Tramway to Cropredy Wharf, nearly

Thermal vests, check.

Long johns, check.

Heat holder socks, check.

Hats, check.

Scarves, check.

Gloves, check.

Hand warmers, only one.

It was a touch chilly this morning, but nothing we weren’t expecting.

We winded and then headed straight for the service block. Whilst filling with water, we disposed of rubbish, emptied the yellow water and emptied the pooh bucket. Last night Mick had chopped the big bit of mattress up into four so that it would fit in a Biffa bin, it took up most of the cratch. Luckily the bins were fairly empty so the blocks of foam fitted in leaving space for others. Just as Mick was about to add the narrower section of the mattress the ladies from the boat we’d passed with engine problems arrived. The cushion would do them and their five dogs nicely, we’re glad that someone could reuse it.

Now we were empty and full in all the right places we were happy boaters. It was time to wave farewell to Banbury for the last time this year, we’ve spent quite a bit of time here over the last three months with our first arrival on the 26th of September! Definitely time to get moving.

Up the lock, through the lift bridge, say and wave goodbye to Kate Saffin as we passed (she may or may not have been in) and then back along the familiar stretch heading northwards out of Banbury. Once past the two winding holes at Hennef Bridge we were the furthest north we’d been for months. We could tell we were north when we reached Neithorpe Bridge, up ahead was a small patch of ice on the canal. We hadn’t been expecting this, it hadn’t been cold enough for the cut to freeze, but there it was with a larger patch by Malc and Dinks house.

Mick slowed Oleanna down and we carefully cruised past a plastic cruiser, the ice couldn’t be too thick but still we didn’t want to be responsible for any incident. The further we got out of town the expanses of ice increased, how far would we get? We’d hoped to reach Cropredy to be able to buy a newspaper tomorrow, would the ice stop us?

At Hardwick Lock there was a sheet of ice above, but as I filled the lock the pressure of the water created swirling holes by the paddles and the sheet soon broke up. Only about a millimetre thick we continued onwards. Oleanna was the first boat through today and the ice crackled, not too thick to inhibit steering, but enough noise to make us check our blacking on the bow, which was okay at the next lock. Should we carry on or should we moor? Tomorrow the weather forecast is bad so we decided to crack onwards.

Once up Slat Mill Lock we were on the canoeing pound into Cropredy. More moored  boats and the local population is predominantly bovine, we’d disturbed their peace, all of them taking a good look at us as we broke ice. Would the canoes be out in force in the morning, creating big wakes or would the ice put them off?

We thought about mooring above the next lock to avoid them just in case, but would there be ice there. Always ruled by Tilly and her safety, when we saw a mooring surrounded by water we decided to call it a day (shore leave for her can be cancelled when it is icy in case she tries to walk on it). The water point is just within view, therefore the shop is close and we have a view of the trees across the way that need climbing! Can we move across to get to them pleeeeease!

4 locks, 5.08 miles, 1 wind, 1 bridge, 1 empty wee tank, 1 new pooh bucket, 1 full water tank, 0 old mattresses, 1 boat with space again, 2 wrapped up boaters, 1mm thick, 2 in places, 1 more boat behind us, 1 cruising plan in formulation, 2 many closures, 1 embankment closed for months, 3rd route to be checked, 1 pot of sticky chicken on the stove, 0.5 of a Christmas sock knitted.

https://goo.gl/maps/jjtkXKUim7N2

Sovereign Wharf to Tramway

A window of opportunity opened that we could fill at Tooleys this morning. We were told to be there at 10am, we managed to only be a few minutes late, we live at 3mph so our few minutes was guaranteed to be stretched out longer by the boat yard before they started work. A chance to finish the breakfast cuppa before I could get out the back of Oleanna, where we’d moored was across the entrance to the dry dock so the stern was the best option to reach dry land. I headed off into town leaving Mick to wait and watch.

Another look around the charity shops for Tilly’s Christmas present came up trumps this time and some extra lights were bought for the Christmas tree. Our now three year old tree quite liked this summer and has grown somewhat, so I’ve treated it to some more decorations. A few bits and bobs and my festive shopping was complete. With at least another hour for Oleanna at the boatyard I could get Christmas properly started and get my hair cut.

