Back on our mooring

22nd October Tuesday

Friday evening we moored in Heyford, ready for me to take the train home on Saturday morning. Pete bravely carried on alone to Banbury, then Cropredy and finally on Monday to our mooring at Fenny Compton. As he reached the last lock of his lone venture, who should arrive but Jenny and Sid. They had come by car to help and had clearly hidden in the hedge, laughing hysterically, only turning up when Pete had lifted the last paddle on the top lock of the flight of 5 at Claydon! (Clever timing I reckon! )
It was great to see them and Pete was glad of Sid's company for the last couple of miles back to Fenny. Sid expertly drove Ani all the way back, much better than Pete would (says Pete), telling him he had just changed the drive plate on his own boat's engine. Is there anything he can't do?! ("I've never liked him", said Pete).

Needless to say when I arrived with the car, all three were happily lunching on Hunter's Moon, so I joined them in the cosy warmth and out of the howling gale that was careering around the marina, causing Jenny and Sid to postpone their outing for that day at least. We grogged on in the evening at The Wharf, laughingly getting there early so that we could take advantage of the 2 for £10 meals and then running up a bar bill for 3 times that in beer!! (As is our usual practice with these two dear friends). Lots of comparing notes on boating experiences as well as catching up on other news, it was a lovely night with lots of laughs.

Oh, and Sid fitted the beautiful porthole 'spider's webs' Jenny had crocheted for my birthday. Is there anything the two of them can't do?!

The perfect end to a great trip!

                                           Flying south

   
             Back through Thrupp


                                          Sid and Pete talking boats





                                         Coming in to land

The Duke's Cut

We left the Thames via Duke's Cut this time instead of our usual route in and out of the Oxford Canal; Sheepwash Channel and Isis lock. At one point we thought we might have taken the wrong turning as the cut gets more and more overgrown as you progress. A real dingley dell. Lots of gypsy boats down here hiding away in the undergrowth and reeds and we were in a completely different world to the one we had just left of the open lake-like waters of Port Meadow. The Cut is a real fairy tale backwater, one that time and maintenance has forgotten. An abandoned and untethered boat was blocking the way at one point, floating free sideways across the cut - I couldn't push it aside because of reeds again and we were gradually being forced into an overhanging willow which might well have taken out our TV aerial and the chimney hat in one swoop (disaster, darling!) Pete's dexterous navigating managed to gently push it out of the way eventually. This passage of about 45 minutes was a strange interlude, slightly surreal and dreamlike.

At the end we went through the tiniest, shallowest lock following after a solo lady boater who told me she had severe blisters on her feet from some bargain charity shop shoes she had bought and this was why she was moving around the lock so slowly. Sort of completed the bizarre experience really.

The Duke's Cut (and the duchess is quite drunk too) Boom boom.

Abingdon to Thrupp and lock keepers

Glorious morning for our travel from Abingdon to Thrupp; warm sunshine, blue skies and the river like silk. Our Thames licence runs out today so we have to be off the river by nightfall. Stopped at Osney bridge in order to pick up my train ticket from Oxford station for my Saturday travel home to see mum and collect the car, ready to return to Pete somewhere up the Oxford canal on our way to our mooring where we will have to unload all our stuff off the boat to drive home.

At Iffley lock we met a lecturing lock keeper. The self service sign was up, so I dutifully disembarked to operate the gates, opened them, Pete drove in and threw me the mid line so that we could secure the boat before roping with the bow and stern lines - completely normal thing to do..the lock keeper arrived back from wherever he had been, took over and promptly told me that I needed to put a bow line on and man it ( I said I knew that) . Then as we were leaving the lock, he informed me that the next one was manned, but 3 times deeper and I would need to use the bow line. All this in front of some other chap who we think was a volunteer learning the job. Also as we left we spotted a 'river inspector' boat, so,presumably our lock keeper had something to prove. There are ways of being helpful and all the other keepers and volunteers we have encountered have been - so it's a little frustrating when you get a show off like this, especially when we have been boating so long and we do know what to do! By contrast, the very young lock keeper at Abingdon last night was absolutely charming, relaxed and informative and chatted to us as if he had known us for years.

