Oldies On Tour

Carpet tiles all fitted, but before we could leave we were back to B & Q for a refund, yes we had a number of tiles over.

Heading up the Oxford is a very pleasant experience as it weaves

So pretty

around the contours of the land. Being June, hay making was in progress but in todays mechanised world it is done in a flash; gone are all the people with pitch forks turning and drying the hay, today it is partially dried cut grass formed into cylindrical bales in the field, then sealed in polywrap.

By late afternoon we arrived at the “Folly Arms”, (Napton-on-the-hill) where we moored up and immediately,

Enjoying his pint

and went inside. This pub has fond memories for us, we met Dave and Leisha Burns for a meal a year or so ago, and as usual when we are with them, couldn’t stop laughing. As before we enjoyed a good country pub meal with some fine local ale. When we came to pay, that was an event in itself. The pub had been experiencing

Loads of stuff hanging from the ceiling, but no televisions in sight

Internet problems, so when we presented them with our card, they couldn’t get a connection. Naturally, like the Queen we didn’t have sufficient cash, so the Landlord took me outside. At first I wondered if he was going demand his pound of flesh from me but no; after walking around the pub’s grounds and onto the canal bridge, he eventually managed to process our card. I can say he wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the evening bearing in mind most people pay on a card!

The pub was only one reason for stopping here; we also had an opportunity to do our regular domestics!!! We were away by mid morning and soon joined the Grand Union Canal. We don’t find this so interesting, probably because it is straighter and it has double locks, and ‘many’ of them.

By Friday, we had managed to join another couple, Simon and

Margaret and Simon

Margaret Bebbingon, so we did several locks together until they peeled off to fill their water tank. We on the other hand carried on through Royal Leamington Spa heading to TESCO at Warwick.   En route we passed numerous narrow boats moored up for a local “festival weekend” thus making the canal very narrow. We met one narrow boat coming towards us, and with careful driving on both of our parts, passed without touching but as they passed us they warned us about the “wide beam hire boat” following. They casually mentioned that the occupants had no idea how to handle the boat. Ouch, we had nowhere to hide as it approached us, weaving from side to side; fortunately a lady on one of the moored boats suggested we lay-up next to hers and hope for the best. This we did and watched and waited, but as luck would have it they managed to miss us, but as they passed us they ended up in the bank!!!!!

We didn’t stop at Warwick this time as we had stayed there a couple of years ago, so apart from TESCO, carried on to the “Cape of Good Hope” pub where we met up with Simon and Margaret again for a drink and an early night. Tomorrow we attack the 21 “Hatton Locks” Flight.

We left our moorings at 0700hrs, arriving at the bottom lock at

Hatton Locks all 21 of them, wow!

0720hrs; we started early, before most boaters were up so that we got a head start before the flight got busy.

The Hatton flight was opened 1799 on the Warwick to Birmingham

Well done Simon

canal and was known as the “stairway to heaven” due to its difficulty. In 1929 the canal was renamed, along with a number of other canals, as the “Grand Union Canal”, a decision was also taken to widen the Hatton stretch of this

Simon negotiating the locks with both boats

canal together with all the locks to allow for industrial size boats to pass through. The widening was completed by the mid 1930’s and the new locks system was officially opened by Prince George, the Duke of Kent. These new double locks were built alongside the old narrow

Old canal next to the new
One

locks, remains of which can be seen today.

To speed our journey we lashed our two boats together and Simon drove which allowed me to help the girls with the locks. 3 people doing the locks speeds the process considerably, as one always walks ahead and prepares the lock in advance. Today was very hot and by the time we reached the top, just over 3 hours later, the Hatton Lock Café was a welcome sight, and we all enjoyed a full English; we deserved it!