Banbury is full of barbers and hairdressers and I’ve spent quite a bit of time deciding on which one would receive my money and half my hair. Only having my hair cut once a year means I can afford to spend a bit more on getting it cut, but some of the prices in this town! Blimey!!! Giselle in Scarborough charges me a fraction of any of the prices I found here, but to reach her it would be a big rail fare. So it was The Cutting Bar for me in Castle Quays.

I actually hate having my hair cut, I’m not a normal woman. Giselle has cut my hair for over ten years in Scarborough, so we know quite a bit about each other and last years hair cut took a very long time as we were too busy nattering away catching up on two years worth of events. I’d rather not have to talk inanely about subjects I now have less interest in than I did when I lived on land and all I want is my hair washing then a cut that will last me at least six months with an option of extending that period to a year, a straight line and none of the spray or faffing that turn you into a lion with a rigid mane.

It started well, ‘a wash and cut please’. I had a choice of lady to do the job, Fatima would be fine. My hair had a very thorough wash then I was escorted to a seat. One lady was being finished next to me and during my haircut another three were seen on the other side for a spraydown haircut. A check on length I wanted my straight line cutting and Fatima was off. Lengths of my hair were pinned up, combed, snipped this way and that, a straight line involved an awful lot of different directions! I sat and watched thankful that I hadn’t chosen the stylist next door, I haven’t watched I’m a Celebrity for years and she most certainly wouldn’t have been able to persuade me to have my grey hair blended in.

Eventually all the snipping finished, marvellous I was done. That is when Fatma spoke for the first time, ‘A little drying’,more a statement than a question. ‘No thanks’, ‘But it’s cold outside’, she was right there. Okay just a little drying, I knew this would cost me extra, but just to get the damp off would be a good idea. But my idea of a little dry certainly wasn’t Fatimas! Oh well, you never know I might really like the outcome and rush off to buy a travel hairdryer to try to recreate the bouffant she was creating. This went on for ages, I was committed now and saying in my head ‘just because you’ve always done things one way doesn’t mean there isn’t another way to do them.’

She walked away, came back and before I knew it there was a spray above my head. Hairspray!!! That was one step too far!

A bit more faffing, an offer of more spray which was very quickly refused and I was set free from her hair dressers cape. As I stood I tried to tuck my hair behind my ear, bad move. All that blow drying had made what little of my hair that wasn’t rigid very very static! I paid, the full price, there went her tip.

Around the corner I caught a glimpse in a shop window, my hair had started to fight back. My parting wanting to show itself was cracking through the hairspray, my follicles now wanting to lie flat in the right direction, strands of hair heading for the ceiling like a  balloon that had just been rubbed on a jumper. I now knew that this wouldn’t be my new look and as soon as I reached the boat a damp brush would be put through it, bouffant would be flattened, parting reinstated. All I would have lost was half an hour of my life and a fiver I didn’t want to spend in the first place. My fleecy hat went on top to try to contain my new look.

Back at Oleanna the engine was running and Matt was still in the engine bay. A last bit of tidying and topping up was happening. It was still going to be a little while before I could get inside, it was cold so I took refuge inside the chandlers. Two cable ties and half an hour later the engine board was laid back down and Mick went inside to check we were getting hot water. We were and I was about to use some on my hair.

All done and paid we decided to move down to the Tramway before having lunch. We’d leave filling with water until tomorrow as there were already two boats at the services. By the time we’d eaten lunch and then popped over to Morrisons for the things we’d not added to our food order (as we thought we’d be in Banbury til Saturday) it was getting too late to move very far, so we stayed put. I had a shower to rinse off any remaining hairspray and applied a lot of conditioner to try to counter act the static. Thank goodness it worked. I can now declare that it is officially Christmas.

1 lock, 0.86 miles, 1 lift bridge, 15 litres antifreeze, 15 litres water, 1 filter, 1 thing of grease, 1 Tilly present, 3 secret things, 6 inches less, 1 straight line, 20 minutes drying! 1 squirt too many, 0 tip, 1 flattening down, 1 wash, 1 short haired Pip, 1 lesson learnt for next year, 2000 engine hours, 2 pizzas to celebrate.

