Oldies On Tour

Thursday 6th October 2016

Woke up to blue skies again, how lucky we have been with the weather, and how enjoyable can this journey be, I can’t believe how much fun we are having. I love it!

We left Kidlington not very early we had showers, I did some ironing, cleaned the boat, sorted the washing and off we went.

Five very tiny locks, they are so different, a lot easier to work, but the Oxford Canal is so tiny, in places we had to stop so that someone coming the other way could pass. A lot of long term moorings all along the canal , such a pretty area, and everyone is so friendly and helpful. My highlight today, was a kingfisher, who kept flying along with us, darting in the weeds, and out in the open again. Fantastic sight.

We travelled to Lower Heyford, where we stopped to fill up with water, one hour later, we had had our dinner, and still the tank was not full, another boat had been waiting for some time, so we decided to give up. We went up passed the boatyard, and found a mooring for tonight.

Later we walked to The Bell. Pub, in the tiny village, it was obvious that everyone knew everyone else, and the local gossip was to be heard, we were made very welcome though.

Friday 7th October 2016

Not quite so bright today, but still dry, we left quite early as we want to go to Banbury, and it’s quite a few miles. Seven locks today, we are taking the locks in turn today, which means I have to master the driving, which I have now done, having been forced to do it, I quite enjoy it really. The locks are very deep, and very narrow,

and very tight to get in, with a bridge just before we enter, a fascinating experience.

We helped other boats, some only having one person on board, and other people helped us through the locks. We stopped at Aynho, we had to double up, as the boatyard was busy, so we could fill up with diesel, it took 120 litres , which is very good as it is only the second time we have filled up.

Along the canal there are a lot of lifting bridges, and just to make a change they are held open in our favour, so the farmer if he wants to cross has to close them, so that was good news.

We finally arrived in Banbury and found a space, we did not arrive until 4.30pm so we set up the tv aerial, had dinner, and then a quiet night watching television, it has just started raining, how about that for timing.

Wednesday 5th October 2016

Today we couldn’t make up our mind, shall we go to Lechlade, the end of the Thames, or just go onto the Oxford Canal, decision made, we will finish of the Thames. For that we will have to buy another license to stay on the Thames. Under a very low bridge,

where we had to mind our heads, we made our way through lovely countryside.

First lock we came to, was self service, well it was supposed to be, but a lady was standing in, temporary, I asked about the Thames being shallow, and she said as long as we kept close to the buoys’ we would be OK, so we started travelling along the Thames, but we soon realised it was going to be hard work, very twisty and shallow, certainly not relaxing. If the boat was not 60ft long we would have continued, but the bends were so tight, Geoff would have found it very hard.

We came to the next lock, spoke to the lock keeper, and made the decision to change direction. We are now heading to the Oxford Canal, tiny locks, low bridges, and lovely countryside. Th canal is really tiny after the Thames and the Kennet and Avon,

probably half the width, when another boat comes towards us, we have to just stop really, especially if boats are moored as well, really really tight.

Arrived at Kidlington, and we stopped for the day, as I need some shopping. We walked along the path and found a pub, where we had a lovely lunch, then onto the shops, where I had my nails done.

Back to the boat, a lovely quiet night.

Monday 3rd 0ctober 2016

What a lovely day, blue skies, sunshine, think we are in Spain, no we are not, it’s really cold, I have my thick fleece on, plus my anorak.

Everything was going well until we reached Culham Lock, we had been overtaken by a pleasure passenger craft, about a mile back, then we realised why, he wanted to get to the lock before us. The lock took 20 minutes to fill up, we waited for one hour and

half to get through, good job we were not in a hurry.

We headed onto Abingdon, and we were only going to stop for water etc., but that same ferry boat was on the pontoon , so we decided to moor up and do everything tomorrow.

We walked into Abingdon, a quaint little 18c market town reminded me of Petersfield,

lovely little shops, a big museum, built in 1678 -1682, with interesting architecture, and the normal modern shops in a modern part of town.

After meandering around the Town we ended up in the Nags Head, situated on the bridge, overlooking the river, it was lovely sitting there watching the boats going past.

Back to the boat I attempted cooking a roast, I burnt the parsnips, but most of it was ok, Geoff enjoyed it anyway, so glad I didn’t attempt to cook for Andrew and Liz yesterday.

Television wouldn’t work last night, so we just did some reading.

Sunday 2nd October 2016

Up early, tidied boat, ready for our visitors, so looking forward to seeing them both, haven’t seen Andrew since July, seems ages.

When Andrew arrived with Liz, we made a move, whilst I was making tea and bacon sandwiches, Geoff was steering up the Thames. The weather was lovely, blue skies, plenty of sunshine, quite chilly, but can’t complain.