We covered another few miles before we came to the junction with the Stratford-upon-Avon canal, where we turned and headed south. After the broad Grand Union with its wide locks, it felt a little strange to be

Tiny locks, but beautiful countryside

back into narrow locks, in fact we struggled to get out of the first lock; through age the walls of the lock have bulged a smidgen, just enough to cause a problem if the fenders are left out. Naturally ours were, so we got jammed in. We lifted the fenders; applied full power and we were out. This canal was built between 1793 and 1816 and is set in some very pretty countryside; certainly out of the way with minimal Internet connectivity but we were certainly pleased we had taken this route even though we had to go through 32 locks.

Aquaduck

Mooring along here was a doddle, space everywhere so when we had had enough, we just stopped. The only issue we had was the lack of  water; the level was about 10 inches below its norm and this created

Another view of the Aquaduck

many shallows where extreme care was needed. One feature of this 25.5-mile canal is that it has the longest a queduct in England, the Edstone Aqueduct and it is 475-ft long.

View as we were going over

Amazing going over roads and railways

The evening before we arrived at Stratford, Simon and Margaret caught us up so we enjoyed a couple of drinks at the pub we moored opposite.

The run down into Stratford was un-eventful but when we came through the final bridge into the Canal basin we were amazed how

Meg-A-Star in the locks

busy everywhere was, still lady luck was on our side and we got onto the only vacant finger pontoon. Our luck continued, just as our friends turned into the basin, another canal boat was leaving so they could also moor up on a finger pontoon. Apart from a little provisioning we had to buy permits before we could join the Avon, as it is not part of the CRT.

We left Kidlington behind, and meandered slowly through little villages, stopping for fuel, topping up the water, and all the normal activities we have to do, then headed towards Banbury, we made one more stop in the middle of nowhere, which was really peaceful.
Arriving at Banbury around midday, we found the same mooring as two years ago, we sorted ourselves out, and headed into town, first the washing to drop off, then pick up a few bits in Morrisons. After lunch we returned to collect the washing, after Geoff deciding to buy a tool box with some more tools, then he spotted a shopping trolley, oh no,

Geoff with his trolley!

really! Anyway he bought it, and we returned back home, only to

Not going to forget it this time!

realise that he left the tool box behind! Plonker! Having phoned Robert Dyas twice, they finally located where he left it, so we agreed to collect it in the morning.
Up bright and early as Geoff has to go back to collect his tool box, how embarrassing, just shows we are getting older and more forgetful.
Today Karon and Andy came over, so lovely to see them again, it’s been too long, we had a couple of drinks on board then walked into

Enjoying the wine

Town, we were going to a Thai restaurant but ended up going to the pub and the boys demolishing several pints of real ale. We had a lovely

Andy and Geoff enjoying their pint

lunch followed by a few more beers, before going back to boat for coffees donuts, and a lardy cake we bought this morning from the market stall, they were delicious! We walked back to the station to say goodbye, don’t leave it so long next time. A great day was had by

More wine

all.

Sunday morning we walked to launderette again, then onto Morrison’s where we stocked up again, making use of the trolley, I guess it has it uses. Later geoff walked back to laundry whilst I had a thorough clean of the boat, and cooked a roast dinner.

Monday we decided to buy some carpet tiles, so we moved the boat up to an industrial estate, where we purchased our tiles, and Geoff then spent the next two days fitting them, we want to protect the oak floor, so when we come to sell again, it looks pristine still!

It was now early Sunday afternoon and we set off to find where we could catch the City Tour, Hop-on, Hop-off bus. After consulting Google we headed straight to Oxford Castle as the stop was right outside. Fortunately, on the post was the information we needed, start time, cost etc. The weather had now improved, the sun was shining and it was warm, quite a contrast from this morning so whilst at the castle, it made sense to go and visit it.

It turned out to be a very good place to start our “Oxford Experience”

Oxford Castle

The strategic significance of this place is its defensive position as it was another natural river crossing, but here it was used particularly for Oxon, hence the area was originally called “Oxonford”, now known simply known as “Oxford”. This castle has witnessed 1,000 years of history; stretching from Anglo Saxon times, through the Norman Conquest; Empress Matilda’s base, and King Charles 1 moved his court here after being thrown out of London by the Parliamentarians. At that time it became a brutal prison for captured parliamentarian soldiers.

