Napton, Coalman Ivor and The Folly

Calcutt Locks to The Folly - Napton, Grand Union Canal and Oxford Canal, 3 miles 0 locks

It's getting chilly, autumn is definately in the air. I wished we had kept the fire in last night, this morning was quite cold. The sun was shining though, and we spent a pleasant relaxing morning at Calcutt before filling up with water and moving just a few miles south on the Oxford Canal to rendevous with Chas and Ann on NB Moore 2 Life who were moored at the visitor moorings near The Folly at Napton.

As we passed Napton Narrowboats and Marina I looked ahead expecting to see The Napton Bridge Inn fully renovated, I can't even remember the last time I have seen it without some building work going on over the years. I couldn't believe it, yet again we pass and still work is in progress.

Arriving at the visitor moorings we were lucky that a boat was just leaving as we reversed backwards after turning at the winding hole. A hire boat was coming the other way though, and tried to sneak into the mooring as I was nearing myself. Good job I had some friends standing by! ......... The hireboat 'kindly' went back themselves to try to get into another space which was much smaller than their boat! No worry though, once No Problem was moored everybody on the boats around moved fender to fender which left a gap for the hire boat to slide in, so everybody was happy.

It wasn't necessary to go to the village for supplies as it was nice to see the shop beside The Folly open for business again, and I managed to get some milk and a couple of other bits from there. It was also nice to see Ivor Batchelor again, in fact the last time we saw him was very close to here, between Napton Junction and Braunston, and that must have been last April. His boats were well stocked with coal, well it is chilly for sure, and we took the oportunity of putting our first bags of coal on No Problem in readiness for the Autumn.

He is now on his way to Oxford, so those in need of coal, Ivor is on his way! The motor boat and butty look great, he keeps them well, paint gleaming as usual.

The rest of the evening was spent fishing and playing 'find the satellite' before setting off for a pint and pie at The Folly. As usual, the food was excellent, always one of our favourite spots on the system. Tomorrow it's back to Calcutt before settling somewhere between Napton Junction and Braunston for the weekend. Hope the wind drops a bit.