Lucy saves the day near Chisnell Lift Bridge

Somerton to Chisnell Lift Bridge (193), Oxford Canal, 2.25 miles 1 lock

I talked about Lucy, my wonderful border collie, last night.  A comment from Ron followed…..

“The more I get to know about Lucy the more I think of her as a person rather than a Dog...
I guess she must have been a person in a previous life and a fairly recent one at that.”

Well today she did something remarkable.

We pulled the pins this morning, well the weather was dry and not too windy, no reason not to make a move towards Banbury, but as we approached Somerton Deep Lock the wind had suddenly got up quite a lot, and Moore2Life and No Problem had huge problems mooring before locking through.  Trying to hold narrowboats with a high wind broadside on them without being pulled into the cut is no joke. 

We needed to try get the other side of Aynho you see, because there is a very short stretch of canal that is actually part of the River Cherwell, and with all the rain over the last few days we have noticed that the River has swollen quite a lot as it runs close to the Oxford Canal in this area.  Nells Bridge is low enough on that bit of the river that we need to navigate at the best of times, but if the water is high, there is no way we will get under it..

This is the reason we are travelling in these awful conditions..

Well Chisnell Lift Bridge caused a huge problem.  I dropped Vic off to go ahead to lift the bridge, and Moore2Life went through with no problems at all, but when it was my turn, just as I got through the bridge the most almighty gust of wind almost lifted No Problem into the air, and suddenly she was flung to the offside of the canal broadside, hitting the bank and undergrowth with a huge thud.  And there I stuck!!  I was sure there was super glue on the side of No Problem and the bank!

I was on my own.. Vic on the towpath unable to help.  I tried throwing ropes, but against the gale force wind it was impossible, each time the rope fell short and I had to haul it out of the canal…

“Lucy” I thought, I wondered if she understood our predicament.  I said to her “Lucy, if you swim over to me I can give you the rope to take back to Vic”.. She looked at me.. Vic wasn’t sure about this.. “Come on Lucy, jump in, come over here, I will pull you out”.. and with that Splash!  In she went and swam over to me.  She scrambled up onto the boat with some help from me, I tied the rope on to her collar, and .. “Take it to Vic, good girl”.. No waiting, away she went with the rope back to Vic who hauled her out… a high edge it was..

Once Vic had pulled No Problem over I could get off and help.. in the end we had to grab 2 centre ropes and wrap them round some fencing posts across the towpath just to hold the boat while we tried to get moored.  Ann and Chas came back to help finally secure No Problem.. It was all quite scary really, and that is where we are moored now.. enough was enough for today.  Thank goodness the wind has calmed somewhat now, but we have four ropes securing our boat tonight.

That old saying A dog is a man’s best friend isn’t too far wrong!  Thanks Lucy xx