We travelled the longest day we have done on this trip: 8 hours with ease. Don't know what these people moaning about their working days are talking about and we didn't even stop for lunch! We got a comment from a passer by today; " stop enjoying yourselves" - sorry , it is pleasurable work!!

Going home

We will sadly soon be ending our 2 month trip and I've been thinking of the things that will change. Firstly I'll have to remember that our Westbourne house doesn't move, so there will be no need to rush into the garden, bang a large tent peg in the lawn and tie it up every evening. And it won't matter which side of the house I leave from, with any luck both will be dry with no chance of disappearing into six feet of Thames water . When we get up I must also remember that our Westbourne neighbours with the thatched cottage will still be there every morning and not have moved their house ten miles away replacing it with a one bedroom council flat with two dobermans .I think it will take a little while to adjust to the fact that we will have more space, and therefore unnecessary to move the cooker, bed, tv and shower into a long line along the landing and arrange all our belongings around them in a pleasing and eye catching manner.
One thing I've not done for two months is drive a car and I can see this as a bit of a problem , I must remember to drive on the left, preferably at more than four miles an hour AND not jump into the boot of the car and steer it with the jack. As far as I can recall going around corners isn't a problem in a car because its got tyres so it won't be necessary to attempt to slide the car round a corner as if it was a shopping trolley with a loose wheel. Although I will take the anchor off the boat for the winter I will have to remember that it's just in transit and not to be thrown out of the car window to stop it in an emergency in tescos car park.
Without exception all boaters will acknowledge you and smile and wave,occasionally even the normally grumpy anglers who generally have a face that looks like they have trapped wind will give you a nod,so I will have to remember not to cheerily greet, smile and wave to all and sundry in the meat aisle at Waitrose!
Oh and I won't have to clamber under the engine to check the prop for weeds, plastic bags, fishing line, saris, scarves and other obstructions (that will be a relief!)

Boat envy

Today must be 'best polished boat' day. We locked through with Solomon, a boat so gleaming in perfect dark blue paintwork, you could see your face in it. When I asked the owner how he managed to have such a spotless boat, he replied " because we are clean, tidy people, unlike you". No, not really! but he could have. He just said it was newly painted last year - last year?! - so was ours, albeit by 2 cack-handed owners. Perhaps we should have used a brush as opposed to throwing paint down the side from the pub garden.

Then another boat passed us, just as glossy and clean, not a scratch on it. How do these people do it? They must be cleaning and polishing at every stop. It puts dear Ani to shame, with her knocks and scrapes down to the red oxide (not quite the steel). Pete has polished one side, but we keep seeming to moor the same way so the other side doesn't get done. I clean windows when we are waiting for locks, very hurriedly, not thoroughly. Meantime, muddy banks, slimy lock walls, emptied ash pans and dirty foot falls all conspire to keep her looking well worn. I don't think we will ever be the owners of a spruce and perfect boat, probably due to our lazy scruffiness, but I do envy those who manage it.
Jenny and Sid - how do you do it?

Pangbourne in the rain

13th October Sunday

Yesterday we travelled from Maidenhead to Henley in warm sunshine and no wind. The 12 miles or so went very quickly.
Today we woke up to very dark skies, pouring rain (lasted all day) and cold winds and we had decided to do 13 miles. This stretch of the Thames is particularly beautiful. The river widens considerably and despite the rain, the views and autumn colours are lovely. We arrived on Pangbourne meadows moorings at a sensible 2pm, but both of us were soaked through. The boat is now adorned with steaming raincoats, over-trousers, jeans, socks, gloves, hats and shoes. Thank goodness once again for our little squirrel stove, it's got a lot of work to do today.

Pangbourne holds special memories for us of trips here on the barge and one very memorable blow-out meal at a posh restaurant, where we ate in the garden on a warm summer's evening. Apparently this was the town where Kenneth Grahame lived and told his now famous story to his son in 1904 and Harleyford Hall at Hurley was supposedly the inspiration for Toad Hall.

Fish and chips tonight - I am not adding to the condensation by cooking! (That's my excuse!)












