Friday

In Lower Heyford this evening, a slow day from Kidlington mooring last night; back to canal pace, strange lift bridges and some stiff locks. The lift bridges are operated with a BW key, but the instructions to turn the key clockwise and release the bridge which should then gently float up are a little optimistic! More like half a turn anti clockwise and full weight on the mechanism to release the thing then you still need to push it up, the counterweight system not being too clever. On one, someone had graffitied "another great piece of engineering; 0/10" !! Possibly the same person who had left a hand written sign on cardboard taped to the nearby narrowboat moored right by and too close to the lift bridge saying: ' what a stupid place to moor, thanks a lot, you d....head!'
Pretty part of the Oxford canal this which joins the River Cherwell for a stretch and then meanders through forest alongside the river. Cloudy today but not too cold, so a pleasant trip. Met a boatload of Aussies from Melbourne who were very cheery and friendly as we know Aussies are. They said they hadn't had enough time to look at places on their week long trip and found Oxford very busy. Also they thought they'd find more pubs along the way - so many are closed now or just run down. We wonder what they make of this strange English past time in a chilly Autumn climate, when it's 29 degrees in their home town! They seemed to be embracing it!

Tomorrow we will move on again and 'shuffle' cars and I will go back to my parents and sister on Sunday leaving Pete to take the boat back to its mooring at his own pace and on his own. It's a strange, surreal time for me.

Heading back on the canal

Moored in Culham again on Tuesday night. As we had envisaged, it's not easy throwing ropes from deep locks to go upstream. Culham is the deepest, but it was lunchtime for the lock keeper when we arrived so self service. I operated the lock whilst Pete manned the ropes. Obviously easier to catch a rope on the lockside and secure it. The simple push button operation for the gates and sluices is so easy to use, wish the canal locks were the same!
On Wednesday we pressed on to Oxford as our Thames licence runs out on this day. This meant the longest cruise we have done this trip, all of 5 hours! The sort of length of day we used to do. The weather was kind to us until we had gone through Osney lock and then the heavens opened. We got back onto the canal dripping wet but fire was alight and water hot for showers.
Locked through Osney lock with a beautiful Bates Starcraft boat, Asterisk, crewed by the most charming foursome, who were very courteous and brave to let us follow them into the lock when we are 50' of steel and they are delicate wood. It was a tight squeeze. (They did get a bit twitched however when Pete started wielding his log splitter! ) They had come from Limehouse and were going to see how far they could get up the Thames but this was their limit as Osney bridge is so low. The quietly spoken captain told us he had had an exciting ride from Wapping to Greenwich, opening up the 'over powerful engines'. You could tell he loved his boat.
We moored further up the canal than last time, taking our lead from the owner of Daisy NB, who told me although it was not a pretty mooring sandwiched as it is between high not very attractive modern flats, you could easily walk into Jericho and Oxford centre from here. We explored Jericho, which we really liked. Lots of stylish pubs and cafes and pretty streets of old mixed style houses, a young, vibrant suburb.

Firewood

Rain pattering on the roof last night in Goring but woke up to a warm still day with sun breaking through here and there. So much nicer on the river when it isn't windy.
Took a gentle cruise up to Shillingford and moored at the same place we moored on the way down, by the bridge and hotel, as this is such a nice spot. Here we have a garden where Pete can indulge his log splitting passions and organise our firewood a little better. We are lighting the fire in the mornings now so that the boat is toasty cosy by the time we moor and the chill is off for a comfortable breakfast. The wood we have collected is rapidly diminishing, most of it now in the lockers to keep dry and not on the roof or crowding the bow!

Warm enough this afternoon to have a cup of tea sitting on the bank.....ah!




Speedy axe work







Our garden