleaned, then given a coat of varnish in Victorian times, which did more damage sadly.

FoxPeacockThe village it self is a mixture of thatched properties, some Victorian and then a mix up to the 80’s. Many of the thatched cottages have sculptures on their roofs, a fox and peacock were the ones we could recognise.

Back at the moorings a boat had pulled in behind us leaving a classic ‘git gap’. Boaters coming past made comments about the ‘boat moving up’ to us in loud voices, which sadly fell on deaf ears. Deaf due to their four stupid yappy shit-in-your-shoe woofers! They showed no respect to me and my section of towpath. They were so stupid that Tom suggested they should go home even though I was more than capable of dealing with such stupidity. My means would have been noisy for a while but then at least we wouldn’t have had to listen to them all evening!

Cropredy Lock

I made use of a low section of towpath and scraped off bubbles of rust that have had chance to take hold on the bow end of the gunnels. They were sanded back and a coat of fertan applied. Hopefully I’ll get chance in the next few days to finish prepping the port side and give it a coat or two. My intention was to do them Spring and Autumn but where we’ve ended up being moored hasn’t been suitable. I’d like to get them done before I go to Chipping Norton so that I’m not finishing them in November in the snow as I did last year.

3 locks, 1.67 miles approx, 1 trip computer not charging, 2 rights, 79.6 litres diesel, 2 bags excel, 2 weeks to get to Oxford, 4 rowdy woofers, 2 deaf owners, 1 bushy tail, 45 ft gap, 15 ft gap, 2 boats luckily going in opposite directions, 3 pairs gloves complete, 2nd pair socks started, 1 stove keeping us warm.

https://goo.gl/maps/sUsM5GFr6WU2

Hooking Up For a Bit. 17th September

Radford Semele to Saltisford Arm

Before heading off to the Oxford we need to stock up on supplies so we needed to turn round. As we’d be heading westward we decided to see if there would be space at the Saltisford Arm for a couple of days where we could catch up on the washing and be plugged in.

Several boats came past as we were getting ready to push off, we spotted a gap and went for it. A second push to the bow was required due to the wind  pushing us back against the towpath, but we got away before we became a problem to the next passing boat. We winded and headed back into Leamington Spa.

Railway

I had some work emails to do so left Mick to cruise us towards Cape Locks. The costume designer for the Panto had been asking about the size of a boat due to the size of the Dames costume and I’d asked about suitability of a rubber ring for a scene. Emails went back and forth for a while until we both had answers to all our questions.

To keep Mick happy some trains

Back on deck we passed over the railway line we’d gone along on Saturday, no trains though. When we’d been at the station yesterday Mick had requested I took a photo of a train approaching the station, I was already doing so. The line in Leamington cuts it’s way through what was the old town, crossing a major crossroads at second floor height. I was fortunate enough to capture two trains whilst we were meant to be looking at the station gardens.

Our supplies would last us a few more days, so we decided to push on past Morrisons, Lidl, Tescos, Sainsburys and Aldi and do a proper stock up on our return in a few days.

Was there just one boat or two?

As we approached Cape Bottom Lock there was a boat just entering it to go up. We’d already passed two boats that had been heading this way this morning, so it might be on it’s own. The gates closed, oh well. Then they opened again and a lady appeared and waved us in to join them, we’d been spotted. We weighed up whether we thought we’d be able to turn Oleanna below the locks. Jaq and Les from NB Valerie spent a winter in this pound, they called it Prison as they were locked in by stoppages and they both needed the local hospital. NB Valerie could be turned here after making use of the water point below the locks, we’re not sure how long she is, but we think Oleanna could possibly just do it too.

The Cape of Good HopeA good pub with great beer and foodWe shared the two locks with the shareboat NB Endeavour who had plenty of crew and had come from Long Itchington this morning and were aiming to do Hatton today too. The lady seemed a bit put out that a C&RT chap who was there to grease the paddles didn’t help, but there were four of us working the locks so there was no need. It being lunchtime the moorings around the Cape of Good Hope pub were busy. Two boats were on the water point where we wanted to go, two boats were heading to the pub moorings. The ones on the water point then wanted the lock so there was some do-c- do-ing to be done as NB Endeavour had insisted that we leave the lock first. It would have been better if he’d gone and got out of the equation as we got in his way and he was then in the way of the boats from the water point who were in our way! It all got sorted in the end.

No one at home on Adagio. They used to moor at Crick

We pulled up mostly so that we could empty the yellow water tank before we might have to breast up at our mooring today. As we were by a tap we took advantage of that too. Empty and full we cruised up to the junction and turned left the easier option as right takes you to the bottom of the Hatton flight. Slowly we made our way down the arm, a lady came out from the office to say hello and tell us where to moor.

