Final post of the year - Back in the Marina

So after some 387 miles 372 locks and 29 movable bridges we are back where we started in the marina at Yelvertoft.

Tardebigge went very well. We had a super day for it, quite chilly but a beautiful blue sky and very little wind. We shared the locks doing them in batches of 5 and arrived at the top in 4 1/4 hours. I was a little disappointed that the view from the top was not quite as spectacular as the guides seem to suggest but we were pleased to have done it, whether we will again is another matter. The route back from there took us near to the Cadburys Bournville factory but we didn't stop there turning right just before it on to the Stratford canal for the decent towards Warwick. First there was the flight of 21 locks at Lapworth and then back on to the Grand Union and the Hatton flight of 21 locks as well. Unfortunately the weather during the decent of these lock flights was horrible, being cold and very, very, wet.

By the time we reached Warwick we thought we deserved a couple of days off and stayed again in the Saltisford Arm and had a quiet day wandering around the town.

It was then the final couple of days home and we arrived back in the marina last Sunday and have spent the week cleaning, polishing and painting and are now in the process of putting the boat to bed for the winter and we should be returning home this Sunday but are already looking forward to planning next years journey.

View from close to the top of Tardebigge lock flight

The Sensory garden at Saltisford Arm, Warwick

What is it?

Climbing Everest

We have had a super couple of weeks since my last missive. A very leisurely trip down the Shroppie including visiting some places again from last year and some new ports of call including a "secret" bunker where our illustrious leaders were going to hide in the event of a nuclear war, interestingly there is a desk inside reserved for that most important of functions after the bomb had dropped, the Inland Revenue! We called in to Brewood (pronounced Brood) to visit the butcher we had used last year and amazingly he remembered us from 15 months ago. Seems we managed to leave an impression; just not sure if it was good or bad!

Getting to the bottom of the Shroppie we turned right on to the Staff and Worcester canal and entered new territory and I have to say from there down to the River Severn was one of the most pleasant canals we have travelled. The scenery was interesting and very very rural, the locks almost all picturesque and the lack of boats made it seem we were the only people left on earth at times. Also its amazing what one learns, did you know we had rock houses in the country? Kinver has some examples and unfortunately it wasn't open whilst we were there but it would be fascinating to see inside. Also a walk along Kinver Edge was exhilarating.

This provided an ideal time to actually convince Sarah to have a go at taking the boat into locks whilst I did my share of the hard work and she has conquered her fear of doing this and providing there is not any by wash to contend with we should be sharing the load in the future which is good considering what is ahead (see later)

The rural peaceful scene changed when we arrived in Stourport. It is a strange town, a real tale of two halves. There is a large basin at the end of the canal where it meets the River Severn and that is full of interest and lots of historical buildings and charming cottages but walk up into the town and even at the time we did it, 5.30pm on a Sunday, we encountered drunks and found it very seedy.

As the next day we were to go down the River and on to the Droitwich canal which has no mooring until the town itself we wanted an early start so wanted to get fuelled up and pumped out on the Sunday. The main boatyard in the basin was shut but we found a little hire yard tucked away in the corner and they even let us moor in their basin for the night to save having to go back up a lock to the public moorings.

So Monday morning saw us embarking on our first river trip which I know was causing Sarah some anxious moments and that in turn was rubbing off on me but of course it went perfectly smoothly with hardly any other boats on the move and having set of at 8.30am we arrived in Droitwich at 3pm.

The Droitwich canal has only been open for two years since restoration was completed but the locks on the first part up to the town are large double locks and very heavy but from the town to the Birmingham and Worcester canal they revert to narrow locks and are much more manageable.

The lack of boats whilst in many ways adding to the joy and peace and quiet has its downside in that there is no help around at locks and it also lulls one into forgetting about the possibility of oncoming traffic. On Monday the last boat we had seen coming towards us was at 12.30 and on Tuesday the first boat we saw was at 12.45. The only problem was that that meeting was at the most inconvenient spot on the whole canal. In restoring the canal they had to find a way of going under the M5 and they utilised a culvert which is just wide enough and just high enough - we had to remove our small chimney and the bike, which now lives on the roof, and had about 4" to spare - which meant I had to crouch down and had a very restricted view forward and had just entered the tunnel when I saw the brow of another boat coming round the corner at the other end. He stopped OK and backed up and we exchanged comments about how incredible it was that the first boat either of us had met that day happened to be at that awkward spot. Amazing how often it seems to happen.

