The Buckby Flight is fun today...

Norton Junction to Brockhall (Br 21), Grand Union Canal, 3 miles, 7 locks

I dropped the canopy today, well the weather was good, the wind had dropped and the sun was shining.  It had rained for most of the night though, but this morning it was dry.  I was looking forward to going down the locks.. Vic was back on lock duty, which left me to navigate No Problem through the locks.  I enjoy doing that, I can do lots of things you see, like washing, preparing lunch, tidying boat etc.  None of that was done when Vic was on the tiller and I was doing the locks!!  It’s a womans job steering the boat, but it isn’t often you will see it that way round on the waterways.  I don’t know what the percentage is, but normally the ladies are ‘doing locks’ while the men take their narrowboats through the locks.. I wonder why sometimes.. maybe the guys think they steer a narrowboat better! .  Maybe the ladies think they can lock through better! .

Whatever… here today some extra work to be done to get this set of gates open.. water pouring over both top and bottom gates on the flight.. pure muscle power needed here…

I am often asked about Lucy.. a comment from Furbs “Why does the dog wear a cowboy scarf?”.. Well Lucy is a canal dog.. she lives on the canals, and I feel that wearing a scarf like that shows people that she belongs to a boat rather than just a dog running free.  She always runs along the towpath as we travel along, and even at locks she is independent, choosing which side of the canal she wants to be, and generally pleasing herself.  Hereshe is going from one side of the canal to the other of her own accord..

She is very sure footed, and thinks nothing of crossing lock gates with drops of 20 feet on occassions.  In the olden days Furbs, the men boaters used to wear much the same neckchief as Lucy wears, and their dogs wore them also.. so Lucy wears one.. she is a canal dog

Through this stretch of the Grand Union Canal there is the London to Midland Railway on the right, and the M1 on the left as the canal meanders, probably unnoticed, by either in the middle.  But the canal is more tranquil and beautiful.  Neither those in their fast cars nor those on the 100 mile an hour Virgin train would have noticed this delightful mile post showing that we have travelled 7 miles since I got that lovely Mothers Day pressie in Braunston..

 

Norton Junction is full of boats today..

Moored Norton Junction, Grand Union Canal

It’s quite busy here for the time of year, no hire boats though.  The 48 hour moorings are full right from the junction down to the waterpoint by Buckby Top Lock..

Its very handy here to have stuff delivered.  In the pic above you can see the towpath is actually a road that leads from the main A5. British Waterways also has a yard here and vans are up and down.. this morning the postman came flying up the towpath/lane to the cottage at the end, and soaked all the boats in muddy water after splashing through the puddles!

We took the opportunity today to have our groceries delivered from Mr Tesco..

Here delivering to No Problem and Moore2Life.  This is a super way to get our groceries, we don’t have to carry stuff to the boat or try to find supermarkets!

After packing all that away it was time to chop yet more wood for the fire.. I was just about to start.. well I am doing it at the moment as Vic still has a sore shoulder.. anyway, Annie came out onto the towpath “Hey gimme that axe, let me have a go”..

She did a grand job.. soon it was all stacked away inside.  Hopefully we won’t need much more wood, for sure it is much warmer tonight, we even have the front doors open while I write this the front cratch cover is open too. 

This afternoon Annie and I took the dogs for a walk over to Lower Buckby village, finding a nice circular walk of about 4 miles.. it’s great now the clocks have gone forward, much more light late in the day.  And while we enjoy strolling around in the countryside, it seems the rest of the world is in a hurry as we walk by..

Might move down the locks tomorrow, depends if the wind drops.. it sure has been windy again today here..

Braunston Flight is busy, but that tunnel isn't!..

Braunston Puddlebanks to Norton Junction, Oxford and Grand Union Canals, 5 miles 6 locks

An early start this morning.. well we had a lot to do today.  I couldn’t believe the weather this morning, the canal was like a mill pond, not a ripple on it.  Yesterday along the puddlebanks the waves had white horses on them.. what a difference this morning.. thank goodness for that, at last a break from the wind.