Hotel now, but was the prison

Following the civil war the castle continued as a prison; through the Victorian age when enforced, meaningless “hard Labour” tasks were performed, until various prison reform acts kicked in and softened their regime. The prison continued until it finally closed as HMP in 1996, and 10-years later the prison it re-opened as the Malmaison Oxford, 5* Hotel.

Obviously Oxford castle is a tourist trap but very well done and presented by “extremely knowledgeable” guides who certainly knew their history. Part of the tour was through the 11^th century crypt chapel

The crypt

(restored 1794). This was built by a rather nasty, sadistic and brutal Norman baron, “Roger d’Ivry” who, after committing many dreadful deeds had a guilt conscience following a dream and not only did he build this chapel, in 1074 he filled it with a number of priests teaching various subjects, and this became a place of learning, the first “Oxford College”; the early beginnings of the University.

Through the early middle ages, the castle had been improved and enlarged but after the Civil war, Oliver Cromwell systematically destroyed castles across the country and Oxford Castle was no

Our guide, who even inspired me!

exception however, for whatever reason they left “St. Georges tower” intact. There are 101 steps to the top; Christine went up them all. She said that not only were they very steep, but it was also very claustrophobic going up, still she enjoyed a great view of Oxford from the top. I elected to remain at the

101 steps that were very clostophobic

bottom. St. Georges Tower is a grade 1-listed building, and the original motte is a Scheduled Monument.  After our visit we enjoyed a fine afternoon tea in the castle grounds.

Back to the boat for an earlyish night as we need to get going in the morning to get our “monies worth” with the tour bus!

We duly arrived at the appointed hour but needn’t have rushed, the bus was late, still we boarded and bought 48-hour passes.   As usual, we decided to do a full circumnavigation of Oxford to get our bearings before deciding what we wanted to see. The tour took a little over an hour to go around but half way through a guide came aboard and took over the commentary and told us he was conducting a short walking

Lovely cafe, with very different food

tour as part of the deal, this we joined though it covered many sites we had done the last time we were in Oxford. Never mind we enjoyed a welcome mid morning coffee and “bun” in the Crypt of “St Mary’s The Virgin” the University Church. This was followed by a visit to “Christ Church College”.

Henry VIII founded Christ church in 1546, and it is one of the largest,

Christchurch University stunning

and the 2^nd wealthiest college of the university. It has the biggest quadrangle in Oxford and the impressive tower at the main entrance was designed Sir Christopher Wren. It is here, in the very beautiful and colourful College grounds that “Oxford Cathedral” is located and this was to be our first stop.

The first thing to strike us was its size, though it may not be as grand

Main entrance and beautiful triangle

or as big as other cathedrals, it is in fact one of the smallest in the UK, it is still pretty large and very impressive. The Cathedral was originally St. Frideswide’s Priory but was changed to a cathedral with Henry VIII’s Charter of 1546. We joined a tour guide and listened to the history, stories and legends appertaining to this cathedral across the centuries, fascinating stuff.   Whist at the college

Inside the Cathedral

we wanted to visit the “Great Hall” but unfortunately it was closed for students’ lunch, so we decided to come back later.

In the course of conversation a few days or so earlier, it came to light Christine hadn’t ever been punting on the river, and therefore this omission just had to

Part of the ceiling and stain glass windows

rectified, and I was the person to do it, and said so whilst we visited Oxford.  Many moons ago I lived in Cambridge and had been punting many times on the River Cam, unfortunately the last time was in 1982, 36-years ago; had I dropped a “big one” thinking I could still do it? Moreover, was I fit enough to do it still?   Had my ego taken over? As we approached the “boats for hire” sign, I couldn’t back out, my pride wouldn’t let me!!