So we are now moored up on the Worcester and Birmingham canal heading north and that brings me to the reason for this blogs title. We are moored at the foot of the Tardebigge flight of 30 locks, the longest single flight in the UK and, its said, a right of passage for any canal traveller. Its certainly raised a few eyebrows from other boaters that we have told but its not going to get any easier as the years roll on so I think now is probably a good time to do it. Given the lack of other boats around we will not be under any pressure but at the same time it probably means we wont get much help either so I think we will both be a bit fitter and leaner (if not meaner) after tomorrow.

Circular weir on the Staff and Worc canal

Rock House at Kinver

View from Kinver edge

Lock on the Staff and Worc

Sarah negotiating a lock

The Tontine, Stourport, originally an hotel but now flats

The basin at Stourport

Stourports other side

Cottages adjacent to the basin at Stourport

There and back again

Amazingly just over two weeks since my last blog so I need to bring you up to date with our journey. We spent two nights down on the Montgomery canal, there is only 7 miles of this open at the moment although they are working on a further quarter of a mile stretch (see below) all with weekend volunteer labour but hope to have it open by next year. Then on towards Llangollen. We moored up at Chirk which is right on the border between England and Wales (I did say in my last post that we had crossed the border and according to my map we had so I assume we ducked back again at some point) to await son Ben and his wife Jenny who were coming for a few days to experience the Pontcysyllte aqueduct crossing. Chirk itself has an aqueduct and that is quite impressive (see below) with a railway crossing as well but it is only about half the height of the famous one.

Chirk also has a very well preserved castle and I cycled up to it and took a few photos. It made me realise they do have proper hills in this part of the world!

Typically of course although we have had super weather most of the time this year the day we set off with Ben and Jenny was miserable being cold and raining hard but that did not dampen the thrill of crossing the aqueduct with a narrow towpath on one side and nothing but a thin sheet of steel the other protecting us from a 126 feet drop. The character of the canal changes dramatically after the aqueduct, no longer going through rolling countryside but very much the hills of Wales. It is also very narrow with only one way working in a couple of spots and we had to send Ben and Sarah off ahead to make sure the way was clear for us to enter. I hate to think what this is like in the height of the summer as even now in mid September the canal was very busy with the majority being hire boats (in the basin at the end of the canal I counted only 5 private boats to 20+ hireboats) most of whom are OK but some who do not think of others, like the boat that was moored outside the Elsan point right next to a sign which said "Please move away from here when finished using the facilities". Sarah had asked them to move on but the request fell on deaf ears "We was told we could moor anywhere along here" and by the time the message that I would need to moor up early was relayed back to me I couldn't reverse back to an empty berth as I had someone behind me and I couldn't breast up as the channel was too narrow so I had to go on and moor down in the basin and then lug the full canister from the loo up hill and down then along the canal for over a quarter of a mile. They were very lucky I didn't empty the whole lot over their boat!

We stayed the permitted two nights in the basin and walked up to the very end of the canal and up to Castell Dinas Bran, the remains of a ruined castle giving fantastic views over the surrounding countryside. The day we had there was not too bad with the rain holding off and sunny intervals although the wind at the ruin was very strong.

So after six weeks of travelling we had reached journeys end and had to set about the return journey. One point of note in returning to Chirk to drop off Ben and Jenny was that as we were crossing the Chirk Aqueduct we were filmed by what was obviously a very professional film crew so I asked what they were filming for and apparently it was for Channel 4 who are making 4 hour long documentaries about the canals with Timothy West and Prunella Scales who are very big narrowboat fans. I did ask if I would get an appearance fee but they didn't seem very interested but it is something to watch out for and it should be on air in the new year.

Yesterday we moored near a village called Marbury which is very small but has an amazing church on the edge of a large mere which is certainly very picturesque and today sees us back at the start of the Llangollen with another visit to Snugberrys Ice cream planned for tomorrow and then we set off down the Shroppie.

Saturn, a Shroppie "fly"boat that would travel 24 hours a day with changes of crew and horses to deliver perishable goods

Renovation of another section of the Mongomery canal

Chick Aqueduct with ancient and modern transport running side by side

The ornamental gates to Chirk Castle

Chirk Castle

Saling or flying?