                                          Rain finally stopped


                                         Harleyford (Toad) Hall


Those ice creams must be darned heavy


Who on earth would bother creating this little creature? Amused me though.


This little dog was having a lovely time doing twice the walk he needed to by zooming back and forth between a group of walkers. Reminded me of my dog friend; Barley.

Change in the weather

11th October Friday

On Wednesday night the cold set in and on Thursday morning there was a fierce wind again which made it difficult to get out of our mooring. We had moored in a bay in the bank so there was no lee way bow or stern and the wind was pushing full strength on the river side. Pete pushed us off eventually and we decided we should buy a proper barge pole for events such as this.

We headed back to the Thames with passers-by telling us the weather was colder/chilly/windy/different to yesterday. Isn't it funny how us Brits always comment on the weather and state the obvious? The Wey was just as charming but this time instead of little water boatmen insects skitting about on a flat surface, there were autumn leaves and ripples and periodically we got pelted by conkers and acorns. The locks on the Wey are well maintained by the National Trust (they put the canal CRT locks to shame) and I was able to operate them, except for the last but one which beat me. We definitely want to do this trip again sometime, a little more slowly. Dapdune wharf was a pleasant mooring with Guildford in easy reach. At first we thought Guildford a bit dreary (the outskirts are) but the centre has a pleasant shopping centre with cobbled street leading down to the river. Next time we will continue to Godalming.

Thursday night we moored back on 'the wall' opposite Shepperton lock. Wind whistling by, fire cranked up, early night.

Today, Friday we have pressed on to Windsor again. The morning started bright and sunny although still with that wind, but then the rain set in heavily. And here I am talking about the weather again, like a true Brit. Hey ho. I attempted to alert me old muckers at the prop workshop that we'd be coming through so that we could wave hysterically but there was no sign of life there- hope they haven't succumbed to the glue fumes.

So here we are on this royal mooring once more. Maj is in residence, flag flying at the castle. No doubt staying indoors - one would not want to be riding one's pony in this wretched weather.

Thought I had finished there until we discovered we couldn't turn off the engine. The key did nothing and the main switch in the engine room was useless too. After a couple of phone calls, we upped mooring pins and set off at a pace for Bray Marina to see Terry. All this in heavy rain and strong wind ( the not-so-good side of boating). He discovered a blown ignition fuse, caused he thought by it working loose, touching metal and shorting. A securing nut was missing so now we have a cable-tie instead! Is this a long lasting fix, I wonder?

Eventually left Bray at 4.45 , this has been a long day. Moored in Maidenhead, still windy and raining, no TV signal, but cosy and glad to have stopped for the night.

The Wey

7th October, Monday

We set off down the Wey navigation - National Trust owned river that runs to Guildford and Godalming. We purchased a 3 day licence for £36 at the NT office and learnt that the locks have a slightly different system in that they want you to leave gates open as you leave them, which is useful and makes it easier for boaters. You do have to secure the boat in the lock however as the water flow is fierce and some are quite deep.

The Wey is beautiful. Sleepy, green and well kept. It made such a lovely contrast to our last week in London - once again we were on our own completely, drifting through reedy water with open fields and trees either side. We locked through the final lock of this day with another boat 'Ella', which is based here. Consequently their owners were able to tip us off to a good mooring and in true fellow boaters fashion, without us asking, they gave us the info we all need to know; where the supermarket is, not to moor by the noisy pub, which way to point your TV aerial for the night's viewing (crucial!) They also told us they are on YouTube because they had a rocking and rolling time trying to get in (or out) at Limehouse and someone filmed them! Poor things, it confirms my fears about narrowboats attempting such stuff, but Pete still maintains it's a question of timing the tide right, then all will be well.

The mooring they suggested was dreamy - sheep and goats one side, open field the other. Warm sunny evening and a walk to a pub. Fire lit to come back to as it gets misty and damp.



A picture of an old relic, with Newark Priory in the background
















                                         Pete trod on his glasses!!

