Meeting Old Friends
Sunday 23rd September
After posting my blog and a walk
around the Marina to get warm, I reversed into the Marina entrance, winded and
headed off in the direction of Napton, stopping briefly at Midland Swindlers to
get some solid fuel, but they had completely sold out. I should have had part
of my order off NBT yesterday, but by the time I had thought of it, they had
clothed up. I have had the occasional fire at night, so I may get by without
any extra fuel.
The afternoon was pleasant, but
still draughty and I did eventually moor up by Bridge 100, which seems to be a
favourite spot for quite a few boaters. Very few boats passed by and there were
only one or two houses visible in the distance and the sun was still shining,
which was a welcome change to what we had been having the last few days.
I put up the aerial to see what
strength wi-fi I could get and very surprised I was when I got a BT signal,
even though it was only 2/3 bars. It was surprisingly fast too at that
strength. The TV was good too for being way out in the sticks.
Monday 24TH
September
I set off for
Napton and arrived about 13.00, which gave me a choice of moorings. I strolled
up to The Folly for a quiet afternoon pint and read the menu for the evening. I
was determined to have one of their delicious meals again with those excellent
home cooked chips. Actually, they were not quite as crispy as the last time and
I think it might be in order to specify this when ordering the meal, but that
aside, it was as good overall as the last one.
I did stroll
up to read instructions for restrictions on opening and closing times of the
lock flight, due to the long standing drought that we experienced throughout
the long hot summer. The locks would open at 10 am the following morning and
the last locking though would be at 3 pm. This long period without boats was
time for the back pumps to refill the top pound. It was the same at Claydon
Locks the other end of the summit pound.
Tuesday 25th
September
No point in
rising early this morning with the late opening of the bottom lock, though I
was early enough to be fourth in the queue and stopped to water up whilst
waiting. The gates were unlocked at 09.45 and we started to move forward as the
first boat got into the lock. Eventually it was my turn and the volunteer
helped me through, but he was the only one on the flight of eight. Fortunately,
I was preceded by a hire boat with a crew of three men and to speed things up
two of them hung back and worked about three or four locks for me until another
boat came down the flight and the lock was in my favour. Following behind was
another hire boat with two ladies who kept on catching me up, so the lady with
the windlass would assist me through. In all it took three hours, but bear in
mind that there were several locks where there was a queue.
After Marston
Doles Top Lock, I had to stop and lift the weed hatch to clear the blades,
which had a collection of string, plastic and assorted rags wrapped around the
propeller. I made a sandwich so that I could continue on the move quickly and
headed for Fenny Compton and The Wharf Inn, seven miles away. Surprisingly, the
summit pound was up to normal level, which is the result of back pumping from
both ends over a long period.
Arriving at 4
pm, I was surprised that there were still three 50ft moorings available at this
very busy place. After tying up I deserved that refreshing pint in what was a
very busy pub.
Wednesday 26th
September
I made
enquiries from a residential boater about coal supplies at the nearby marina
office and delighted that it was on the affirmative. Sure enough they had
Pureglow which I had never used before, but I was getting desperate by this
time now that the nights were drawing in and it was cold at night after very
sunny days.
I was lucky
not to have met another boat in Fenny Tunnel, which was a tunnel once, but had
been opened out many years ago. I was in danger of getting the chimney smacked
by a tree branch or even dislodged and
being stainless steel it was unlikely to be retrievable by a magnet. At the
moment there are no fixings to attach it to the boat, so it was very vunerable.
Shortly before getting to the first lift bridge, I stopped and removed it as
well as the liner.
Claydon Locks
were next and here again, I did very few solo. There were either boats behind
me or coming in the opposite direction. Strangely enough, I passed by nb Slow
Pace that I had previously seen moored in Braunston and the woman I had the
argument at Giffard Park with walked up to the lock with her yapping dogs, but
she did not offer to help me through, so I think she recognised me and not a
word was spoken between us. Her husband did acknowledge me as I passed the
boat.
After Claydon
there were three more locks to Cropredy and although there was room to moor
Stronghold partway down the visitor moorings there, another boat was selfishly
sitting between two other boats with about 10 yds space fore and aft, so I had
to reverse back to the far end and this was at 4 pm, so fairly early as far as
getting a place.
I took a walk
down to The Red Lion, but the barman was in the cellar, so service was slow and
there were only another two punters in the bar, so hardly exciting. The tables
were not laid for dinner, so I presumed that either they were not serving on a
Wednesday or the kitchen was closed. Maybe it was time to try The Brasenose
Arms next time.
Thursday 27th
September
Another
beautiful day with wall to wall sunshine and hardly any wind – ideal cruising
weather for travelling on to Banbury. I had some help at the locks from an
Australian guy from Melbourne who appeared to be returning his College Cruisers
boat to Jericho.
In three
hours, I pulled in to the moorings in the shopping centre of Banbury, where I
was spoiled for choice. After a galley cleaning session, a shower and finishing
off a book, I decided to visit The Three Pigeons Inn for a change instead of
The Olde Rein Deer, which is limited to Hook Norton Ales, which I have had over
the past few days.
It was a 17thC
part thatched building couple of steps below street level, meaning that the
road had been built up over the centuries. There were several rooms, most of
them being laid up for dinner service, with the old locals inhabiting the bar
area. Very other people were about and the place was rather dark for some
reason, presumably because there were few lights on. I moved into the garden
area, which was comfortably furnished and very pleasant. Only two real ales
were on tap: Purity Gold and Doombar. The food menu was very pricy for a pub,
with fillet steak at £26.95! Not a place I would frequent very often and no
comparison to the atmosphere of The Olde Rein Deer in Parsons Street.