126' over the River Dee

The very end of the Llangollen Canal where water is extracted from the River Dee

Horseshoe Falls, Llangollen, the weir constructed to allow water extraction for the canal

View from Castell Dinas Bran

Ditto with the Pontcysyllte aqueduct in the distance

An amazing number of hedge sparrows in the area

Marbury Church

Crossing the border

Well, we are now in Wales (as of Saturday7 Sept) We arrived on the Llangollen canal last Sunday and have had a leisurely few days savouring its delights and meandering across almost to Ellesmere.

Sarah had her meal at the pub mentioned last week. It was about an half hour walk from where we were moored although we could have taken the boat closer but it wasn't a bad day to walk there and the only disappointment was that they don't allow dogs in. The landlord was very chatty and introduced us to his dog an Australian terrier which was a new one on us. It looks like a cross between a corgi and a Yorkshire terrier but very sweet.

Having arrived on the Llangollen everyone told us that we must visit Snugburys Icecream which is made on a farm about a mile from the canal so on Sunday afternoon we went to find them expecting a small operation in an outbuilding and having to ring the door bell to find someone to serve us. We were, to put it mildly, wrong. As we approached there were more and more people milling around and it was like Blackpool on a bank holiday. With the best part of 30 different flavours of ice cream to choose from we decided we had to revisit on the Monday for a second helping and also bought a tub to put in the fridge.

The other attraction on the farm apart from the ice cream was a giant statue of a Darlek made of straw bales (see below) There is something like 6 tones of straw and 5 tons of steel in it and it stands 35 feet high and has a movement activated voice which says - what else but - "Exterminate" In previous years they have made merecats, bears and trick cyclists amongst others and its obviously a great local attraction.

We meandered our way down to Wrenbury for a couple of nights there and had an unexpected visitor. Sarah was sitting at the table knitting with the duck hatch open to the towpath when the puppy from the neighbouring boat sticks its head in and then happily clambers onto the table wagging its tail saying how happy it was to be there. The girls were not so impressed but were relieved when we handed it back to its owner.

On then to Whitchurch, first having to negotiate Grindley Brook with its 6 locks with 3 being in a staircase. We had seen very few people in the morning but when we arrived at the locks there was a small delay in going up for us but by the time we were due to ascend the staircase the pound at the bottom had 5 boats in it with 3 going up and 2 down. I would hate to negotiate these locks during the height of summer it must be worse than the M25 on a Friday night.

Whitchurch is a delightful town, probably about the size of Bury St Edmund's and, with a short arm leading towards the town, mooring was easy. The walk into town took about 20 minutes but was almost all on a footpath through a nature reserve which has recently been created. The idea is to try and bring the canal nearer the centre of town on its old course and it would be terrific if it happens but I somehow think it unlikely. The town itself has a great mixture of local shops and we came back laden with supplies including 2 yummy cream cakes. e were even lucky with the rain holding off whilst we were in town, this (Friday) probably being the worst day of rain we have had.

After 2 nights there we stopped for a night at Hampton Bank and then this morning moored near Cole Mere and walked around that then moved on a mile or so to moor up for tonight overlooking Blake Mere.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Ellesmere and then on Tuesday go and spend a few days on the Montgomery canal.

Teazle helps herself to Blackberrys....

....to go with the icecream she is hoping for

Man of straw

Mooring at Whitchurch

Our first glimpse of the Welsh Hills

Early morning on the cut

View from the kitchen window - Blake Mere

Pushing on

Time is relative as Einstein or someone said and on board a narrowboat time certainly seems to have a way of behaving differently. The other day we had a long discussion trying to decide if we had been cruising for just over one week or two. In the end we had to refer back to Sarah's log and even then it was difficult to be convinced that we had only been out for 9 days.

We have been putting in the miles as we are keen to spend as much time on the Llangollen and Montgomery canals as possible. We are retracing our steps from last year at the moment although I have to say that everywhere looks so much more pleasant in the sunshine than it did in the cold and rain of 2012. Yesterday (Wednesday) saw us come down most of  "Heartbreak Hill" clearing 20 locks in the day, a record for us and one which might be a while being beaten.

Last week we had a good easy trip up to the Trent and Mersey and met John and Louise on Saturday who had bought our old boat (and are still talking to us) for a meal and a glass or two and then continued on towards that fine city of Stoke.

Sunday didn't start too well as when I did my checks I found that the water header tank was empty and on inspecting the engine compartment found a pool of water lying there. Some consternation but I refilled the tank ran the engine for 20 minutes and all seemed well so we set off keeping a careful eye on levels and it seems to have been a one off (touch wood) I can only assume a thermostat got stuck but who knows.

