Plenty of Ice and Sunshine, but no rain yet!!

Feb 23rd to Today – Banbury to Kirklington, 16 miles, 10 locks

A break from the blog over the last two weeks have seen us travel from Banbury to Kirklington.  I fancied stopping at the offside moorings at the quarry last time I was travelling north on this canal a few years ago.  Can’t remember why we didn’t stop then, but for sure I remembered it looked nice.  I wasn’t to be disappointed.  It is the most amazing place, this is where we moored.. another icy morning!..

And the Quarry itself was fantastic.  Just a short walk from No Problem was the most glorious quarry I have ever seen.  There was no water in this quarry, completely dry.  Sandstone with plenty of fossils in the rocks all round the place.  Wendie, Dan and granddaughters Niamh and Kiera joined us here for the weekend, we had a great time too.

The weather has been cold of late, but the sunshine has been very spring like.  Walking has been good of course over the Oxfordshire countryside over the last couple of weeks. One particular walk gave me a super photo opportunity, with Ann of NB Moore2Life posing…

This, in fact, was looking through some railway arches near the canal at Aynho.  The train tracks are close to the canal, and there are a few series of arches which span the valleys alongside the canal. Promised this pic for Wendie.. here it is for you then!

This last couple of weeks Vic and I have given up smoking… bout time too I suppose after nearly a lifetime of inhaling the stuff, now we are smoke free.  Well we are on Week 2 Day 6 at the moment, and doing well.  We still both have our hair just about, and the urge to ‘light one up’ is waning a bit now.  Our family is over the moon, but not as over the moon as we are, so far so good. 

I been looking ‘round the blogs though… Ha Les and Sue on NB Seleus have been on their first cruise..

but a mini blizzard at times. Nothing was going to stop our first trip after being moored at the marina 10 days since taking over the boat. Most of this time had been spent loading possessions and shopping for bits and bobs like towel rail waste bin etc,

and have learned a lot already!  Do have a look at their blog, and another worth having a look at is Balmaha who is currently travelling south.  A very laid back skipper not fazed by bandits in Leicester..

“when we were ambushed by person(s) unknown who fired something big enough to scare the pants off us.
If this had been at Birstall I could have understood the lost item of clothing. But this was away from built up areas and, judging by the depth of the gouge in the cabin side and lack of a gunshot, it was most likely a cross-bow bolt.”

I remember the last time we were in Leicester, the towpaths were flooded.. Rain is needed now for sure… it’s all too dry..