We stopped at the services at Braunston by Midland Chandlers, we had not ‘done’ services since Banbury, quite a while ago that was.. and all our cassettes for the loo were done today.. hey not often that happens, and we sure did have a lot of rubbish onboard!.. Here is a pic you won’t see in all the glossy brochures for a narrowboat holiday!!..

Reversing back under the bridges you can see behind No Problem we then turned to go in the opposite direction to meet up with Ivor Batchelor for some coal and diesel.  10 bags of small anthracite cost me £58, and my diesel today cost 49p a litre.. “It’s going up in two weeks Sue, 2p was sneaked in for it in the budget”.. cheerful is Ivor!  So OK we didn’t really need diesel, but a top up today to beat the budget!

It was so busy up the locks today.. And difficult too.  The towpath is closed in a lot of places so putting a stop to lock wheeling.. ie walking up the flight. But of course at some stage or other we had to reach the top.  I really wasn’t in the mood for the tunnel today.. I had had a headache since early this morning.. spose it was the thought of it.. It was pouring with rain as we left the top lock for the short distance to the tunnel.. “It’s OK for some” said a boater coming in the opposite direction out of the tunnel “I bet you can’t wait to get into the tunnel and into the dry”..   Errr I didn’t say anything.. and just gave him a smile..

Just one boat in the tunnel today to have to pass.. and no it wasn’t a wide beam.. my most dreaded thought as I enter these tunnels.  They are suppose to tell British Waterways if they need to use tunnels to stop people like me from entering the other end.. but…

It was sunny out the other side… and here comes Chas and Ann of Moore2Life exiting the tunnel after me..

We have moored tonight at Norton Junction.. I like it here.  Probably will stay for a few days.

Well worth the wait at Braunston..

Moored Puddlebanks, Braunston, Oxford Canal

Took the opportunity to nip into Daventry this morning to pick up a couple of bits and bobs.  On the bus back, phoned Wendie to ask her to check with Braunston Post Office that they didn’t have my mothers day pressie.. “If you don’t hear back from me Mum, it isn’t there” said she.  Well it makes a difference, you see, on whether I get off the bus at Braunston Marina or stay on it to take me up the hill to Braunston village itself.. no phone call, so exited the bus at the Marina..

Five minutes later an ecstatic Wendie “It’s there! It’s there!”.. I had mixed feelings about that!

I had a rucksack full of fresh meat from the butchers in Daventry.. it was heavy.  It’s quite a drag up the hill to the post office!! All the staff in the shop that has the Post Office in it knew about it.. “It’s here! It’s here!”…

Ah but, a lovely basket of fruit, a beautiful box of chocs and a lovely note that any mother would be over the moon about, thankyou Wendie …

To Mum
Happy Mothers Day!!
Thanks for being there, and
for being my Mum
Love as always
Wendie

So tomorrow we can move on.  It has been very windy again today and pretty wet too.  It’s that tunnel tomorrow..

My Mothers Day pressie is missing in Braunston!

Today – Nethercote to Puddlebanks, Braunston, 2.5 miles 0 locks
Weekend – moored Nr Nethercote, Oxford Canal

A brilliant weekend.. lots and lots of walking.. the brasses are still not done, but hey we are not quite in Braunston YET, mooring tonight on the puddlebanks.  It’s been a bit of a sort of ‘wait around’ time.  Daughter Wendie has sent a surprise pressie for me for Mothers Day to Braunston.. but it has failed to arrive.  I don’t know what it is, but I do know it weighs the same as a brick.

I know that because on Saturday while out in the countryside somewhere she phoned me.. “Been to the post office yet?”.. “Nope.. tis nice here Wendie, we will go to Braunston on Monday”… “Awwwww you won’t get my pressie from Braunston Post Office then…. *sob*” 

“OK OK… I can detour and walk an extra 3 miles to collect it, but how heavy is it, cos I have to carry it back to the boat?”..

So as the conversation went on I knew it was as heavy as a brick.. I went to Braunston.. there was no pressie there for me

I walked there again today, the 2 and half miles… no pressie yet..

OK so move No Problem to near Braunston, saves all the walking you see..

Popped in this evening, ah a new face in the post office… “Hello, I am waiting for a Mothers Day pressie and am here to see if it has arrived”… “Oh you must be Wendie’s Mum”… I was gobsmacked… she knew who I was! “Nope it isn’t here yet, I will know when it arrives, I know what it is!”.. umph.. I don’t!!