On Tuesday we decided to get through Stoke and the Harecastle tunnel and made an early 7.00am start You will see how attractive Stoke is from the following photos although the industrial heritage is fascinating - no wonder you can buy a house here for a £1.

Then there is the joy of the Harecastle tunnel. Luckily its only one way traffic and you have to go through in convoy but I still find the concentration of peering into the dark for 45 - 60 minutes daunting. Sarah goes downstairs and curls up on the sofa with the dogs who hate tunnels too. Just before we emerged at the northern end we were greeted with the sight of a bat flying around although when the boat in front reported this to the lock keeper he needed our confirmation to accept that there was at least one in there as they tell everyone its bat free.

When we decided to go to Llangollen we had a choice of routes, this one which includes Heartbreak Hill or using the Staff and Worc and Shrophire Union which is further but with less locks. One of the reasons we chose this route is because of a restaurant that Sarah wanted to revisit called, and at, Lock 57 where we had eaten last year and had a superb meal. You can imagine the angst when after traversing 20 locks we found that it had closed down! Never mind, I said, we will go on to Wheellock and visit the Italian restaurant where we had also eaten (although not over impressed). Imagine the further angst when we found that had shut down too. Gave up at that point but we have hopefully found a new one to try on the Middlewich Arm tomorrow. Sarah's just phoned and they are open so, so far so good!

We plan to stay put tomorrow near bridge 22 on the Middlewich Arm which has a superb view - see below - and recharge our batteries and then on to the Llangollen on Saturday.

Early morning sunrise over the Wedgewood factory

Stoke!

Ancient and modern in Stoke

View out of the duck hatch at Bridge 22

A delayed start

So we are off again but not without some delays. We had planned to return to the marina on Monday 12 August, spend a day or two doing some odd jobs and get away on Wednesday 14th. In the end we didn't get to the marina until Tuesday and it took us until Saturday to get away - here's why!

I had planned to do a couple of small maintenance jobs on the boat for myself this time, well how hard can it be to change the oil and oil filter? I checked the manual and it was a simple 3 paragraph job - pump out the old oil using the built in sump pump, unscrew and replace the filter and refill with oil - Simple. I got  a canister in place to collect the old oil, opened the stopcock as directed and stated pumping but when I got to 2 litres nothing else would come out (the sump capacity was 9.5 litres) Have I got the right pump? A hunt around the engine failed to reveal any other pumps and it fitted with the picture in the manual. So I phoned the manufacturer who was very helpful and said it sounded as though the pump had failed they would send me a new one, no charge but it wouldn't be in the post till Thursday so I should have it by Friday. In the meantime I spoke to our engineer and he assured me fitting the pump was simple - that word again - so I waited for Friday hoping that I could indeed fit it.

In the meantime we decided that having a bike on board would be a good idea so started to explore the possibility of a folding bike and eventually found a shop in Leamington Spa which had a selection in stock so went over there on Thursday and chose one which seemed to be adequate for our/my needs. We decided to have some more robust tyres fitted due to the hawthorn on the towpaths and arranged to go back the following day to pick up the bike which we did so I am now practicing for the Tour de France having managed about 5 miles the other day before my backside began to make itself felt.

Friday morning saw us get the boat provisioned with all the important victuals (see below) and Friday afternoon the new sump pump arrived.

I removed the old one very easily but when I looked at the new one it was obvious that all the old one had not come away from the engine and I could see no way of unscrewing the bit that was left, so another call to our engineer to plead stupidity and ask if he could do the job which he said he could but not for a few days so he suggested putting the old oil back in and starting on our trip and he would catch up with us. Great. So I put the oil back in and thought I'd just check the level on the dipstick to make sure it was OK and was somewhat surprised to see that it was way over the full mark by about an inch or so or say 2 litres! Had that oil I took out come from somewhere else? Another phone call and after some deliberation the engineer felt that if what came out went back in the level should be OK so go ahead anyway. I had some reservations about this but he's the expert so we agreed to leave the arrangement as it was and he would meet us in a few days.

Luckily however later that afternoon there was a tap on the boat and the engineer had arrived as his next job had been postponed so he could look at my problem. He quickly spotted that in fact that the pump had two stopcocks and I had managed to empty the gearbox and not the engine. Tucked away under loads of hoses was another stopcock which was the engine feed, the obvious one I had seen was for the gearbox. No mention of that fact in the manual of course! Anyway apparently I wouldn't have done any damage as if I had tried to put the boat in drive it would just have refused to turn the prop. So half an hour later and the oil in both engine and gearbox and filter were changed and we were good to go!