Christine got in the boat first no doubt asking herself if she was doing the right thing and praying I didn’t tip her into the water and probably

My driver! He did very well

still wondering if I could “really” do this “punting” lark.   I followed, brimming with confidence, given the long pole then pushed off the jetty; we were on our own. Firstly we had to manoeuver a 90-degree turn and navigate under a stone bridge, so far so good, we were going well and we even had the confidence to take ‘photos. When we were ½-way into our 1–hour

Enjoying my time on the river

hire, we turned round to head back and that’s when my skill was put to the test. We came across numerous punts full of students who were all well oiled and hadn’t got a clue. They were straddled across the river, going in all directions, and without any cares in the world but thoroughly enjoying themselves after all their exams. Under these extreme conditions I lost my rhythm and had a few hairy moments of my own, still we prevailed, cleared the congestion and got back on track. The remarkable thing was that even with these holdups we were back on the dot, 1-hour later. By now my shoulders, neck, arms and most other parts of my body ached, pain killers for me tonight I think.   Anyway I fulfilled my obligation to Christine.

Back on the Hop-on, Hop-off bus and we returned to Christ Church to

The Halls

visit the Great Hall. This time it was open and as we already had tickets, avoided the queue waiting at the ticket booth. This magnificent Great Hall is accessed up enormous stone steps and has been in existence since the 1520. Today members can eat three meals a day but at the second dinner sitting, everyone has to be in formal dress, i.e. gowns etc. This magnificent hall, with its high table looking down on all the members eating, then “everybody” being watched by all the college deans, from their portraits that hang round the walls is quite a place.

Back onto the bus, it was time to eat so headed for Zizzi’s; though part of a chain, we find their food more than acceptable and they have “Frascati” on the menu!!!!

Monday morning and we watched a film unit setting up their equipment on the other side of the canal. Christine thought she recognised the actor but couldn’t think of his name. We were

Who is this actor? Does anyone know

speculating as to what programme they were filming but were way out, we found out later it was a German film unit making a German TV programme.

We headed back to the Hop-on, Hop-off bus, not only is it a tour bus, but we also use it as a means to get around, and our first stop was “St Mary’s The Virgin”, but only after a quick cuppa in the Crypt Vaults Café, again!!!

There has been a church on this site since Anglo-Saxon times but was adopted by the university in 1252 and it also became a place of teaching and the seat of the university government. Historically it was

Some of the beautiful buildings

also used for lectures and where the degree awards were handed out. This church was also the site of the 1555 trial of the Oxford Martyrs, i.e. Archbishop Crammer, Latimer and Ridley, they were tried for Heresy and burnt at the stake just outside the old city walls.

Next we visited the Sheldonian Theatre built by Christopher Wren between 1664-1669. This is a unique “D” shaped building used is for concert recitals, degree awards, lecturers and much more but the best parts of this theatre the ceiling and the tower. The ceiling is made up of 32 individual hand painted

View from top, amazing

panels by a fellow named “Robert Streater” and they were all done in London before being taken down to Oxford to be fitted, quite magnificent. The Green “Cupola Tower” has amazing 360-degree panoramic views of the spires of Oxford and well worth the 100 or so steps to get to the top. These steps were easier than the castle tower so we both went up; again another excellent visit.

Sheldonian theatre

The Sheldonian Theatre is a grade 1 listed building and has been described as one of architectural jewels of Oxford.

It was time to move on so did a little “top-up” shopping then jumped back onto the

Inside the theatre

HOHO bus back to Meg. We had exhausted our 2 free nights mooring and didn’t want to pay £25 for a subsequent night so cast off and headed north.

For some unknown reason the water in the canal was flowing very fast and worse, the water level was very low so we had to be careful not to go aground. Arriving at the next lock, we had thought things would have changed, but no. We passed “Dukes Cut”, the other channel into the Oxford canal from the Thames and into our third lock; fortunately we found more water then which was comforting.