We should be at Norton Junction tonight… Its raining, its blowing a gale and being here on the puddlebanks at Braunston is not really the ideal place in these conditions, its on an embankment… but at least here we can get sky tv and an internet connection, but here we stay until I get this pressie…

Flecknoe and Shuckburgh Park are a delight

Lower Shuckburgh to Nr Nethercote, Oxford Canal, 1.75 miles 0 locks

I was really looking forward to wakening to the sun this morning, and sure enough there it was.. There was also ice on the canal, a very cold night last night it was.  We had stoked the fire up well though, and this morning got up to a warm boat.

It was one of those mornings after days of overcast cold weather when the sun cheered.. one of those days when I look at the brasses and threaten to do them.. well it was only a threat, I looked across the fields and decided that today I would definitely take to the footpaths for a few hours.

I had always wanted to go see Flecknoe.. so many times I had been by this bit of canal but never stopped.. It has a pub does Flecknoe, obviously very much a local, it didn’t seem to be attractive enough to attract outsiders, although there are a couple of signs on the canal welcoming boaters to walk the threequarter mile up the hill for refreshment…

There are some very big houses in this sleepy village and of course there is the Manor House.. even bigger than the rest.  The lanes around the village are very narrow, and I walked round the whole lot.  Not one car did I see on the road, and the only people I met were workmen building another large house… from here I took a footpath across country to Shuckburgh Park.  It said on my map ‘deer park’ I had hoped…. and wasn’t disappointed!..

A wonderful sight, and even better later when the footpath that led back to the canal passed straight through the ‘deer park’ with a fabulous view of the manor house of the estate of Shuckburgh..

A wonderful day today, when all that is beautiful in England showed itself… and the sun made it all just that much better still..

New Screws and off into the sunshine!

Calcutt Locks to Lower Shuckburgh, Grand Union and Oxford Canal, 2 miles 0 locks

Hooray, Roger of Calcutt Boats found time for his fitter to come over and fit a couple of special screws into the fuel pump bit.  We had a dreadful fuel leak in that area while at the bottom of the Ashby Canal, and the guy who came out to fix it put the fuel pump back together with the wrong type screws.. please don’t ask what sort of screws they are, all I know is that they needed to be a special type of screw that can only be screwed in with a special tool.. OK enough of that!

Some of morning was spent wandering around Calcutt Boats marina and boat yard.  It was from here in 1976 that I hired my first narrowboat for a memorable holiday on the cut.  “You haven’t changed much Roger” says I.. he was flattered.. He has done well in all those years, his desk is piled high with papers, and whenever I passed the window of the office these last couple of days, his head was down trying to ‘out’ all that was ‘in’ the in tray! 

We winded (turned) No Problem at the top of the locks and made our way back to the Oxford Canal, turning left at the junction.. The guy with the bikes still has his narrowboat in this area, but hey look at this… now his wares are spilled out onto the towpath..

But the best of today was the late afternoon.. sun, sun, sun… yes sun!  You know, that yellow thing in the sky.. it was really nice to see it.. and the blues of the sky and the cut suddenly showed that perhaps spring is at last on the way..

Here our mooring this evening, and Vic and I went for a lovely walk over the fields.. one particular field had sheep in that were actually lambing as we passed through.. incredible sight that was..

Tomorrow I want to walk over to Shuckburgh Park, and also have a look at Flecknoe.. it should be a springlike day I hope

My Licence fee is not for craning!

Update

A comment on the last blog informs me that it is the Highways Agency who are funding the cranage for the Welsh boats…

I think you're being too quick to judge. The stoppage is listed as "3rd party works", and (from what I saw last time I was over there) it's as part of the dualling of the A465 Heads of the Valleys road.

So it's Highways Agency work, not British Waterways. Consequently, if the contract over-runs, it's the Highways Agency's responsibility to get the boats past the blockage. I bet you'll find that they're paying for the craneage... not BW.

Richard Fairhurst

Errr now where is the correct smilie for this ….. ah found it ——->

Waiting for a couple of bits at Calcutt.. and BW give free cranage!