Its Wednesday as I write this and we are 9 locks down the 11 lock flight at Atherstone having had a lovely few days cruising in ideal weather, sunny but not too hot. We decided due to the dealys to change our planned route so that we would have time to get over to Llangollen so instead of going up through Leicester we have taken a slightly more direct route but are finding that we are on a very busy section of canal as there is a vintage boat rally at Alvecote over the August bank holiday and there are a lot of boats heading for it.

We moored up in the town before starting our decent and went shopping and in the local butchers. He asked if we were boating - yes we replied how could you tell? Well, he said all boating people who come in here are always so relaxed and unhurried! In spite of the problems of last week I think that sums it up.

At least we wont need to shop again for booze for a day or two!

NB Tixall with a wood burning propulsion

Interesting footbridge

Back to the marina

This week has seen us retrace our steps and tomorrow (Sunday) we will be back in the marina. Its been a fairly easy and uneventful week spending a couple of nights at the bottom of Napton Locks and having a great meal at the Folly. No sign of a recession here as we went to eat there the first night but they were totally full so booked for the following evening and it was heaving again. Not surprising really, great food very well priced and all the young female bar staff in short cut off jeans!

So 5 weeks out and almost wall to wall sunshine. We have had a few showers this week and did actually have to don the anoraks for an hour or two but compared to last year it was the other end of the spectrum. If anything I suppose one could complain that it was too hot but then we're never happy with the weather are we?

So back to Bungay tomorrow and then assuming Sarahs check up goes well we will come back to the boat in 7 - 10 days and set off again. This time we plan to go up through Leicester then over to Llangollen and back via the Severn and the Avon if time permits.

Waiting to ascend Watford staircase

Is it worth planning an early start?

Last week may have been a quiet week which was good, as it left us prepared for this week which was anything but.

Monday was hot and sunny again and gave us a chance to relax on the new mooring and explore the local pub which was all of 50 yards away. It is not exactly prepossessing to look at (see below) but its claim to fame is that it is owned by a great mate of our esteemed leader Dave (Cameron that is not Beckham) The inside is as tatty as the outside, think Dickens. The carpet was probably new around the turn of the century (19th/20th that is) as were the furnishings but the beer was great and although we didn't eat there the food looked good too. A little away from the city centre but well worth the walk  (all 50 yds of it)

Tuesday we met up with Martin who was to guide us through handling the narrowboat on a river and although the weather turned bad and we had a terrific thunderstorm whilst we were chatting about things inside the rest of the day stayed dry and the river was very benign so we didn't experience much difference on that front from being on the canals but we picked up some very useful pointers and guidance for the locks which are much larger and all manned on the Thames.

After we had said goodbye to Martin we set off back to the Oxford canal but via the Dukes Cut so had a journey by ourselves on the river through a couple of locks with some "yogurt pots" (glass fibre cruisers) Its somewhat worrying edging into a small enclosure with 16 tons of metal approaching something made of plastic but we did manage to avoid sinking anything.

Wednesday saw as back at Thrupp for the night and a meal at the Boatman much superior to the Jolly Boatman for the same sort of price and the onion rings were to die for John! (see below)

We had planned to leave Thrupp early but having stopped to dispose of rubbish at the swing bridge we got talking to one of the long term moorers there and left around an hour later than we had planned. We were heading for the mooring by the open field that we had enjoyed on our way down and arrived there around 2.30 to find that the farmer had put his cows on it - no consideration for boaters - although the girls liked the presents the cows had left. We moored up, I took the girls for a walk and Sarah hung the washing out to dry which didn't take long in the heat. As she was  taking it in a while later she happened to realise that not only were there the cows on the field but also the bull that ran with them. Sarah wasn't comfortable with that so we upped sticks and moved on although we were almost immediately faced with the deep 12' lock and as it was by then late in the afternoon nothing much else was moving so we had to deal with it on our own and as Sarah couldn't close the bottom gate on her own it meant me climbing up the ladder out of the lock, helping her close it and then climbing back down. First time I'd had to do that and in the deepest lock we could find too!

We then moored just at the top of the lock and as it happened it was a very pleasant mooring with fabulous views.