We eventually moored just north of Kidlington

Old Father Thames sits
On the first lock we entered.

We decided to head back today, we were away by 9.30am but no sign of the farmer who collects the moorings, so a free night! We meandered along the river, but this time we were not fighting the current, we made far better progress, in fact instead of stopping at the Trout Inn again, we actually made Eynsham Lock. We did the normal, filled up with water, we spoke to a young trainee lock keeper, who was thoroughly enjoying his new job, and wished him well, and we spent the night here. In the morning before we left, we did the rubbish and the looe, then headed off. When we arrived at the first lock, there were two other boats so we joined

Me working the locks on the Thames.

them, and low and behold our trainee lock keeper was at this lock today, such a lovely friendly fella. We travelled on, to next Lock where we were told not to attempt to go in together, so I worked the locks for the other two boats, only to find the simple push button did not work, so I was left turning a wheel by hand, another young lad felt sorry for me and came and helped me and we finally were on our way.
We reached our entrance into Sheepwash Channel,and turned into it,

Another low bridge

it was a very narrow channel, with low bridges, I wondered if we were doing the right thing! Apparently this cut through to the Oxford Canal was only done 60 years after the Oxford Canal was opened. The channel is less than a mile, and we quickly turned and into the first lock, where we moored to explore Oxford.

Lovely view as we entered the Oxford Canal.

Being so close to the lock we didn’t dawdle this morning so off we went, through the lock and under Swinford Toll Bridge, one of the two that cross the Thames.

Swinford Bridge, where a toll is charged at 5p

This toll bridge is unique; it was privately funded by the Earl of Abingdon and opened in 1769 after numerous people drowned crossing this stretch of the river in the local ferry. The bridge is governed by its own act of Parliament and it allows the bridge owner to collect tolls. The act also makes building of bridges three miles either way from Swinford Bridge illegal; it also states that all owners are exempt from income tax liability in perpetuity. Today cars pay 0.05 pence to cross, and because there are no other crossings for at least 3 miles either way, this single lane road gets extremely busy, exacerbated by the time it takes to collect all the 0.05 pence tolls. Apparently there have been numerous attempts to have the tolls removed but to no avail and because of the extra mileage to go around, drivers have to suffer.

Oxford was the last major conurbation; from now on it is small villages and hamlets, the majority of “civilisation” we came across either

Flat boring scenery, with lots of horse flies that bite!

centered around pubs or locks. As the river wound its way upstream the countryside changed to agriculture, fields were growing nicely in preparation for haymaking; cows were grazing quietly in the fields and we noted several herds of bullocks being fattened up ready for the table!!!

The cows in a long line just watching us!

Tonight we stopped on the private mooring at the Trout Inn at Tadpole Bridge. The mooring was empty, except for a canoe right in the middle, but it was convenient and it was a nice sunny evening so we made a management decision to dine there as well; excellent fish and chip with a very good selection of real ales; it turned out to be a “Gastropub”.

We met the owners of the canoe and they were canoeing from Lechlade to Teddington, funnily enough we had been debating if people did that, strange or what!

Tadpole bridge

One nice thing heading up this part of the Thames are the bridges, not many modern concrete monstrosities built today, but mostly built in local stone and very old; Tadpole Bridge for example, built in 1784 and now a Grade II listed building.

Meandering into the “higher reaches” of the Thames, the river became narrower and extremely twisty, I don’t think I would be very happy steering a 72-footer up here. The banks were generally lined with trees and overgrown bushes and there was an abundance and variety of flying insects around; Christine was bitten in some very annoying places!!! We observed several shapes, colours and varieties of geese, many with babies. Swans were in abundance and of course ducks everywhere, again many with babies of all shapes and sizes.

One reason I particularly wanted to boat up the Thames was to visit a couple of old haunts I frequented, again during periods of my miss-spent youth. Firstly I was looking forward to returning to “The Swan”, a pub adjacent to Radcot Bridge. Incidentally Radcot Bridge is

The Swan

reputedly the oldest bridge across the Thames, built around 1200 and secondly the “Trout Inn” at Lechlade. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anywhere to moor at the Swan, so missed out on this visit.

