How Time Flies

Golly, it's nearly a week since my last blog entry!

 

Much of the time we have been mooring in areas where there is no internet or TV coverage, which makes it difficult when trying to write the blog. We're not so worried about the TV as we have some DVDs in the cupboard and a stack that we bought just before we came away.

 

Anyway, after setting off from outside the farm shop at about 11am., we stopped in the centre of Banbury for a bite of lunch. The problem we had with Banbury is that after three weeks of quiet and solitude, towns are so full of people and are so messy. We did visit Tooley's Yard and, although they don't do Saturday tours now, we managed to get a whistle-stop spin around the works. For lunch we were hoping to find a cosy pub but it was all musak and noisy chatter - so, down one of the side streets until we found a small café which suited us fine. A little retail therapy for the Captain in EWM and then off again on the boat as fast as we could. That evening we moored just outside Cropredy.

 

Moored at Banbury

Sunday 21st
Set off quite early for us (9.30) and most of the locks were set in our favour. We returned to Fenny Compton Tunnel (see earlier blog entry) where we met another boat coming through with a fairly large fender hanging over the side. Now I didn't see the fender until after the following had happened. When trying to pass each other we got stuck! This resulted in me reversing up the tunnel until we got to a wide enough place for him to get through. If I had seen the fender we could have lifted it out of the way and got through - what a wonderful thing hindsight is! Any way, after all that excitement, we stopped at The Wharf Inn for some wonderful bangers and mash - just what the doctor ordered.

The Wharf Inn

After that we trundled on and moored near bridge 129. Slightly cooler now but yet another sunny day.

Sunset

Monday
Sunny again! We meandered along to Napton and went for a drink at The Folly just after the kitchen had closed for the day. Not to worry, we had plenty of food on the boat and we had a picnic on the bank.

Captain enjoying the sun

Another ad hoc lunch

Tuesday
For me this was 'black Tuesday'. Why? Well, soon after setting off from Napton we discovered that the Captain's windlass (the key to operate the lock) was missing. It had been left somewhere between the last lock, the sanitary station and the water point. So, while I put on the kettle, the Captain ran, yes, RAN, back to the lock to see if she could find it. No luck. Oh well, push on to Braunston where I could buy a replacement at Midland Chandlers.

Braunston

After that, in one of the locks, a moment of inattention and I managed to break the flag pole and rear seat on the lock gate. At another lock I dropped my windlass into the water but luckily I recovered it with my 'Sea Searcher Magnet'. Then, to cap it all, going through Braunston Tunnel we had to pass another boat at a kink in the tunnel and the starboard (right hand) navigation light clipped the wall and fell in the water - blast, blast, blast! Luckily they are all repairable but, after the events of the day, we just had to go to The New Inn at Buckby for a curry and a pint. A good night's sleep and all's well with the world again!

Yesterday and today we have been covering old ground and making our way down to Cosgrove. We passed Bugbrooke marina knowing that if we stopped there for the night we would probably want to come home. Instead we stopped in the middle of the wilds with, once again, no internet or TV. Played bezique instead.

When we arrived in Stoke Bruerne we had to queue for the locks because the previous night an inconsiderate boater had not closed the gates properly on the flight of seven locks, the consequence being that one pound (the stretch of water between any two locks) had drained dry. Now to fill a pound takes a lot of time and a lot of water and some folk had been waiting two hours before they were able to get through. Luckily our wait was only 10 or 15 minutes.

We are now at Cosgrove looking forward to supper of pork chops. Last night it was sausages in cider and Sunday evening roast pork. All bought from the farm shop and all highly recommended!