On to the Thames

We have had a very relaxing couple of days at Thrupp and took advantage of the good weather to reweatherproof the cratch cover and try to resite the nose button.

Also had a walk up to an abandoned manor house at Hampton Gay. Apparently the house was destroyed by fire in the late 1800's and local superstition says that it was in retribution to the occupants who refused to take in casualties from an infamous train crash which happened locally when a train and carriages came of the rails and plunged into the River Cherwell.

 We loved our journey down the Oxford but it made us work for the enjoyment. Of the 36 locks on this section of the canal only one was set in our favour when we arrived.

So today we got onto the Thames.

The idea had been to moor up before the first lock but to our eyes there didn't appear anywhere to moor although indicated in Nicholsons. We asked the lock keeper about mooring and it appears you just moor wherever you can, some of which might be charged by the landowner and some not. Tonight we are actually on a 24 hour mooring at the end of the lock staging. The good news is that the licence cost a lot less than I had calculated, obviously my maths at converting imperial square feet to metric is not what it should be but at least its in the right direction.

It is amazingly quiet on the river though. Coming up from Dukes Cut we saw no one and since being moored up at 1pm the only boat we have seen is a Environment Agency launch

Hampton Gay Manor House

Hampton Gay Manor House

Checking we are locking properly

First mooring on the Thames at Eynsham Lock

Two heads are better than one

We are continuing our leisurely journey down the Oxford canal and have just spent a couple of nights moored up at Lower Hayford, a favourite mooring from our last trip down the Oxford. The only problem with it is that it seems to be the only place in the country that my “3” mi-fi broadband can’t get a signal whatsoever so we have been cut off from the world.

After our couple of nights at Flecknoe we motored on to Cropready for a night and then on to Lower Hayford. The weather has been absolutely superb so much so that one evening after a long day travelling I found that I appeared to be travelling with a panda rather than Sarah as, hatless but with large sunglasses on she had spent most of the day on deck and with the breeze blowing hadn’t realised quite how strong the sun was. Unfortunately I was forbidden under pain of death to take a photograph of her to show you.

The only cloud this week was really that Sarah’s bad knee has returned after she had a day locking up the Napton flight so since then she has been on the tiller and I’ve done the locks. We managed to get her some lubrication for it in Banbury (no, not a bottle of scotch) and hopefully after the last couple of days rest she is at least walking again. In fact we went to see Roushall Gardens Saturday afternoon which is about a mile and a half from where we were moored. It is well worth the visit, privately owned, not the National Trust, and very low key, no shop, no cafe etc just acres of well tended gardens to wander in and admire. The knee seemed to survive.

Sunday we moved on a few miles to Thrupp. What a change in the weather, really cold and we were wrapped up all day. The day had not started exactly well as I decided to tighten up the stern gland and had just stuck my head down the hatch when it decided to drop on my head. The engine cover is probably 8mm steel with a sharp edge to it. The only saving grace was that I was wearing a cap so it was cushioned slightly but as they say two heads are better than one.

We plan to spend a couple of nights here enjoying the glorious weather which has returned today before dropping down on to the Thames.

Tree house overhanging the canal at Lower Hayford

Roushall Gardens

Roushall Gardens

Roushall Gardens

A folly on the walk to Steeple Aston

? another folly

Lower Haywood church across the River Cherwell

A quiet few days

Having come through Braunston and picked up supplies from the butcher and the chandlers we moved on to Flecknoe where we had arranged to meet our friends John and Louise on NB Ploddin' Along (guess what his profession is/was) for a meal at the Old Olive Bush. We were both moored up by mid-afternoon so got the tables and chairs out and had a very restful afternoon sitting on the towpath nattering and then wandered up to the pub which is about 1/2 mile from the canal.

We cant really recommend the pub highly enough. Great ambiance, great staff and superb food. The evening was, however, almost ruined by a motorist who seemed intent on running us over on the way back. We had torches and were walking facing him but he seemed to deliberately drive at us before braking to a halt, putting his indicator on and driving round us. Most odd!