Sovereign Wharf to opposite Sovereign Wharf

Our bed certainly has grown in height, but also comfort. Mick managed to sleep pretty well, he didn’t wake in the night feeling the hard wood beneath the mattress. He feels that he will try a different combination of pillows tonight and see if that makes things even better by giving him a little bit more space. I would have slept well apart from Tilly not being too sure about the new mattress. She normally sleeps snuggled up to me, behind my legs, when I want to move she does too. However, I don’t know if it was the fumes coming off the new mattress that made her uneasy but she spent the night sitting on top of me, my highest bit be it stomach or hip, no way did she want to touch the bed. Really hope she is more at ease tonight, she may be little but when perched on top of you, you certainly know she’s there.

Last night was our last on the wharf. So this morning the washing machine started early to finish emptying the drawer. Tilly was quite insistent on being let out, but she still had to wait. Whilst we waited for the washing machine to finish and for a supermarket delivery to come I gave the galley a good clean and finally emptied some shelves to give them a dust. Just as I was finishing this I could hear the delivery van reversing around the wharf. Tilly locked away in the bedroom I unpacked the crates and stowed everything away, including the smallest Bramley Apple I’ve ever seen and some diminutive garlic bulbs.

We had been planning to head off northwards today, but our plans changed yesterday afternoon. Oleanna has very nearly reached 2000 engine hours and the other day Mick checked the concentration of antifreeze in the engine. This was a lot lower than he thought it would be so instead of just topping it up he’s decided to get the skin tank etc drained and refilled. This he could possibly do by himself, but he’s never done it before. On Lillian this was only done once by someone else in the first few months that we owned her. So yesterday he popped down to Tooleys to see if someone there could do it for us before we leave. Saturday morning was the first opportunity, so we’ll be staying in Banbury a little while longer.

We’d also been hoping that a chap two boats down would be able to have a look at our gas locker. A couple of times last week when we moored up I got a faint wiff of gas as I tied up. Mick could smell it too, so we wanted someone to investigate. The local gas chap from Cropredy is recovering from a broken hip at the moment, but the chap two boats down could investigate for us and see if we had a problem that would be easy to solve. Mick chatted with him today and he is snowed under at the moment, so wouldn’t be able to do anything until next week. However since we changed a gas bottle over on Friday the wiff seems to have stopped, so hopefully it was just a dodgy bottle. We’ll keep a nose/eye on it anyway.

The washing machine had finished doing a very hot wash so we could unplug the umbilical (hook up) and head off. Our tight mooring meant giving the bow a very good push off to get it well past the boat in front. This I succeeded with only to stand up and look ahead to see a boat coming our way. Mick stepped off the stern and held onto Oleanna whilst the small green tug stopped, went into reverse then came forward again, then waved us onwards, all a bit confusing.

We pootled up to the winding hole turned and came back. There was space just about opposite where we’d been at the wharf so pulled in. Tilly rules were recited very quickly, so as not to waste any shore leave and the back doors were opened up. It’s almost good here. Too many walkers and woofers, but I did find a friend who I brought back to Oleanna just before a greyhound appeared. This cut short my leave, the first in a week! How inconsiderate.

0 locks, 0.67 miles, 1 wind, 48 letters, 6 boxes, 4 bottles not 2, 2 bottle beer, 1 and 2 half bulbs of garlic, 1 delayed departure, 5 more skeins wool, 27 cards, 90C wash, 1 full water tank, 2 full hours not taken, 40 minutes on account, 1 friend, 1 stew bubbling on the stove.

Sovereign Wharf

Good job we didn’t loiter too long in bed this morning as Mick’s phone rang alerting us that a large parcel was soon to be delivered. The gates at the wharf are locked all the time except on a Friday when the office is open, so Mick walked up to meet the delivery driver. He’d said that he was in a pink wagon (sadly no photographic proof) and sure enough he was, Mick couldn’t miss him, big and bright pink. The wagon was too big to turn into the wharf so Mick was handed our parcel, almost six foot by two foot square and fairly heavy. He managed to get it back to Oleanna without too much hassle. We decided that unpacking it could wait a while until we’d finished our breakfast and sorted out room for it’s contents first.

First job was to strip the bed, putting all the linen straight into the washing machine. Then the old mattress was lifted, but where to put it? The sofa came in handy for a temporary place whilst we got things sorted.

Tilly was very keen to help, checking the bed structure was all okay as it was hoovered and then seeing what lay beneath it. The holes that Finesse had cut for ventilation are just the right size for our mini cat to squeeze through, sadly I wasn’t quite quick enough to get a photo of her hind legs straight up in the air as she wriggled her way into the drawers.

