We Take our Time Along a Lovely Canal
JULY 22nd--28thFriday, 22nd July
We were up early this morning. Well, we had to get all the way back to the winding hole, backwards, and it's a busy stretch of canal, so we were hoping to get it all over before anyone was about. So we were on the move at 6.30. It was not at all easy, and Trev did a magnificent job. We had at least half a mile to back along, all past moored boats and through two bridges. We only met one boat and the steerer obligingly moved over for us. When we got back to the winding hole it was 7.40 and it took us quite a long time to turn as the winding hole was very tight for a 70' boat. I got off the boat at the front and pulled the boat round, Trev got off at the back and lifted the fenders and in the end we made it.
All the while we were struggling, a man sat in the front of his boat having his first ciggie of the day and a cup of tea, and watched us. He made no offer to come and help, and what's more, he was moored on the water point, and had been there all night. He wasn't taking on water. We needed water and so I asked him if he was using the water point. He replied that he would move the boat and disappeared. It was then that I realised he was in his dressing gown....... Eventually he reappeared and moved the boat out in to the centre of the canal, where he hovered, waiting for us to fill up and move away, so that he could get back in to the same mooring spot, despite the fact that it is a water point and there is a sign asking boaters not to moor there except for using the water point. It's a very busy stretch of canal, and people travel a long way to fill up with water there. I was ready for a fight! However, another boat moved away and so he went and moored there, away from the water point.
We carried on along the Oxford Canal, and went down the flight of five locks at Claydon. This is where I fell in two years ago, but this time I managed to stay out of the water. It's a lovely spot and we moored up in perfect peace. We couldn't hear any sounds at all, except for the birdsong and the trains. Whilst we were there, a young woman came by with a rucksack and a tent strapped to it, and a dog--that wasn't strapped to anything, it was walking along the towpath. She stopped for a chat and said that she was walking from Glasgow to Guildford. Phew. She lived in Glasgow and her uncle lived in Guildford and so she was walking it. Since Lancaster she'd been using the canal towpaths. I offered her a drink, but she said she was OK and off she went. She seemd to be really enjoying it, and also seemed very fit. I suppose one would be if one had already walked from Glasgow to Claydon.
Saturday, 23rd, Sunday, 24th July
We walked up in to Claydon village, as there is a museum there. We had no idea what to expect, but it was really good. It's in some old farm buildings, and is a collection of all sorts of artefacts of days gone by, farm implements, kitchen goods, old electrical appliances, little shops set up with original goods as if for sale, steam traction engines, it was all great fun. We had coffee in the tea shop and then went for a walk round the village. It's a very pretty place, and there is no noise there at all. It's how life must have been, there is no road anywhere near to cause a noise, the M40 can't be heard, there's just a couple of little roads that cross the village and lead to the outside world. We saw three boys who'd just been to have a cricket practice--cricket, please note, not football. They'd been down to the sports field, and had put their whites on to do it. And they were even happy to talk to wrinklies like us! Oh I almost regained my faith in humanity.There was a flower festival and art exhibition on in the church, it was all very "Vicar of Dibley"!
We had already decided we would stay here for two nights and as it turned out, it was a good decision, as it poured with rain for most of Sunday, so we stayed nice and cosy on board.
Monday, 25th and Tuesday, 26th July
Today we moved on down to Banbury, but it took an age, as there was a queue of boats in front of us, and we had to wait at each of the four locks for our turn to use it. Friends had told us that the Oxford Canal was busy in the summer, and I'm beginning to think they were right. However, we were lucky in Banbury as we got a mooring right in the centre, by the Tom Rolt Bridge. And who is Tom Rolt, I hear you say. Well, in the canal world, he's a legend. It was he who began the restoration of the canal system, by travelling with his new wife in a boat in 1939 over many of the canals which were near derelict. He drew attention to their imminent demise and was a founder member of the Inland Waterways Association. There's no doubt that without his initiative, and that of others who joined with him, the canal system would not exist today. So let's hear three cheers for Tom Rolt!We had originally planned to shop and then move on, but we enjoyed the novelty of being right in the centre of town, and stayed for two nights. We shopped and had a Thai meal, I got my eyes tested and some new clothes, we visited Tooley's boatyard--where the oldest dry dock in the country is located--we went round Banbury Museum, so it was a worthwhile stop over.
Wednesday, 27th Kuly
Before we left on Wednesday, our friends Margaret and Alastair on Hepburn arrived and so we had coffee together and swopped experiences. Then it was up and off, out of Banbury and back in to the country. The canal in Banbury runs right through the town shopping centre, and so there are always plenty of people gongoozling. We filled up with water and dropped down through the town lock, hoping for a pump out at the pump out staion. But there was a queue of boats waiting to come up, and it was chaotic, so we decided not to add to the general traffic jam and continued out of town.
It was really cold today, we had to wear fleeces. Some boats passed with smoke coming out of their chimneys, they'd obviously lit their stoves. We went through some lovely countryside and several deep locks, about 10' deep. At Nell Bridge there was two boats moored up. We didn't need to turn, but if we had wanted to, there was no room. It's frustrating when people don't keep to the rules. There is just a small number who march to their own tune, and it's annoying for the rest of us. There was a BW operative at nell Bridge, and I asked him why the boats were moored in the winding hole. He said he didn't know, but thought they might be "moving soon". Surely he was the man who should have been knocking on the side of the boat and telling them to move on?
Moan over. We moored up at Aynho for the night. We were invited for a drink with the people on the boat behind. They live in Jersey, and were on a father/son bonding holiday.Thursday, 28th July
We were hoping to fill up with diesel at Aynho opposite, but there was no one available at the Wharf to operate the pump. So we set off. We went through Somerton Deep Lock, one of the deepest single width locks on the system--12'0". The lock cottage by the lock is SO pretty, and the owners have also put lots of plants around the lock. It's so nice that they care about it.
We tried for diesel again at Heyford Wharf, but it was 48p per litre, and we don't intend to pay that much until we have to! So on we went, to the water point, where there was two boats waiting to fill up, and so gave up on that too! So it was fairly non- eventful morning!
We moored up eventually by Bridge 208, all on our again, the only sound being the passing trains on their way to London or Birmingham.