Friday 28th
September
I was reading
the Herbie blog and knew that Neil and Kath were now off the Thames at Oxford
after cruising up to Lechlade, so I made contact and arranged to meet up at
Aynho and go to The Great Western Arms, which is a very well appointed Hook
Norton pub. What I did not realise on Thursday morning, was that today was
actually Friday and it was only when I started writing up the blog that I
realised what day it was. There was no time to waste as it was already 11.30am.
I asked a passing boat if they could hold the lift bridge for me after their
boat went through and the I had assistance with the lock, so that went
smoothly. The lift bridge can be a real problem to solo boaters.
It was
imperative that I did some food shopping at Morrison’s, which is close to The
Tramway Moorings and that took another hour. I passed nb Lindy Lou and hooted,
but someone was having a shower at the time and probably Vic was out walking
Eric the dog, so no contact was made.
I was in front
of a hire boat with a couple of Australians on board and I got some assistance
through the Claydon flight by the man when they caught me up, so every little
thing helped me reach Aynho at 5pm and I moored just behind Herbie. Neil
invited me in for coffee and we spent an hour telling boating tales. I had to
shower and change and we walked along the towpath to the pub, where we had good
food and beer for the next two hours and as Neil remarked the following morning,
we did not mention boat toilets or batteries at all during that time.
Saturday 29th
September.
After a late
morning chat with Neil, we both let go for our respective destinations: they to
Banbury and me to Lower Heyford. After filling with water there, I got a
mooring very close and walked up to The Bell for a pint, which closed the day
after a very late start.
Sunday 30th
September.
The next port
of call was to be Thrupp which was somewhat earlier that the previous day and
there are two pubs here. When I got to the lift bridge, I pulled in on the opposite
side to the water point and although there are two pedestals to operate the
bridge, I had chosen the wrong side, because once through the bridge, I thought
I could not operate from the towpath side, so asked a waiting motorist to close
it for me, so speeding things up. This worked well and I walked back over the
bridge to retrieve the key. I found out the following day that it can be
operated from either side, once the key is in. All the same, it was still
quicker for the waiting traffic to get through when done by someone waiting to cross.
I found a convenient
mooring alongside the cottages and tied up before venturing to The Boat, which
turned out to be a pub with no beer! I went further along the towpath towards
The Jolly Boatman, but never got there, as I was waylaid by a frantic knocking
on the window of a boat that I was passing. Well I never - it was Maffi! I had
heard from Kath and Neil that he was on his way up to Banbury. At the same
time, I bumped into Kevin and Ingrid on their way back from the pub, so it all
happened at once. Maffi asked if I could cope with wine instead of beer and I willingly
succumbed to his invitation. Also I was introduced to Susan, his new girlfriend
and delightful she was too and very chatty. Dave Parry also joined us and good
boating conversation was enjoyed by all – even Susan. In two hours it was dark
and although Maffi offered me a torch to get back, there were pedestal lights
along the towpath and I got back safely.
Monday 1st
October
I decided to
stay on the moorings until Tuesday, as I wanted to meet up with Anne and Peter
Darch. He had not responded to my previous text and e-mail, so I phoned their
landline and spoke to Anne, who was most surprised to hear from me and we
arranged to meet for lunch at The Jolly Boatman. As Peter had gone off up the
towpath to find me, I had an in depth conversation with Anne about Peter’s
inability to get a grip on things and his failing memory over the last year,
since we met up then. He eventually returned and we had a good lunch and
conversation, to which Peter never really contributed..
The immaculate moorings at Thrupp.
A yarn bombed Thrupp wheel barrow.
Later in the afternoon, I walked
up to the services to have a look at the books available for exchange and charity.
Ken Haynes had just returned from the Parkhead Festival in Brum and we had a
brief chat: arranging to have a drink later. When I got back to The Jolly Boatman
again, there was Ken, Kevin and Mike, my earlier source of information in The
Rock of Gibraltar about Kevin and Ingrid’s whereabouts. The towpath telegraph
works wonders, but too many mates in Thrupp is bad for my liver!
Tuesday 2nd
October
Time to move
on again and I said my goodbyes to Maffi, who is returning to the Thames after
visiting Banbury. It was steady progress, although there was a queue of three
boats at Rowndham Lock, which delayed
things a bit. There was another delay at Kidlington Green Lock, because a CRT
work boat was in the lock, whilst the crew cleared out debris from behind the
bottom gate. Two other locks previously also had the same problem, so there
must have been complaints.
Just beyond
the lock at Wolvercote, I stopped above Bridge 236 and moored up to pay a visit
to The Plough, which completed 100 pubs on the Memento Database, started by
Colin Wilks a couple of years ago for NBT use, but abandoned more recently and
take over by yours truly. I do remember visiting the pub some many years ago
and it is still owned by the same miserable landlord. I think you would need a
mooring spike to crack a smile form him.
Close to
Oxford now, I picked up a blade full and however many times I chucked back, I
could not shake it off, so eventually I had to moor up and drag it all off
through the weed hatch.
With the
blades that much cleaner I progress to Jericho Moorings at 4pm and surprise,
there were only two other boats there, so acres of space. Time to write up this
blog, because it was well in arrears. Then, a visit to The Bookies, aka The Old
Bookbinders, one of my all time favourites. Although a Greeedy King house,
there is always a guest beer on offer and the food is French, cooked by the
landlord and his son.
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