More friends

5th October, Saturday

After leaving Brentford on the 3pm tide, we arrived just in time at 5, for our rendezvous at Hampton Court with friends Janet and John. We had shot through Kingston, me showering en route. I had hoped to stop to see my mum again but we were up against time, so I phoned to alert her we were about to pass her and would wave. She hadn't been expecting us to stop.Pete hooted and we both waved frantically with both arms, Mum waving back from her flat's balcony. Then we realised a whole group of people on the promenade were madly waving and smiling back at us too. They must have thought we were a bit bonkers making that much of a gesture to total strangers. Hey ho, that's probably another camera we are on as 'the mad boat people we saw on our walk today.'

Anyway, J and J joined us on board for a glass of wine. John's new varifocal glasses clashing with the swaying of the boat so that he had to steady himself here and there. He is still getting used to them and I must say they make him look very distinguished, despite him staggering around like a drunk! We had a great evening with them, pizza in Molesey and a good catch up as we haven't seen them in an age. Didn't get back on board until gone 11, very late for Saras. However before being able to go to bed, we had to mop up considerable puddles of water that had collected at the bottom of the boat below the calorifier, which had clearly been spewing out hot water from it's loose top fitting whilst we were going fast. It has done this before, but not to such a great extent. We had been wondering why the water pump had been firing every 15 minutes or so by itself to get the water pressure up and now we knew. On Sunday morning Pete discovered he could tighten the fitting sufficiently so problem solved, although it is obviously a lousy connection which will have to be replaced at some point. The trouble is with all boat plumbing problems they are awkward to get to and involve contortions into bed lockers and cupboards. I let Pete do it. I'm the torch holder.


6th October, Sunday

Fiona and Alec join us for a cup of coffee having cycled down to our mooring. They only live up the road in East Molesey and we had offered a boat trip but they had sunday lunch guests, so we arranged to meet them later in the Old Crown pub in Weybridge where we were mooring. The weather was fantastic and we moored amongst the fishermen opposite the weir where canoeists were sloshing about. It was like a summer's day, lots of people out enjoying themselves. Once again, great to see old friends we haven't caught up with in a while and Fi and I bored Pete and Alec by discussing other old friends and their whereabouts - Fiona being far more diligent about keeping in touch with these people. We also discussed the joys of travelling. They have done a lot of the world and we were particularly envious of what sounded like an amazing trip to Kerala. It confirmed to us that that is another place we want to get to.

Good weekend altogether, if a little more frantic than we had meant it to be!

Washing

Living on a boat is romantic - a novelty, cosy and simple. BUT.......
When you do the washing and have no spin dryer, it has to hang around dripping. It goes on a clothes horse in the bow of the boat which is fine until you have to leap off with a rope to tie up or Pete decides to sweep the chimney (on the move?!) then you either end up tangled in wet knickers and socks or puddles gather on the floor indoors to prevent soot re-dirtying everything!

Washing yourself is an experience as well. We have a very efficient wet room bathroom 4' square. The shower is powerful and all is good until you reach for your towel which as you raise it to dry your face you get a whiff of coal fires, where it was hung to dry after your last shower - not so nice. Then you step out of the hot, steamy wet room into the corridor where you are greeted by a bracing through-draft - makes you get dressed pretty quick, I can tell you.

All this though is part of the fun of boating. A long day of fresh air and a fair amount of physical work, then a hot shower, a good dinner and slippers on by the fire! Doesn't get much better than that. And you soon realise that you can live with the minimum of space and luxury.

Still, it would be nice to have a sweet smelling towel!!

The Hooded Flash

My job for the day coming up from Limehouse was to race ahead on the trusty Brompton and set the locks for Sara and our new chums on The Meg,
( it was only after the 2nd lock I discovered it was a lot quicker if you unfolded the bike first). The sun was out, the towpath crowded, and I was constantly being overtaken by quicker cyclists. Somewhere , on a particularly rough stretch of cobbled towpath between Haggerstown lock and Kingsland basin, a hooded flash overtook me, phone in hand, mind in neutral. What could possibly go wrong? I screeched to a halt, even the bike screeched to watch the hooded flash hit the floor. He rolled over in agony as we both watched his phone, the latest Apple fly-phone launch itself upwards. On its outward jounney it was positively balletic , twisting and somersaulting, it's screen glistening in the midday sun. On the way down? Not so much, more like a bar of soap ....
The gap between the edge of the towpath and the moored boat could not have been more than 4inches and you would think that on the basis of probability the fly-phone would come into contact with either, and judging from the Flash's reaction he thought so too, sorry friend , serves you right for ordering the stealth sonar fly-phone with the knitted steel cover. With unerring accuracy it disappeared into to murky waters of the regents canal with a dive Tom Daly would have been proud of.
The hooded Flash's whole world had disappeared and he was desperate to get it back. Putting your hand or any other part of your anatomy into the canal, especially round these parts, carries a government health warning (I know what I've pulled out of our propeller ) and now the Flash was up to his shoulder, which given the advances in medical science they may well eventually find a cure for the inevitable elbow mutation.
You will be pleased to know that the phone was recovered with the help of my windlass but the hooded Flash will be uncontactable for some time!

