WE SET OFF NORTH FOR LLANGOLLEN
Sept 24th--28th
Friday, 24th September
I woke early this morning, full of anticipation at the exciting cruise ahead.
By 8.00 a.m., I'd had a shower, washed my hair and got a fruit cake in the oven!
I don't usually wake up until 9.00, so this was obviously a very special day!
It was cold but fine as we set off from Osney.
Just as we were going past Port Meadow on the outskirts of Oxford,
we had a phone call from Margaret on "Hepburn" to say that
they had just gone through the place where the stoppage was,
and it was all open now. More to the point,
she said they were in the queue--of three!
We had expected there to be a long line of boats waiting to get through the lock,
so this was good news.
We continued on through King's Lock and Duke's Lock, the very last manned lock.
Now we were on our own--we would have to do all the locks for ourselves from now on.
This part of the canal was new ground to us.
As we left Duke's Lock, we made a sharp right turn, into Duke's Cut.
This connects the Thames with the Oxford Canal.
It was so narrow after the Thames, and the first lock we came to was a single width lock.
The whole thing seemed so unbelievably tiny, it was like Toyland!
At the end of Duke's Cut we turned sharp left and were on to the Oxford Canal.
I was surprised to feel a wave of relief wash over me--
it was as though I felt safe and "back home" now that we were on the canals again.
I know Trev was sad to be leaving the Thames, he had enjoyed the wide open space,
but I like the intimacy of the canals.
We passed the point where the stoppage had been,
and could see where the bank had collapsed.
The workmen were still working on it at the side of the canal.
We met Mel & Ivor Batchelor with their working boats,
and bought diesel and coal from them.
They were doing a run down to Oxford, supplying the boats with their winter fuel orders.
There were quite a few lift bridges along this part of the canal,
but I couldn't lift them, they were so heavy,
or maybe I hadn't got the knack. In the end Trev did them all.
At one swing bridge, on a sharp corner, the wind took me in to the bank
and we couldn't get the boat off.
In the end, Trev got off the boat with the bow rope, and pulled us round.
We were due to meet friends at The Rock of Gibraltar pub, so moored up there.
We had a good evening with Rachel & Neil, who live nearby, and the meal was OK.
But I wouldn't go out of my way to go there again.
It was a rather dismal depressing sort of place--
and we found a new "negative" sign on the wall--
Do not put logs on the fire.
I really ought to start a collection of these encouraging notices......
Saturday, 25th October
We set off around 10.30. The weather started off fine, but soon deteriorated, and we had heavy rain.
At Heyford, we had a strange experience.
It was raining very heavily and Trev and I both wear glasses.
We were seeing things through very wet glasses and everything was distorted.
It seemed to us that either the canal turned a very sharp right
(though the guide certainly didn't indicate this) or else the canal
suddenly stopped, because there was a boat at right angles ahead of us.
We slowed right down, and as we got nearer, we realised that it was a narrowboat
which had come adrift from its mooring on the offside of the canal.
The bow rope was still attached, and the boat was now right across the canal.
We drew close and I got on board to see what I could do.
I started to pull the stern rope in, but it was still attached to the mooring pole,
which had come away from the bank. This mooring pole was like half a tree trunk
and I couldn't lift it.
So Trev got on to the boat and managed to pull it on board.
Then we had to get the boat back to its moorings.
We did it eventually, and Trev got off the boat on to its jetty--
which promptly gave way. The whole thing was rotten.
Fortunately, he was still holding on to the boat,
so he tied the boat up to a tree, and quickly got back on to our boat
before further mishap.
Someone will have quite a surprise when they next go to their boat.
After that, things were fairly quiet!
We moored up near Deep Cutting Bridge, by a lovely meadow,
and had a very peaceful evening.
The rain had stopped, and there was a beautiful sunset.
Sunday, 26th September
We were woken by a very loud mooing.
A cow was standing within inches of our boat, mooing for all it was worth!
It was like an early morning alarm call.
Before we set off, we had a phone call from friends in Kenilworth.
They would like to come and see us today.
They wanted to do a walk, meet us and go for a bar snack.
So we arranged to meet them in Banbury.
They would drive to Cropredy and start to walk south along the canal
and we would look out for them.
This meant we had quite a long journey to do, so we had to get going.
It all worked out well.
We continued up the Oxford and at Nell Bridge, we were on familiar ground,
since we'd come as far south as this when we first had the boat
and done a trip from Braunston.
At that time we thought we were very brave and bold to venture so far!
We shopped at Morrisons in Banbury and, just as we were leaving town,
Trudi & Ken appeared. They came on board, and we all went on to Cropredy.
I think we took longer to get there by boat than they had taken to walk it!
But of course they hadn't had to stop to do the locks.
There was much hilarity as we went along, and just enough time
to have a drink on board before we repaired to The Red Lion in Cropredy for a meal.
A good evening was had by all, and we were sorry to see them go.
We moored at Cropredy for the night.
Monday, 27th September
We were moored just above the lock and when we woke, the boat was on the ledge.
Water had been taken from the pound as boats had used the lock
and the water level in the pound had dropped.
I had an inkling of this in the night, since I woke and felt we were listing.
So I had slept the opposite way round in bed.
This gave Trev quite a surprise when he woke in the morning........
We loosened the mooring ropes and pushed the boat out a little way, and it righted itself.
Since we had had a long day yesterday, speeding up to Banbury to meet our friends,
we decided to stay put today.
I am going to the dentist in Kenilworth on Friday, and we have an
arrangement with Jan & Don that they will kindly take me to the dentist.
We need to be in reach of their car by Friday morning.
So we aren't in a hurry at the moment, as it isn't far to go.
Jan & Don are coming along the Oxford Canal in their boat to meet us,
and then they will turn round and we shall all travel back together to their moorings,
where they have left their car.
If it sounds complicated, don't worry about it--we know what we're doing!
We had a walk round Cropredy village this morning, it's very pretty.
Then we had a drink at The Red Lion at lunchtime and spent the rest of the day on board.
Tuesday, 28th September
We continued along the Oxford canal, through very rural countryside.
We had eight locks and five miles to do before we met Jan & Don at Fenny Compton.
The weather was fine, the canal wasn't very busy and we made good time.
We met a narrowboat called Shendish, and stopped to talk to its owners.
We had last seen them on the Shropshire Union Canal last summer,
when I was convinced we were sinking,
and they explained that it was just that we were on the ledge and the level
in the pound was dropping, due to people using the locks!
We had a chat for about half an hour, and then continued,
eventually meeting our friends at Fenny Compton.
We spent the rest of the day with them, and had a most enjoyable afternoon/evening.
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