The Hodma'dod: International Rescue meets Wind in the Willows

What a glorious week of sunshine we have had. The shorts have been out every day, must be a new world record.

Following a great Sunday afternoon watching Andy Murray win Wimbledon the day was slightly blighted by the boat moored next to us berating me for switching the engine on for an hour at 5.30pm to heat the water - he accused me of being a “live aboard” which obviously to him was the most derogatory description he could come up with. So to appease him instead of having the engine on for an hour we left it for 2 and just before we were going to switch it off he upped sticks and moved on.

Monday saw us move on to just below Claydon lock. A really peaceful spot except for the fact that after we had been moored for about 15 minutes there was a huge bang and we realised there was a gas gun just the other side of the hedge. That decided us to move on the next morning. I took the dogs for a long walk in the early evening and it was still hot and I’d been following a footpath which according to the map linked back up with the canal not far from the boat. The only slight problem was that the last field beside the canal was full of young steers and there was no way to avoid crossing it unless I retraced my steps for the whole 3 miles. So with T & T on very short leads we proceeded across the field but of course there had to be one very inquisitive bullock and I had to use my best bullfighter technique to keep him at bay.

The following day we had a short move to Cropredy, moored about 11.00am and had a wander around this delightful village and then a couple of pints in the Red Lion (Here comes the International Rescue bit). A glorious hot afternoon and a couple of pints at lunchtime can mean only one thing - a nice zizz in the shade, or in this case on the boat. I was well in the land of nod when Lady Penelope (aka Sarah) screams out -or at least it seemed to me a scream - “Oh my god, there’s a dog in the canal” I hastened out on deck to see on the opposite side of the canal 3 Jack Russells, 2 running up and down a landing stage and one in the canal wearing a buster collar. There appeared to be no one with them so we quickly untied the boat started the engine and swung the stern over towards the opposite bank. Lady Penelope managed to get the boat hook around the dogs collar and I hauled it on board much to the disgust of our two who were watching with interest on the rear deck. I then got the boat into the landing stage and Sarah deposited the dog back on shore although by this time another of the dogs had fallen in but luckily managed to extricate itself. We never did find out where they had come from as they ran off soon after.

Wednesday saw us having a long day travelling (for us) through Banbury and then mooring up just before Aynho Wharf having come through a few locks.

Thursday and idyllic mooring at Somerton, unusually with no hedge next to the towpath so great views and a large field for the dogs to run in. The last lock before mooring was Somerton deep lock which at 12’ is about the deepest single lock on the system, which in turn means that the gates are that much larger and heavier and I had thought that I might be faced with having to climb from the boat to the lockside to help Sarah but just as the lock was about full another boat arrived so that solved the problem.

Friday took us to Lower Hayford and part 2 of International Rescue. We had moored up about 200 metres before a steel lift bridge which is apparently very heavy and were chatting to the owners of the boat next to us when a lady walking her dog arrived and asked about the bridge as she was coming up through it later in the day and her husband was disabled and she was unsure how she would cope. Both the other boat owner and myself offered to go down and deal with the bridge for her and after lunch we thought we heard her dog barking so I wandered down to help but it turned out to be a single hander who was in need of assistance so I helped him through and walked back to the boat to find that the boat moored 2 down from us was blocking the canal. The bow rope was still attached but the stern rope had come adrift and the boat was now at 45 degrees across the cut. We knocked on the boat but it was not occupied. There were no ropes on the boat that we could get hold of to pull it back so we ended up with me on the gunnel holding the grab rail of the boat and the chap in the boat next to ours pulling my other arm to get the boat back in. As his wife said its unusual to see two men holding hands quite so blatantly! The chap who lived on it arrived later that evening and was obviously a bit puzzled by the new mooring arrangement. The lady who we had planned to help in fact found another volunteer so we stood IR down for the day.

And so on to the Wind in the Willows. I was sitting out on the towpath Saturday morning and glanced up to see “Mole” gliding silently down the cut in his clinker built dingy. I grabbed the camera and he was delighted to be photographed and pulled in for a chat. He had owned a narrow boat many years ago and covered most of the system but when he got too old for that (he must have been well into his eighties if not older!) he bought this dingy, had it adapted slightly and put an electrically driven outboard on it so he can glide silently around the canals. It apparently has a wheel under the bow so that he can easily get it out of the water and into the back of his car. A real pleasure to meet and talk to.

We are now on this mooring for the third day as it is well shaded and COOL! I think we will probably move on tomorrow but with this heat - not complaining mind you, we have now had more hot days in the last week than we had the whole of last summer - its very tempting to stay put. The only downside is that we have no communication with the outside world, if that is a downside. For the first time since I bought it at the beginning of last year I can’t get a signal on my mobile broadband mifi, nothing either on my Vodafone mobile, although that’s not unusual, and very intermittent reception on Sarah’s i-phone and, as we are under trees, no TV signal - Hello is the world still out there?? Quite idyllic!! Hence the reason for the late posting of this instalment.