John and Louise moved on in the morning but we had decided to stay for a couple of days and I've spent the time painting parts of the boat which were showing some war wounds where we lost battles with locks etc.

I'm actually quite glad we were moored up today though given the strength of the wind and we were thing of J & L who were due to be going into their new marina this morning. One way of making their presence known! How did it go John?

Ater much discussion and research we have decided (or at least I have decided) that we are not going to do the trip down the Severn between Sharpness and Bristol. The more I researched it the more it seemed that discretion was perhaps the order of the day and the likely costs were mounting with  a pilot for the main journey costing £190 and for the hop from Portishead to Bristol another £140 and then the overnight cost at £40 a night when you don't know how long the weather will delay you and the need for longer ropes, an engine service, a fuel tank clean out etc all seemed to be a bit excessive for a few hours of being scared s***less on a wide open expanse of water.

So tomorrow we continue down the Oxford towards Banbury heading for the Thames and then the Kennet and Avon.

View from the boat towards Flecknoe

The canal at Flecknoe

Bridge sign at Flecknoe

Blackthorn blossom (I think)

A colourful display on a neighbouring boats bow

On our way

We've spent the last week in the marina attending to the boat, vanishing the new top bunk (see below) and getting the cratch cover repaired and finally today we got underway.

We had a great evening out yesterday with another couple from the marina Nick and Nicki (or as Sarah prefers to call them the pair of nickers!). Nick used to have his boat next to us but then moved to the other side of the marina (he assured us it wasn't something we had done) and it was super to catch up with them over a few beers and a great meal at the Red Lion in Crick.

So today we were away from the marina at about 9am, a beautiful morning to be on the cut and after filling up with diesel coal and gas, albeit not at our marina as they had run out of gas, we had a quiet run down to the flight of locks at Watford and for once there was no queue and we were virtually straight into the locks and Sarah even had help with the gates from some young gongoozlers that were on holiday.

Having had a swift run through Watford we decided to press on for Braunston as we had a provisional arrangement to meet some friends there on Friday. We were not so lucky with the Braunston set of locks though. They were virtually all set against us and with no one to share the locks with it was a slow journey. The boats we did pass coming up the locks all said that Braunston was very busy and given that there was reportedly a line of boats in front of us going down we decided not to try to find mooring in Braunston itself but have moored up for the night just down from the Admiral Nelson pub so I suppose we will just have to pop over there later for a drink.

Oh I nearly forgot to mention the new top bunk. At the end of last years cruising we thought it would be good to try and get the dogs out from under our feet so decided to make them a bed which would sit over the hatch from where they could survey the passing world. I made it during the winter and surprisingly found that it fitted when we brought it to the boat so I've given it a few coats of varnish and after a protest that the bed we put in it was too cold and shiny we covered it with a towel and now have trouble getting them out of it!

Our first lock of the year - Top lock at Watford

T n T In their new top bunk

Off again -late as usual

Having not posted a blog of last year's journey, I've decided to try hard this year to do one and keep it up to date.

We had planned to start in early March as we hope to get down to Bath and Bristol via the Kennet and Avon canal and as it tends to get rather busy in the season we wanted to be ahead of the rush. However this year it was my turn to thwart our plans as I managed to put my back out doing the simplest of things, sticking photographs in an album! For a few days I was not really able to move around and the thought of crawling around the boat putting her back together after the winter was not a pleasant one. However after some rest and a good dose of manipulation its now operating as well as it ever does and we got to the marina last Wednesday.

We've spent a few days doing odd jobs and for once coincided being at the marina with the owners of the boat next door who we always seem to meet as we were arriving and they leaving or the other way round so we had a very pleasant evening with them getting rid of some of the ballast we had brought with us (full wine bottles).

Our cratch cover rather suffered last year and Sarah wants it repaired before we leave which is hopefully happening next week so as soon as that's done we will be on our way.

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