Our new mattress has cost us quite a bit, so we’d decided to invest in an underlay that would help to keep it away from the wooden base of the bed (Thank you for the suggestion from Jennifer on NB Cyan). The ventilation holes are good, but as this mattress comes with a ten year guarantee we thought it would be best to give it the best treatment possible to get the full life out of it. The underlay had arrived at my brothers last week and was quite a bulky thing to bring home along with all our presents. You can only buy it in fixed sizes which you then have to trim to fit. Out came the scissors and the main section of our bed had a layer cut to fit. We could have added this to the section that pulls out, but this would mean there would another thing to put in place when making up the bed on an evening and as this section of the mattress gets turned over every day we felt it gets enough airing. The remainder we will use under the dinette cushions.

Now was time to bring in the large sausage of mattress and undo the bag that was holding it all in. Two pieces of mattress and a pillow (a freebee) all wrapped up together slowly uncurled. I hoped that the mattresses would bounce back into the dimensions I’d given as they were all a touch too big. Luckily as the foam relaxed back into shape the overall foot print reduced as the thickness of them increased.

We left the mattress to do it’s thing all day. Here’s hoping it is worth the money and that Mick can still fit on the bed without going diagonal and pushing me out the other side! We’ll let you know tomorrow.

Just what to do with the old one? The narrow section sits nicely on the sofa, but the main section is too big for anywhere really and we don’t want it for anything else. So we need to find a way to dispose of it. Not having a car means we can’t take it to the nearest tip in Alkerton, some 7 miles away. It may be that we end up having to chop it all up and dispose of it in C&RT bins. If you happen to want a second hand foam mattress and can pick it up from Banbury in the next day, please give us a shout.

The washing machine has been very very busy, Christmas cards are made and Mick has even started to put the Christmas lights on the outside of Oleanna. A large food order has been placed which will hopefully see us across to Napton. Just a few more bits of present shopping to do, a wool order to pick up, a few boaty jobs and we can be on our way again.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 seriously bored cat, 1 pink wagon, 1 large box, 2 pieces of redundant foam, 2 new cool blue mattresses, 1 free pillow, 3 designs of card, 1 side with lights, 6 boxes on order, 30 interesting Tilly sized holes, 1 smelly new day bed, 1 very full boat.

Castle Quays

As a break from Christmas shopping we both headed up the canal (at different times) to have a look at how works were progressing at the bridge that is currently closed. Mick headed out first leaving me to do secret things, then I followed.

The towpath by the bridge is very muddy at the moment, wellies would have been more appropriate wear, at least I’d been wanting to breakdown my new boat shoes.

This morning a boat had passed us, this meant that either the canal was open again or they were from a mooring and heading for water. The latter was the case, they’d left bags of coal and wheelbarrows reserving their space. There might have been enough room for another boat just past them, but we plan to move tomorrow anyway so we’d only gain even muddier footwear if we’d moved.

Two blue tarpaulin dams with plenty of scaffolding, have been holding the waters back whilst works have been on going at the bridge for the last three weeks. The water is then pumped out from the gap so that access to the base of the old lift bridge that was once here.

A lot of stabilising work has been carried out, lots of new bricks and mortar everywhere.

When Mick had arrived water had started to be pumped back into the gap, C&RT chaps were still on site. By the time I arrived it looked like the levels had just about equalised, but nobody was about. Fencing that had been put on the bridge had been removed and things looked like the canal would reopen on time.

Christmas shopping has been on going and it’s been handy being moored so close to all the shops. I’m the only one who’s finished, wrapped as well!

If you are looking for a present for a boater this year, may I suggest Flush Force. Who ever thought of this? A toilet which you fill the cistern with water, then shake to reveal collectable Flushies in the bowl! Turd Mite, and Farty Mcfly are two single flush characters. No wonder they are reduced in the shops.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 visits to the shops, 1 canal filling up, 2 dams, 150 Flushies.

Bluebird Bridge to Castle Quay Footbridge

After two loads of washing we needed to top the water tank up before going too much further. Once up through Banbury Lock there would only be one tap we’d be able to use, just above the lock, and this would mean reversing to it as the canal ahead is currently closed. As we were finishing our breakfast the boat that was having engine trouble came past, they pulled onto the water point below the lock. Good job there’s the one above, so we pushed off and emptied the lock.