The visitor moorings are just beyond a winding hole, so winding first is advised and then you back down to find a space. There was one bank side space free, but we’d been told it was only 55ft, later once it had been taken Mick paced it and we would have fitted, however it was closer to the road. We reversed to find a suitable boat to pull alongside, NB Joanna. Unoccupied but with signs of a dog, this wasn’t going to be so good for Tilly sadly. Cat Health and Safety discussed our mooring  and decided that should the owner return whilst Tilly was out she’d have difficulty getting back to her boat, there would be a conflict of territories and that wouldn’t be fair on either Tilly or the Woofer. So no shore leave.

Late lunch before the hook up was sorted and then the washing machine was put to work pausing only for the dishwasher to have a go. TV was tuned in, our last stay here was prior to me starting to do TV thumbs. It deserved a diagonal thumb in the upwards direction, not perfect reception, but not bad.

Apple lemony gluten free yumminess

The last of our Bramleys were chopped up and put into a Dorset Apple Cake still warm today for pudding and enough to keep us going for the next few days.

2 locks, 5.6 miles, 2 winds, 1 left, 0 shopping, 1 cat who is very aware of which her boat is and wouldn’t give 2 hoots about a woofer being inbetween! 1 cat still locked in despite her complaints, 2 many good trees to be missed! 2 boaters ignoring their cat, 0 visits to the pooh box if they let me out! 1 empty wee tank, 1 fill of the water tank, 2 loads washing, 1 dishwasher, 1 refill required in the morning, 1st pair of socks started, 1 yummy gf apple cake.

https://goo.gl/maps/RUghJFP6bBs

Ryans Red Cabbage 3rd, 4th, 5th September

Crick Marina to The Moorings to Welton Hythe Marina

Monday morning Mick was up early, getting a lift from Lizzie he headed into Rugby to pick up a hire van, yes he’d booked a van because it was cheaper and he actually got a van! He popped back to the boat for breakfast before setting off on a day trip to Scarborough leaving Tilly and myself behind.

First I had parcels to pick up from the post office. They have plants and some veg for sale depending on what is ready in a locals veg patch. The runner beans can not be missed, so I picked up a bag and headed to pay for them. As soon as the lady saw me she popped behind the Post Office counter and returned with two parcels. Sadly as I hadn’t intended buying anything I had no cash on me and they don’t accept cards. I was about to return the beans when the lady said I should just take them. Blimey, what a service! They have received various parcels for us over the last month with smiles on their faces and now I was being given free runner beans.

Sewing in the endsYarn ready for the next orderBack at the boat I set about finishing off the custom order for my Etsy shop. A pair of wrist warmers which I wanted to get into the post before we left Crick. The ends were sewn in and then they were laid out on our bed to block them. This helps to even out the stitches and makes things look that bit crisper.

Not as streamline but hopefully cheaper to build

Then it was time to pay attention to work emails. I spent the day to-ing and fro-ing, phone calls and third versions of boats all with the hope that they would save us some money and still do all that the Director wanted. It was a very busy day.

Just as I was about finish Tilly ran into the boat in a very frantic way. Low and spooked, making noises as if she had a fur ball. I tried to get near her to see what was the matter. This was different than when she got high on ants, maybe she’d been stung. I managed to get us both in the bathroom and tried to have a look, but she wasn’t having anything to do with me. Over the next hour she gradually calmed down. When Mick returned I asked him to have a look at her in case he could see if she had a swollen face in anyway. Of course by now she’d calmed down, had a head rub and wanted some food! She’d had me worried and I was about to call the vet in Hillmorton an hour earlier!

Anti-raked sheep checking out my next order

Tuesday morning was another early start for Mick to return the van. Tilly strangely didn’t pester this morning to go out, something had happened the evening before that left her cautious about this outside. Work emails started early with a quote from a Scenic Artist. This was quite a shock, how much do they get paid nowadays?! Was I very out of touch. It turns out that everyone was shocked at her quote not just me, maybe she didn’t want the job, she could have just said!

We needed a bit of shopping to keep us going before either getting a delivery or arriving at bigger shops. So we decided to head into the marina, top up with gas and diesel before mooring nearer the bridge to the village. The mooring in front of The Moorings was free. It is an odd mooring, you would think that it was for the water point, but there are no signs to suggest as such. When ever we’ve been in Crick of late there has been a boat moored there. Possibly having work done on them by Neil Stuttle or waiting to go on brokerage with ABNB. It is also a perfect place to get a supermarket delivery. We pulled in and checked the internet, it was slow but we had some signal.

Usually we get deliveries from Sainsburys, but this time we were going to try out Ocado. I’m wanting to try a few weeks totally gluten free and see what effect this has on a persistent complaint I’ve had for ages. One week of gluten free cereal recently and I felt an improvement, so it’s worth a try. Most supermarkets have a selection of gluten free products, but I’d looked at Ocado the other day and wow what a choice. Instead of four choices of pasta they had forty two. They offer free delivery for your first year and  a discount on your first shop with them. So I reserved a slot for Wednesday. One thing however that they don’t have much of a selection of is boxes of wine. The prices were higher than Sainsburys so we checked on deliveries from them. A slot for £1 had our name on it.

