15th July
We left our usual mooring in Abingdon after Pete's early morning canoe paddle and under grey skies. Many runners on the towpath which the happy lock keeper informed us was a regular Saturday practice, like a (quote) 'herd of wildebeest' coming towards him when he starts his day! This young lock keeper who clearly loves his job and whom we've met before asked if we were expecting trouble as we floated in because we have a sharpened broom handle as a masthead! I guess he couldn't have known it was our aerial pole ingeniously whittled by Pete; I told him indignantly that I would have him know it was a state of the art fixture, but pretty useless all the same! Probably more helpful for fighting off the wildebeest.
On to Culham Lock where we found a queue. We were updated on events by the boaters ahead of us. The top sluices had been damaged possibly by someone trying to open the gate before the lock had filled properly. The lock keeper was off sick and our cheery Abingdon man had been called the day before to sort things out, but today it was down to us all to operate between ourselves. To add to the slow fill, a hire boat had got its rope stuck in the bottom gates somehow, so was having to wait to go back down in order to get free! It took us about an hour to get through and it started to rain heavily. It being Saturday there was a lot of river traffic. A barmy load of giggling girls on a tiny craft locked with us. Pete asked where they were headed and was told "oh, Oxford or somewhere". Pete pointed out that Oxford was the opposite direction. They didn't seem to mind though, bedraggled and wet through with no rainwear, they hurtled off down the river shrieking. Turned around about a mile out of the lock, presumably to go back to Oxford! What larks.
Rain stopped and we pressed on to Wallingford for our next mooring and a supplies trip to Waitrose.
We left our usual mooring in Abingdon after Pete's early morning canoe paddle and under grey skies. Many runners on the towpath which the happy lock keeper informed us was a regular Saturday practice, like a (quote) 'herd of wildebeest' coming towards him when he starts his day! This young lock keeper who clearly loves his job and whom we've met before asked if we were expecting trouble as we floated in because we have a sharpened broom handle as a masthead! I guess he couldn't have known it was our aerial pole ingeniously whittled by Pete; I told him indignantly that I would have him know it was a state of the art fixture, but pretty useless all the same! Probably more helpful for fighting off the wildebeest.
On to Culham Lock where we found a queue. We were updated on events by the boaters ahead of us. The top sluices had been damaged possibly by someone trying to open the gate before the lock had filled properly. The lock keeper was off sick and our cheery Abingdon man had been called the day before to sort things out, but today it was down to us all to operate between ourselves. To add to the slow fill, a hire boat had got its rope stuck in the bottom gates somehow, so was having to wait to go back down in order to get free! It took us about an hour to get through and it started to rain heavily. It being Saturday there was a lot of river traffic. A barmy load of giggling girls on a tiny craft locked with us. Pete asked where they were headed and was told "oh, Oxford or somewhere". Pete pointed out that Oxford was the opposite direction. They didn't seem to mind though, bedraggled and wet through with no rainwear, they hurtled off down the river shrieking. Turned around about a mile out of the lock, presumably to go back to Oxford! What larks.
Rain stopped and we pressed on to Wallingford for our next mooring and a supplies trip to Waitrose.
The lock keeper has a whippet
A sign for those of us who don't know what a buoy is!
Boat still life
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