Friday took us up to Banbury. We need provisions so the idea was to moor near to the town then set off early to get into the shops before they got busy and then on to Cropready hopefully before that got full.
No chance. I had to get up for a pee around 5am and suddenly wondered why I couldn't walk in a straight line - I had only had 2 cans of Guinness the previous evening. As it was getting light I looked out of the window to discover that the pound was very nearly devoid of water and we were sitting firmly on the mud. The pound we were in was about a mile and a half long so there was a fair amount of water that had disappeared overnight. We were about half a mile from the lower lock so after a cup of tea I took the dogs for a very early walk to see if someone had left the paddles up but all appeared OK when I got there. There was no way we were going to get off our mooring for some while so I then walked the dogs up towards Banbury to see if there was any evidence of the Canals and River Trust sorting the problem but after chatting to some other boaters I returned to the boat none the wiser. The water level seemed to be rising slowly but then someone who could get off their mooring would head down and go through the lock taking loads of water with them.

Around about 9am our neighbour managed to get his boat afloat and kindly offered to try and pull me off but that didn't work so Sarah hitched a ride with them with the intention of letting a few lockfulls of water down from the upper pound but whilst they were on the way to the lock the water rose another few inches and I managed to reverse off the mooring and head for Banbury.

So a couple of hours later than we had planned we arrived in the town, Sarah did her shopping and we headed for Cropready but given that we were running late we decided to moor up just short of the village as we thought it might be difficult to moor above the lock and this proved right as later in the afternoon a boat moored next to us who had gone up to the village and had to turn around as it was chock a block.

We have just sat though a mighty thunderstorm (Saturday evening) and will soon be in bed I think after the early start with the intention (dare I say it) of making an early start tomorrow.

Moored at Osney Bridge, River Thames

"Daves" mates pub - The Punters Arms

Beefburger and Onion rings at the Boatman

View from above Somerton Deep Lock

Blue skies

Into Morse country

Its been a very quite week this week. On Monday we left Lower Heyford for Thrupp with the intention of only staying a night but ended up there until Friday as Sarah was not feeling too well and the heat was such that it wasn't really conducive to moving on. So just a few walks before breakfast and after supper and lots of snoozing in the shade!

Thrupp was incredibly busy when we arrived and we were lucky to find a mooring place and even more lucky that it was in the shade. The village is all based around the canal and features 2 pubs The Jolly Boatman and the Boat, the latter of which is excellent and has also featured in an episode of Inspector Morse.

On Friday with the temperatures slightly cooler and Sarah feeling better we motored on to Oxford and moored up near the end of the canal in an area called Jericho. According to a plaque on the wall near where we were moored the area has in recent years undergone a face lift. All I can say is that I'm really, really pleased I didn't see it before. We were a bit concerned about any possible problems with the locals but Friday night passed without incident apart from a rather noisy dog in one of the houses but Saturday night's peace ended at about 2.30am with loud shouting and attendant noise which went on for an hour or so. We eventually managed to get back to sleep around 4.00am to be woken up at 5.30am by the carbon monoxide alarm going off. After a sleepy attempt to see if there was a problem I removed the batteries, made some tea and went back to bed for another hours sleep. It appears that it was indicating a low battery but not in the way illustrated in the manual!

Apart from that our visit to Oxford as tourists was interesting. Its probably 20 years or so since we were last here and the level of tourists around appears to have gone through the roof. The song that comes to mind is "There are 6 million bicycles in Beijing" Bicycles everywhere and Chinese/Japanese/east Asian tourists are so thick on the ground its difficult to walk anywhere in the city centre as Sarah found although this was a European visitor. After we had paid a visit to the Botanical Gardens we were walking back through the city centre when she came face to face with a large young 6' German who just stopped dead in front of her and refused to move making her find a way round him. All I can say is that its a good job Sarah was in a good mood (she'd got rid of most of her aggression earlier in the day when she had sworn at a passing boat that hit us and made her drop a carving knife close to her foot - They were very contrite when they returned after winding!) otherwise we might now be starting WW3. It wasn't an isolated incident and it seems that its not only British youth that needs some lessons in manners.

Today we have left the Oxford canal and are moored up on the Thames, still in Oxford though. We will be here until Tuesday when we are getting a few pointers of river cruising, not having done it before.

On a walk at Thrupp - a chinese water deer?

Dukes Cut Lock

Some of the 6 million bicycles in Oxford

At the Botanical Gardens

Ditto