Blackberries at last

We spent the afternoon comparing prices between Ocado and Sainsburys. It was quite an interesting exercise. Wine, fresh veg and fruit are cheaper at Sainsburys, but chilled goods, spices and some cleaning products were cheaper with Ocado. So we ended up with two orders. The wrist warmers were parcelled up and taken to the Post Office, chance to pay for the beans from the day before and give the post service some money. On the way back we picked a good quantity of Blackberries, we’ll be having crumble soon!

Phone signal was none existent outside The Moorings, so I ended up walking back up to where we’d been moored earlier in the day to have work conversations. I’ll be glad when someone can call me without having to send an email first, then wait for me to walk up the towpath for ten minutes. Well it was our decision to be in Crick!

Green pepper vanDiddy red onionToday our deliveries arrived as planned. Bang on 11am the Sainsburys Green Pepper van backed up towards us. Their pickers must have had a bit of a laugh, I got six huge bramley apples and one very small red onion. With everything stowed away I wondered where we would put the next order! Ryan in his Red Cabbage van arrived half an hour early he was going to back up and wait for our slot, but that didn’t bother us. Everything was off loaded and onboard swiftly.

Number twoRyan in his red cabbage vanDifferences between the two deliveries. Sainsburys you can opt to have no plastic bags, Ocado you can hand them back to be recycled and get them refunded. Sainsburys you can choose to have substitutes if something isn’t available, Ocado they give you a substitute, if you don’t like it you can hand it back with both of them. I suspect we’ll end up using both in future.

Bye bye Crick

Once the water tank was topped up and all our rubbish was disposed  it was time for us to say farewell to Crick. We may be back before Christmas  but we haven’t quite sussed our movements around the stoppages yet. In the tunnel we met three boats coming the other way, the last one in the last 25 meters. Lunchtime, so we pulled over where we’d been moored last week before carrying on to Watford.

Perch heading downThis outside will do. Lots of TREES!We’d expected there to be no queue to go down as no boats passed us, we might have to wait for boats coming up. However as we approached there were two boats facing downhill and one uphill just above the lock. I walked up to check in and was told we’d timed it perfectly, the lock had been closed for a couple of hours for a work boat to clean the gates and they were just starting to let boats down again. One boat was already heading down soon to be followed by NB Perch a 70fter, then a hire boat, then us. I was first told to put the kettle on, then the lady Lockie changed her mind, there wouldn’t be time for a cuppa so I should pour a glass of wine instead.

Downerty, downerty, downerty, down

The hire boat took their time, possibly the first downhill lock they had done. The Lockies looked after them, but making sure there were two sets of gates between them and NB Perch. Perch being so long they wanted to keep an empty chamber above them to save the chap at the helm from getting a soaking through the gates. We followed on behind taking our time, no point rushing. A boat came up and pulled in at the holding point below the bottom of the staircase, this is when it all started to get a bit complicated.

Three boats in the pound

The Lockies set the next single lock for us and as I approached they suggested I should go and set the lock below for us once the hire boat had finished going down. So I walked down and waited for them to finish, my windlass at the ready. The C&RT work boat that had been used to clean the gates was in the pound in between along with another boat waiting to go up. The bottom lock gates were left open, a boat was coming up. Sensible use of water, well except the pound above was full and instead of Lockies waiting for the bottom lock to start filling before they let Oleanna down they emptied our lock, the water all heading down the bywash. Mick brought Oleanna out and replaced the waiting boat as he waited for the bottom lock to be full again. The crew from the work boat decided to untie, were they coming down first? Luckily not. Some do-si-doing went on to get Oleanna and the uphill boat past each other as the lock above was being emptied. Then it was plain sailing down the final lock, our last narrow one for a month when we hope to be on the South Oxford.

Egypt gets everywhereOur last narrow lock for a bit

We pootled along and pulled in opposite Welton Hythe Marina. NB Alchemy looking very clean on her temporary mooring. I was at last allowed out! They’d said I wouldn’t like the outside where we were yesterday, but they never gave me the chance to decide for myself. This outside was familiar so I went for a wander a bit further a field. When she came calling for me it was quite a walk to get back to Oleanna, she wanted to go via the towpath, but I knew the way back was alongside the biggest pooh tray ever! I made sure I made full use of the shore based facilities and covered up after myself before heading inside for my Dingding.

All shiney

7 locks, 4 of which a staircase for the 18th time, 4.72 miles, 2 parcels, 6 balls yarn, 2 bow thruster fuses, 3 rights, 1 reverse, 1 left, 1 mooring at The Moorings, 1 noisy night with traffic, 2 deliveries, 1 green pepper, 1 red cabbage, 2 substitutes, 3rd versions of boats, 1 show almost in budget, 1st order posted, 2nd order on the needles, 3rd order received, 1 full tank diesel, 2 bottles gas, 1 full water tank, 6 boxes wine, 1 full fridge, 10 GF fish fingers, 1 empty pooh bucket, 1 clean pooh box, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish, 1 container blackberries, 1 cat half a mile away, 1 giant huge pooh tray, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/UccV9Szi9kA2