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Sunday 17/9/17 to Wednesday 20/9/17.
It has been a busy time, working out how to operate this seventy foot narrow boat, making sure we grease the main drive, pump out the bilges and turn off the inverter at night to conserve the batteries. However we do have hot showers and central heating, although we need to watch our water consumption and do a daily top up. A complicating factor is that a Hett and I often awaken before 7.00am while Rowan and Jane like sleeping in! It is a major effort to get us moving by 0900hr, while we would be ready to go around 0800 hr.
Anyway on Sunday, we traversed a couple of more locks, making nine since Napton and ended up in Fenny Compton near the Wharf Inn. After about a mile walk into Fenny Compton for supplies we came back to the pub at the Wharf Inn and had a nice dinner. I recommend the Steak and Ale Pie. Having our boat tied up less than fifty metres from the pub was pretty good as we left the pub.
Monday 18/9/17.
From Fenny Compton we passed through the five Claydon Locks, then Ellington's, Varney's and Broadmoor Locks and finally the Cropedy Lock making nine locks to get to Cropedy. We explored the town but found that the Red Lion was closed, so we ended up at the Brazenose Pub. The service was slow but the food good. We were soon back on the water heading down canal through Slat Mill Lock, Bourton Lock and Hardwick Lock, arriving finally in Banbury. After a meal in the boat we all crashed out from a long and tiring day.
Tuesday 19/9/17.
We went through the swing bridge in the middle of town and filled up with water and then through the narrow Banbury Lock, where we waited for Jane to buy some cough lozenges. With the water supply and the locks and all, we finally left Banbury at 10.00am.The late starts around 9.00am are very frustrating as we're having long tiring days. At times I'm becoming very short with Rowan 'pfaffing around' when we're trying to get going. However I keep trying to remember this is a holiday and he is my friend who puts up with my few idiosyncrasies.
Anyway we covered a lot of ground on Tuesday as we had been keen to make it to Thrupp. Unfortunately as the day wore on, we realised this was a lock too far and decided on Lower Heyford as a turn around point. The problem with a seventy foot canal boat is that there are limited winding points where you can turn the boat around. As a result we had to push on late in the day through Dashwoods Lock and Northbrook Lock before we could get to a turning point we could use. By now tempers were a little frayed. Rowan had hurt his right ankle, with a near face plant when he jumped off the moving boat, so he had to do the driving into the locks while I jumped off and held the boat against the side of the canal.
Finally we turned the boat around and headed back away from Oxford, toward Napton. Despite night falling and having our head light operating, we went back up through Northbrook and Dashwoods Locks before deciding we were all exhausted and pulled up in the middle of nowhere. I tethered the boat to a couple of pins hammered in near the towpath and we all crashed out to a well earned rest.
Wednesday 20/9/17.
Yet another crazy day of travel, dodging other boats and operating locks. The girls did most of the locks as Rowan can't jump around and I was on hold the boat duty.
We headed back through Allen's Lock, Heyford Common Lock and Somerton Deep Lock (12 feet deep) and took a break at Anyho Wharf for lunch at the Great Western Hotel which was close to the canal and had good food.
Then we were off again through Aynho Weir Lock, Nell Bridge Lock and Kings Sutton Lock hoping to make Banbury for lunch! However Canal travel can be slow and you can wait a long time at locks. We finally made it into Banbury about 7.00pm and managed to anchor in town. I was tired, irritable and grumpy. I was finding fault with Rowan for driving too slow and with Jane for being detached and almost uninvolved with the group sometimes. The final straw for me, as we wandered around Banbury looking for somewhere to eat, was Jane going off into detached mode taking lots of photos of buildings and leaving the rest of us following her about, until she had chosen somewhere to eat or became tired of taking photos! I was pretty fed up with her and she was unable to see the problem. It wasn't a very relaxing meal at the pub and I hope that I haven't ruined our friendship. However, I was made a bit more despondent when Rowan, who has been coming around to the idea of earlier starts, thought we had time to wander around Banbury on Thursday morning as long as we get going by 9.00am!
I think we're in for another long and tiring day with a late finish tomorrow!
- comments
Kate Emery I was worried you'd stopped blogging - good to have an update. Sounds mostly fun except for the group tension. Dumb question but is it viable for you and Mum to start the boat while the others sleep in? Clearly I have no idea how such things work. x K