Location:The towpath

Graffiti and signs

                                          Carrot Corp?!




   
How was this painted so beautifully in such a position?








  


'Urbanest' ?!!!!!! - what a ghastly name




8 and a half miles and 12 locks took 6 hours


Couldn't get a close up as we were travelling by, but these little plaques are charming - I have no idea why they are there.


Not a pleasant sight - a dead eel, a dead trainer and rubbish in a lock.

Art, film and curry

1st October Tuesday

Left Pete cleaning the boat and went off on a jolly - he is very long suffering!

Met Mum at the National Portrait Gallery and had a lovely day looking at paintings and then seeing a film. We parted at Charing Cross station and it took me a mere 20minutes before I was back on the boat. What luxury. Olly and Fran arrived in the evening and they had booked a Burmese restaurant in Edgware Road which we walked to easily. A tiny cafe really with plastic table cloths and great food. Pete and I stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the company of two favourite people again.

Today, Wednesday, we walked to Portabella Road - a little disappointing because despite Internet info, there were very few stalls. Still it is interesting as is Westbourne Grove and its shops. I was pleased to see that Kahns is still there. Scarily I remember this curry restaurant with it's beautiful interior (trompe loysdkjh walls and sculpted palm topped columns) opening and signs outside claim that was 35 years ago. Oh dear.

These few days have been extra specially good fun. Having a 'home' in central London is sooo cool!

Paddington Basin

30th September Monday

We left Limehouse rather hurriedly as Pete had spotted another boat heading out and decided it would be sensible to lock through with them. The alternative being that if you follow a boat, you have to refill locks each time and it takes twice as long of course. So we travelled in tandem with The Meg and it's crew of four. They were heading back to Cowroast, where we once moored, hoping to do that in 3 days - don't envy them. A pleasant lot and we soon got into a working pattern with them, Pete going ahead by bike to set the locks. Even so, it still took us 5 hours to get back to Little Venice. We turned left on arrival to moor in Paddington Basin where there are free 7 day moorings, which is great for such a central position. However, you soon find that there are very few available and we travelled right to the end before finding a slot on the end of a pontoon which actually didn't have enough cleats to moor to anyway. A kind carpenter boatman popped out on a mooring inside the same pontoon and said he was leaving and we could have his space. Perfect. It is a wind tunnel down here with high rise office blocks all around and St Mary's Hospital opposite - it certainly feels like London here.

Pete discovered Phil on Eladie Rose moored by the station as was Emma Jane. They caught up on towpath gossip and the fact that so many of these boats and the ones in Little Venice appear to breach the rules and stay far longer than 7 days, thereby blocking the visitor moorings. Both Phil and Pete separately expressed their feelings about this to CRT reps at the basin offices and were told that enforcement officers do move people on. We are not so sure that is the case however.

Still, we are here and it is great to be so central. A twinkly mooring at night.

London photos

                                         Battlebridge basin



Kings Cross and an impressive graphic silver flash that goes from one building to another.




St Pancras lock house to which a black cat was returning with a mouse in it's mouth - don't expect the owners of this well kept home will be too pleased about that.



Thought these railings were very pleasing.


Gongoozlers at Camden Lock - this is only half the amount there were on Saturday!


The old 'Good Morning' breakfast show studios












St John's Wood




Maida Avenue - Little Venice





They must have fresh milk for breakfast every morning!