First lock was at Mapledurham, Andrew was disappointed that on the Thames, the locks are all done by a push of a button, he was hoping for the old fashioned way, which are

on the canals. We only had three other locks to go through , Liz bought her dog with her, which is a tiny chihuahua, long haired, she was very pretty, every time we came to locks, Andrew took her for a walk, so funny seeing a giant of a man, with such a tiny dog.

We arrived at Wallingford, and couldn’t find anywhere to moor up, I suggested phoning and asking if we can park outside the Boat House Pub, which was marked No Mooring, anyway a quick chat to the landlord and after a struggle to get in, we ended the day

with fish and chips, outside the pub. Andrew caught a taxi back to Reading, then caught the train, we had a lovely day, and it was nice to spend time with Liz. They both look very happy, long may it last.

We had a very quiet nights sleep outside the pub.

Wednesday 28th September

We woke up to clear skies, (that’s a bonus) just outside Bourne End moored at an old wharf. This mooring is owned by the Bourne End Spade Oak Trust who have bought up this small area between the railway and the Thames.   The plot of land has been cleared and cleaned up for locals to enjoy a peaceful relax by the river and also the wharf part has been renovated for moorings up to 48 hours.  The charge for an overnight stop is £5 which is obviously a contribution to the upkeep of this area of land.  What we did find strange that 100metres down river is the Bourne End Marina and their overnight charge is £25:  most other moorings along the Thames charge £8 per night.  Perhaps Bourne End Marina don’t want over nighters!!!!!

We stayed here for 2 nights as we had arranged to meet Liz (my sister in law) at Costa Coffee in the Bourne End at 11.00 and after the customary coffee and cake, we walked her to the boat for a drinky-poo or two before walking up the lane to the Spade Oak Pub for lunch.

We were a bit sceptical about going to the Spade Oak as though we had been there before and enjoyed it, Liz had heard several disturbing reports about it: I looked at a number of reports on trip advisor and on the whole the “likes” outnumbered the “dislikes” by about 60/40 so we went.  I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the excellent food and the service was first class.  I don’t think Liz will listen to other people’s comments again!!!!!

We walked Liz back to Bourne end and when back on board put our feet up: we didn’t eat anything again before retiring for an early night.  We were glad we had paid for the extra night.

Thursday 29th September

We woke up after a superb nights sleep, (must have been all the booze we had enjoyed at the Spade Oak yesterday) to a miserable morning, pouring with rain, dark and just plain ‘orable so we were very leisurely about everything, including breakfast.  We caught up with some reading when suddenly the rain stopped and the sky seemed to brighten up so we slipped away.

Our first port of call was going to be Marlow Lock where we could top up with water.  We have been very good at managing the water on board: we look ahead to where the next water point is and then en route, put the washing machine on. When we get to the tap, we start filling but at the same time take a shower or two.  The river isn’t that busy this time of year so we don’t hold anyone up.  When we leave the water point we have a full tank, we have both had showers and the washing is done;  win win all round.

Coming out of Temple lock, the last one before we arrived at our planned destination, Henley on Thames, we were told that there was an attempt to break the world distance record for a pedalo, yes one of those things you see on a local pond or off the beach, by a team raising money for charity.  We thought we were slow traveling along but the pedalo put our speed into prospective!!!

We arrived at Henley for a very late lunch, approx 1500 hrs, moored up and walked into town.  I have “interesting” memories of Henley cos when I was around 16/17 yrs old, one of my pals who had passed his driving test first, had a van and three of us used to drive to Henley from Ealing ( where I lived at the time) to a monthly Rock n roll evening at the Henley town hall.  We saw many famous names of that era rocking the night away, and one, that most notable, unfortunate politician, Screaming Lord Such,  “They were the days” as the song goes!!!!! Anyway we walked into the town, did a little food shopping, Christine bought several books she had been looking for from a market stall and then from a charity shop before heading slowly back, via a hostelry, naturally.

You may recall in a previous post I mentioned I fancied a Ploughman’s lunch some time and was told that was very “60/70s” well at the pub we stopped at they had one on the menu: lunch tomorrow I think.  To brighten up my day even more, this pub also sold “Abbot Ale” , wonderful, I haven’t enjoyed a pint of abbot since I lived in Cambridgeshire, late 70’s.

The weather this afternoon was mainly sunny though there was a chill in the wind but we still managed to sit outside at another pub right on the river, very nice.

Back on board we read for a bit as we couldn’t get TV,  we don’t seem to be awfully lucky picking up TV, I have even bought an app to find which direction to point the ariel, still we struggle so have to rely on “Filmon” though this does eat into my data allowance on my mobile.  I think it was a good job we bought several books.

Christine cooked a scrummy pasta stir fry using chopped up pork chops, lovely followed by some reading and bed, weather forecast for tomorrow not so good.