The Hodma'dod: Lechlade

We set off Friday morning in quite a dense mist but it soon cleared and became another lovely day. We had no more "Tim and Pru" moments so arrived at Lechlade around lunchtime. Nicholsons (The guidebook for all narrowboaters) suggested that there was room to wind (turn round) at the very end of the navigable canal but as there appeared to be plenty of room just after Halfpenny Bridge I decided to wind there and after I had walked to the end of the canal later in the day I'm pleased that I had. The river is quite low at the moment and the amount of sand bar showing would have made it an interesting manoeuvre.

So we arrived having travelled the whole way from Oxford having not seen another moving boat. In fact the lock keeper at one lock said that the previous day he had been on duty he had no boats through at all so was delighted when we showed up as the first and probably only one on Friday.

Lechlade itself is a very pleasant town, not many shops - basically just a good butchers (Sarah informs me) and a good quality Londis. It does also have an independent wine merchant but as they had no Muscadet Sarah declared them useless - but some very fine buildings and an interesting 15th century church. One place not to be missed is an antique emporium named The Brown Bear, truly an Aladdin's cave of everything from a whole room devoted to dolls house furnishings to bicycles and prams and cups and jewellery and sewing machines and garden tools and.......

At the end of the navigable Thames is the junction with the Thames and Severn canal which is undergoing restoration but nothing is happening at this end at the moment and there is absolutely no sign of the canal apart from a few information boards. Also the end of the canal is marked by one of a few remaining Roundhouses which were a design peculiar to this canal but it was very disappointing to see what a sad state it was in and as its privately owned no chance of getting close.

We debated this morning whether to move on or stay another night and decided to stay so went for a wander around the town and a lunchtime drink at the Swan. We thought a sandwich there as well would be good and I have to say that for size, taste and value for money its difficult to imagine better. The beer was from a local micro brewery "The Old Forge" and a very pleasant pint of "Hammer and Tongs" accompanied the sandwich. A very attractive pub too, highly recommended.

So having got back to the boat a little snooze was called for after lunch but that was rudely interrupted by a bunch of local vandals who tried to untie the boat, climb on board steal a fender and throw our ladder overboard. Still, I suppose thats the price one pays for mooring up in a field with young heifers in it! There are also a huge number of swans on the field but luckily they seem to show no interest in the boats at all.

Hey, another boat has just arrived (Sat 4pm)

Its just started to rain as well and the forecast is not too good for tomorrow but we will definitely be wending our way back towards Oxford in the morning.