No matter what time of day there are plenty of people around at the lock and despite the number of signs up saying not to cross the top gates, many people do. Some ask, others don’t. The locals may well be aware to tread carefully as they cross and it does save a walk round to the handy footbridge put there for the purpose. Two more crossed just as the gate was about to be ready to open.

The pound through Banbury was full, so much that the water was over topping the top gates of the lock. There must be a bypass with water being pumped around the closure or a feed into this pound, at least it means that no matter how many boats go through the lock our boat will remain afloat.

Soon the other boat was coming up the lock and as we were still filling with water Mick walked up to raise the lift bridge for them. They hadn’t noticed that that was what was happening and pulled over expecting us to go through first, Mick waved them on. Our tank was now full, so no need to drop the bridge, we packed away our hose quickly and followed them through. Tooleys were going to work on their engine problem and they called the boat yard to see where to pull in, luckily there was space for us to pass as they were directed into a space.

Next thing was to find a mooring suitable for Tilly to be able to go out. The Castle Quay moorings are surrounded by car parks for the shopping arcade and not somewhere we’d be happy to let her out. I walked on along the towpath to see if there was space by Spiceball Park. I passed a few boats that had come past us in recent days, all waiting for the stoppage ahead to finish so they could carry on northwards like ourselves. There were also a few familiar boats, those from permanent moorings on the other side of the closure. They had moved down so as to have access to the water point. I walked up almost to the closed bridge, but there was only one space available. This was alongside the park, but also right next to the busy road bridge. If I could have got five boats all to nudge up tightening up their modesty gaps, then we’d have just fitted by the park. So I walked back to Mick and gestured to reverse back to Castle Quays. There was just enough space for us to tag on the end of the moorings before the disabled bollards.

This will do for the next few days. This outside has no view! Just what were they thinking?

Banbury is the last reasonable sized town we’ll see before Christmas. So presents and festive items need to be bought whilst we’re here. No popping into town for crackers whilst we’re on the summit pound!

1 lock, 0.3 miles, 120ft reversed, 2 taps, 1 beaten to, 1 lift bridge, 5 dogs still woofing, 2 compost boats together, 1 shopping list compiled, 0 shore leave, 0 view! 1 sulky cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/gG2EqDzhKnn

Nadkey Bridge to Bluebird Bridge via the water point.

The puzzles just weren’t the same in the Sunday paper, not enough of them either.

The weather really couldn’t make it’s mind up as we drank our cuppas in bed. One minute bright sunshine, the next torrential rain. Despite Tilly doing her best to persuade us to let her out she was kept in, so that with the next bout of sun we could push off and make it to the water point. Some serious underwear washing was needed and the water tank couldn’t be relied on having enough to even start the washing machine before we got to the tap.

Only a mile and a half into Banbury. On the off side what is going to be a new park has new trees planted. A couple of chaps were trying to straighten them up and retie them to their supports, they did look forlorn. Then the building site where numerous houses are going up. When Mick returned from Morrisons yesterday he was surprised at how many new houses were going up at this end of the town. At least the popular mooring between bridges 170 and 171 will have a park to look at. I say popular but today nobody was moored there, only a few boats at Tramway and a couple near the foundry behind the station.

As we rounded the bend between the two bridges below Banbury Lock I could see that a boat was on the water point, hose out. We pulled up opposite and pulled back away from the lock. A chap stuck his head out and asked if we were wanting water, they had their washing machine on, but were happy to pull away. This they did so that we could take over the tap and put our washing machine on. First they pulled backwards then as the next sunny spell came over head they headed to the lock.

Rubbish disposed of, water tank full, yellow water tank emptied we too pushed off the water point and reversed back to the moorings between bridges. This would mean that we could run the washing machine again and then top up the tank before heading up the lock and finding a mooring by Castle Quays tomorrow. Up ahead on the outskirts of town a bridge is having a lot of work done to it, a dam blocks the canal, so once we are past the taps, we would have to reverse back to them as there is nowhere to turn. Shortly after we moored up another boat came past heading for the water point, Monday must be wash day.

