Spring Goeth all in White
Spring goeth all in white,
Crowned with milk-white may:
On fleecy locks of light
O'er heaven the white clouds stray:
White butterflies in the air;
White daisies prank the ground:
The cherry and the hoary pear
Scatter their snow around.
Robert Bridges
We're not in a hurry, and so this week we've enjoyed a slow dawdle back northwards along the Oxford Canal. It's been a fairly uneventful week.
Sunday, 29th April
We stayed at Somerton Common for another night, a lovely spot out in the country, about ten miles south of Banbury. I think the area must be common land, and the delightful thing about it from our point of view is that there are no fences along the towpath and so we can sit out and have long views. We had a barbecue the first night we moored here; Trev walked up to Steeple Aston to fetch a paper.
Monday, 30th April
We moved on a couple of miles to moor up at Lower Heyford. There is a railway station right by the canal here, and I have to go to Solihull today for an xray on my foot. So this is a convenient place to stop. As we approached, Oxford Narrowboats appeared to have taken over the canal. Their hire boats were moored five abreast across the canal, with just enough room for one boat to get through. There was a bridge immediately after this most inconvenient piece of mooring, and it was impossible to see if anything was coming the other way. Add to this the fact that there is a winding hole here, with more boats moored opposite, plus the fact that Oxford Narrowboats had moored two of their hire boats on the towpath side, where visitor moorings are like hen's teeth and you begin to get the picture. The water point was also on the other side of the bridge. So.............we had to wind (turn) in the winding hole as we want to go back up the canal when I get back from Solihull, then back up past the five narrowboats taking up most of the canal, go backwards through the bridge and fill up with water. Fortunately nothing came by as we performed this manoeuvre, and, as usual, Trev did it perfectly without touching another boat.
We filled up with water and moored up. Trev waited at Lower Heyford until I got home and we stayed on the mooring overnight. We went up to The Bell in Lower Heyford for a meal. It's a real old pub, and serves good food.
Tuesday, 1st May
If he were alive today, my dear old dad would have been one hundred years old today!
However...........we set off and went back to Somerton Comon to moor for two nights. We had a barbecue the first night and on day two we both walked up to Steeple Aston, had a drink in the pub and bought a few things at the shop. It was a lovely day--they've all been lovely days, the weather has been wonderful.
Thursday, 3rd May
We went on up to Banbury today. It wasn't as warm, there was quite a keen wind, but it was fine. It's been so long since we had any rain--weeks and weeks. We wanted to fill up with water, but we also wanted to buy diesel at Sovereign Wharf, and that was past the water point. They close at 4.00, and are only open Monday to Thursday, so we decided to forego water in favour of diesel, as the diesel is only 48p per litre there. When we pulled in, I said to the man that we had chosen diesel rather water, and he kindly offered his water point for us to use. Wasn't that kind? We backed up a short distance and moored up for the night, as we'd decided to eat in Banbury this evening.
Friday, 4th May
We walked to Morrison's to shop and then started off again. We hadn't gone very far when we saw police on the bank, and an area cordoned off. As passed, we saw a body bag on the bank. (I don't know if that's the best word--I don't like it, but I don't know another.) We continued along the canal and met a boat coming the other way. We mentioned to the steerer that there appeared to be a body on the bank, and he said that a man had fallen in the canal a couple of days ago, and his body had just been found.
We travelled as far as Cropredy, not a great distance, but we have visitors tomorrow and need to be somewhere where they can get to us. We pumped out the toilet tank and filled up with water, and moored up just above the lock. I like Cropredy, it's a pretty village, the buildings are constructed with Northamptonshire Ironstone, which is a richer, darker colour than Cotswold stone.
Saturday, 5th May
Our friends arrived at 11.30 and we had coffee before setting off. They brough two cars, and parked one at Cropredy and the other at Fenny Compton, so we dodn't have to turn round and take them back to Cropredy. One of the friends was from The States and it was her first trip on a narrowboat. She enjoyed it and we enjoyed having everyone's company. We stopped for lunch at the bottom of Claydon Locks and eventually arrived at Fenny Compton where we disembarked our guests. We stayed here overnight. We considered ourselves lucky to get a mooring spot. It's Bank Holiday weekend and everyone's out!
Sunday, 6th May
Trev cycled into Fenny Compton to post my crossword entry and fetch a newspaper. We had finished the Daily Telegraph crossword yesterday with the help of all of our visitors. Then we set off for one of our favourite mooring spots. I don't know what it's really called. Friends Sheridan and Ron call it The Wilderness, we call it The mast, but it's up on a bank with a wonderful view of Warwickshire. There was a couple of boats moored up when we arrived around 12.30, but the places soon filled up and it was full by teatime. We shall probably stay here for two nights. I hung the washing out and wrote my website, Trev watched the snooker and revelled in the Wolves result!
Now you will have to be patient and wait a while, my friends. We're off to France soon, and I probably shan't post a new webpage until early June. So come back then and see what we've been up to!
By the way, we've seen quite a few of these signs along the canal; I'm sure someone knows what they mean....?
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