With 3 locks to go we joined up with a couple in a similar narrow boat to ours and a couple with a vary short boat so we all fitted into the locks together, this made things easier on the “self service” lock, and we were through the locks where there was a “lock keeper in attendance” very quickly.

We arrived at Lechlade, the furthest navigable point we could get to,

View from our mooring

and having been there, turned round. Smaller craft can go as far as Cricklade, 11-miles further on and the actual source is another 12.3-miles. Just up from Lechlade is the old access to the Thames and Severn Canal, opened in 1789, closed in 1933. There has been a “Cotswold Charitable Trust” set up to raise the funds and bring this old canal back into use, alas probably not in our lifetime.

We moored alongside a big field with a large herd of extremely inquisitive heifers that fancied eating, or trying to eat, anything they could get to on or off the boat. Fortunately we had been pre-warned about this happening and moored with lose lines so they couldn’t

Looking for food!

reach us! After dinner we wandered over to the “Trout Inn” to see if my adolescence memory of a fantastic restaurant was justified, yes the old beamed bar looked very much the same and the restaurant appeared as I remembered, but the menu, oh no, there was only one Trout dish, back in the day (late 50’s) they specialized as the name suggests, “trout” and there were numerous “trout” dishes. My memories of this place are either misguided or more probably, they now cater for the masses, as the pub is owned by a large London investment Company. I wanted to re-visit this area and had promised Christine this wonderful meal, only to be let down. We had a drink and left, we did not book a table for the following day.

We had a rude, early morning awakening with a bang on the boat’s

So tame!

roof; it was the “rent collector”, he wanted his dues for parking on the public mooring, which is owned by one of the Oxford University Colleges, still £5 well spent.

We wandered around Lechlade, did some shopping, had a couple of pints and

One of the old toll booths on the bridges

decided there was nothing much to see here and agreed to leave next morning and re-trace our steps back to Oxford.

One of the old pubs!

We joined the Thames just east of Teddington lock and have travelled 207 river miles, been through 45-locks and the river has risen 71-meters (234 ft.) from the tidal part of the Thames. One thing we noted were the number of WW2 Pill Boxes lining the Thames, perhaps I will try and count them on the return journey!!!

5 June 2018

Today was interesting, I went down and spoke to the Iffley Lock-keeper, and he told me that Osney was still on Red Alert, I then met another couple of ladies, who had just arrived back from there in their narrowboat, and although they said the river was still high, people were going back and forth, so we decided to go for it, we could always come back if there was a problem.

We only had two miles to do, and the current was very strong, but we

Young lads got through, now it’s our turn

made the lock, just in time to see two lads going in, so we chatted to them, and then the Lock-keeper came along and gave us an official warning saying we leave the lock at our own risk, as they were still on red alert, which we accepted, but he then said we would be fine, but remove the hose pipe from roof, and keep to the right to avoid the weir, before attempting

Very tight! Still we made it.

Osney bridge. We said to the young lads they could go first through the bridge, and they gave us the thumbs up, when they were through, it was very tight, and I understand why they were on red alert, still we made it just! I think the gap today seemed about 6 inches, maybe even less, between the bridge and boat.

We meandered along a very twisty part of

Very different countryside

the Thames, the scenery is completely different, very open fields, not many buildings, or villages on the river. We followed the lads and joined them in two more locks, (these locks are no longer electronic,

Back to Manuel locks

they are manual, )before we arrived at Eynsham, where we had to do some emptying of facilities, as it is a very chilly day, we decided to stop here for the night.

Pretty little village

St.Leonards Church Eynsham

After lunch, we walked into Eynsham, very tiny village, with the old fashion butcher, hardware shop, and a small
Co-op, so we topped up with food, walked back, stopping for a pint on route.