I headed off to the Post Office to send my knitted items on their way, also to pick up some Christmas shopping that had arrived. A walk through Castle Quays meant a bit of browsing for more presents. I had a few things in mind, but nothing jumped out at me. However a sale at Clarks did draw me in. I’m constantly on the lookout for shoes, I don’t have many pairs on the boat, just enough practical ones to get me by and two smart pairs. Out of the smarter shoes, one pair are for formal funerial wear, the other brighter, but they have now seen better days. So when I spotted some bright red shoes they had to be tried on, at half price they had my name all over them. Now I could have returned back to the boat and put a very big hefty hint in to Mick, but that risked the only pair in my size having gone and he might already have finished buying me presents, so I’d end up missing out on them. There was obviously nothing for it but to buy them myself. Ooops!

This evening we ventured out for a meal. Yes, Mick forever the romantic took me to the Bus Station Cafe! It was our 16th anniversary!!

When I say the Bus Station Cafe, I don’t really mean that. From our mooring you do have to walk through the bus station and just on the other side where you’d expect there to be steaming mugs of tea and bacon butties is PawPaw, a Chinese restaurant and takeaway. Brightly lit and colourful inside we hoped their food would be better than we found in Stratford a few months ago. A steady stream of people picking up food on a Monday night was a good sign.

Our table looked very pretty with red rose serviette sculptures. Mick didn’t want to pull his apart as it looked like it had taken a while to make. A bottle of wine, crispy aromatic duck, 2 main courses and a veg side dish were all very nice. Warmer plates for our duck would have been nice, but that was our only criticism. The jolly waitress looked after us very well. A good choice, just a shame about it’s location.

0 locks, 1.54 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish, 3 bottle banks, 2 parcels dropped off, 2 parcels picked up, 2 loads washing, 2 showers, 1 pair of shoes, 1 bottle pinot, 1/4 crispy duck, 2 mains, 2 rice, 1 broccoli, 2 more glasses of wine at home, 16 lovely years with my boy.

https://goo.gl/maps/CbR9f4JmDuA2

Kings Sutton Lock to Nadkey Bridge 172

Not far today, just edging closer to Banbury. Having no Saturday newspaper made for a different Sunday morning cuppa in bed, no puzzles and no checking if the fashion editor was wearing heels. At least it wasn’t raining, so we pushed off after breakfast to find ourselves a mooring south of Banbury for the night.

We pootled past Twyford Wharf where a newly blacked hire boat sat showing off next to a battered and scraped one awaiting it’s turn at Tooleys. A chap worked away on his Ford Capri alongside the moorings, Mick was a touch envious.

Then past the lift bridges that brought us to Grant’s Lock, the last with a single bottom gate. Nobody had been through today, it being full the bluey water gradually emptied out of the chamber showing all that lay beneath. From the high vantage point you can see quite a distance, an information board on the M40 informing that the M1 was closed further north and the last two lift bridges were visible with no boats following us.

Half a mile further on and the first possible mooring was empty, so we pulled in. We wanted a good place for Tilly, but close enough to Morrisons for some milk and a parsnip. We could have got closer but the next moorings are quiet close to a big building site, so we preferred the big field opposite with numerous dog walkers calling for their dogs.

Tom stopped this outside before, when she was in Chippy. I liked it then and I like it now. Not far to go to find friends who kept me busy, only one Dreamie visit home today. After what felt like five minutes (4 hours!), she came out shouting for me. So with my latest friend in tow (mouth) I thought I’d introduce it. She seemed a bit too eager and came off the boat to say hello. Unfortunately they didn’t get to meet as she picked me up just as I was adjusting my grip, my friend scurried off into the sideways trees.

Tilly protested for quite a while, but soon shut up when she was given her advent present of a new pack of Dreamies. Apparently Morrisons didn’t have any advent calendars!

1 lock, 1.69 miles, M1 shut, 2 friends, 1 missed introduction, 1 whole packet for 25 days, 2 pints milk, 1 parsnip, 2 mysteron lamb steaks for advent Sunday tea, 1 Sunday newspaper, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/i6rpeZ3BDxo

Somerton Meadows to Belchers Bridge  189

The sun was out, the winds now gone, time to get moving again.

A couple of boats were moving before we pushed off, one of which was ahead of us so by the time we reached Somerton Deep Lock it was very full. With only one paddle on the bottom gates working it took quite a long time to empty the 12ft of water. It then took a lot of patience to wait for everything to level out for me to be able to move the gate, Mick had just stepped off Oleanna to come and give an extra shove when it just started to move.

With the sun out the view from the lock was wonderful. The Grade 2 Lock cottage has no road access, just by boat or the towpath. Last sold in 2007 for £213,000 a dog watched as we worked our way through the lock. A pile of coal bags sat just on the other side of the fence (presumably dropped off by boat from the lock), a wind turbine span round in the garden and a generator whirred away in a garden shed. What a location, Granny Buttons wrote about it in a blog post when it was last for sale.

We had to pause at Chisnell Lift Bridge as it was chained down. I’m now a seasoned lift bridge lifter, unhooked it and crossed to pull it down. The obvious place to grab hold of it was the metal diagonal, but this has been done too many times before and gives way, now held on by a bit of twine. But I soon got the beams down to the ground and sat on for Oleanna to pass through. Here would have been a lovely place to moor for the day, but we wanted to get just that bit further. So we pootled on to Aynho.

Passing the permanent moorings we spotted a boat we’d not seen before. We rather liked it, with it’s added play on tumbelhome (term used for the angled sides to a boat cabin).

As we passed the wharf the back end of NB White Swan was visible. Franki (an Instagram acquaintance) has been here waiting to get a new floor welded into her gas locker and her black water tank sorted for weeks. It looked like the boat was being worked on and once we were moored up a touch further along I could hear the sounds of metal being cut. Later in the evening Franki announced that her long wait was over and she’d made a bid for freedom back out onto the towpath in the dark. Sadly she’s facing southwards so our bows won’t be crossing.

Our mooring is where last years winter moorings were, this year they are closer to the wharf. Here we have armco, there they have a worn bank to moor to. We wonder why it seems to have moved, maybe moorers wanted to be nearer the road and pub, or did someone just put the signs in the wrong place!

Tilly went out to enjoy the last three hours of daylight before curfew. The Dreamies lasting quite well. She came and went, showing her face at the glazed hatch doors.

She was gone for some time and returned just as we were watching a Dr Blake Mystery. Was this really our boat cat? A boat cat for three years now. A cat who understands about living by water and it’s dangers. A small nibble cat who all of a sudden appeared at the hatch smaller than normal!

Drenched!!!

My calculation went slightly array and one misplaced paw saw me slip into the wet stuff. It wasn’t the canal. All I was bothered about was getting dry and all she wanted to do was keep me in the bathroom. I don’t need a room to have a bath in, just a nice absorbent surface will do, preferably by the stove! It’s been two years since Tilly was last this wet, then she’d forgotten that water lay between her and some ducks. This time we have no idea what happened or where. But at least it serves as a reminder and luckily one with a happy ending.

1 lock, 3.22 miles, 1 lift bridge, 12ft deep, 1 sunny day, 1 view, 0 road, 4 drenched paws, 1 paintbrush tail, 0 fish caught.

https://goo.gl/maps/AoyvXrx1bAN2

Somerton Meadows

Today the outside went sideways, it was moving itself. They stayed in bed for ages as I watched it. Too windy for cats they said as Diana might have picked me up and taken me with her. Maybe Diana was the lady walking her woofers.

We all stayed inside for the morning. I practiced my best Tilly stare at her to try to make it all stop. More practice is still required as it didn’t have the required effect. Apparently Houdini’s stare was stronger than mine, I think she must have had lazers in her eyes, but she still wouldn’t have been able to get them to stop the wind.

By mid afternoon it was determined that the wind was now only making things diagonal and the sun was out, so I could go out again. She came with me for a while and we had a bit of a walk along the meadows looking at the other boats and wondering where all the cows were. They must have gone that way and carried on. I really wanted to go and have a climb in the big trees, but she wasn’t willing to jump over the wet bit in the middle of the field so we stayed by the canal, boring!

I think she actually came out with me so that she wouldn’t have to give me ‘Thank you for coming home’ Dreamies. Apparently they won’t be able to get any for a few days and this Diana has meant we are a day behind getting new stocks. A very inconsiderate woman!

They spent some of the day measuring up the bed. Getting a quote and then correcting the man who is meant to understand such things. My daytime snoozing will soon be more comfortable, they just hope Tom doesn’t have to chop his toes or head off to fit on the bed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 very sideways day, 0 trees climbed, 2 hours only, 1 very wet ditch, 3 boats, 1 paw on out of boundness, 0 cows, 137 not 120, 7 instead of 5, 1 free pillow, I cat looking forward to a whole day of exploration tomorrow, but will there be enough Dreamies???