Moored Calcutt Locks,  Grand Union Canal

I didn’t change the “Where we are now” page to reflect the fact that we are now on the Grand Union Canal. well I had hoped to moored here no more than a day before returning to the Oxford Canal, and onward to Braunston and beyond… I have, however changed the template of this blog to the way it was before I put the external linking in.  The only trouble is that it takes so long to re-publish this blog if I want to change anything or add anything to the left hand side.  The last republish I did took some 40 minutes plus!  I would like to change to another type of blogging software.. maybe one day

It never fails to amaze me how my Licence Fee is spent by British Waterways.  This is absolutely dreadful in my opinion.  It’s a stoppage over on the Mon and Brec in Wales, the canal that is out on a limb and not connected to the main system.  The canal that I absolutely adore having spent 4 years in a row on holiday there on NB Country Girl from Sue and Phil’s beautiful boatyard at Llangynidr, Country Craft Narrowboats.. but how British Waterways can spend my Licence money on craning boats out of the water, transporting them along the canal and then craning them back in again is beyond me.

Many of the stoppages run over their allocated time just about anywhere on the system, but never have I heard of a ‘free craning’ before…

Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
Heol yr Allt Bridge 101 to Gilwern Bridge 103

Due to the previously announced over run of the above engineering
works, British Waterways is putting in place an alternative means for
boaters to continue their passage of the Mon & Brec canal.

These arrangements comprise of the siting of two high capacity mobile
cranes, one at Bridge 76 near Goytre and the second at Gilwern Wharf.  At
no cost to the boaters, their craft can be lifted out of the canal,
transported to the other wharf and put back in the canal allowing them to 
continue their journey

The engineering works are due to be completed by Friday 7 April and the
canal will re-open on Saturday 8 April 2006 at 7am. British Waterways
would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

There are three dates available between now and 7th April to leap frog the stoppage, boaters are advised to book!

They sure are lucky people over in Wales!!

Roger of Calcutt Boats was back from his ski-ing holiday today.. he says he might be able to put the two special locking screws on to the engine tomorrow.  I don’t know much about these screws.. but I do know that we have to wait here till they are in place! I have had a problem putting a title to this blog tonight..  “Waiting for a screw at Calcutt” didn’t sound quite right somehow

I did brave the weather today and had a really lovely walk from the locks here.  The countryside is very flat, so great for walking, but it’s still very cold.. brrrrr..

 

Lots of Visitors at Napton..

Today – Napton to Calcutt Locks, Oxford Canal and Grand Union Canal
Weekend – Moored Napton, Oxford Canal

There was never any doubt in our minds that we would be staying at Napton over the weekend, it is just too cold to be travelling along the cut.  On Saturday afternoon our friend Ron arrived as planned.. along with his two daughters who I have not seen for a couple of years.. in fact it was on the Kennet and Avon that Ron last brought them onboard… We were also delighted to welcome onboard Paul Balmer, and his wife and daughter.  Paul always surprises me, just turning up on the spur of the moment.. “Tesco delivery!” says he, swinging a couple of tesco bags.. and in between our known visitors, an impromptu visit from Helen and David, on their way through Napton on a two week holiday.. They had checked the “Where we are now” and realised that they might ‘bump’ into us.  It was nice to chat for a while with them before they continued on their way.

This time LAST year I took this pic while in my shirt sleeves getting a tan! …..

But this awful weather is continuing this year.. we pulled the pins on Napton this morning and cruised the short distance to Calcutt Locks just off the Oxford Canal.  Roger of Calcutt Boats needs to replace a couple of screws on the fuel filter for the correct safety ones, he didn’t have any when we visited last time.. We might be here for a while though, seems they have a ‘big job’ on at the moment, and can’t spare anybody.. Rogers day off today.. maybe I can get round him tomorrow to fit us in before the weekend. 

Oh So cold on the Napton Flight!

Knotts Bridge (130) to Napton, Oxford Canal, 6.5 miles 8 locks

The canopy had to come down this morning.. Vic is not used to skippering the boat let along with the canopy up, so we were open to the elements today.  I was on locking duty, and Vic was having an awful job getting No Problem into the locks with a high side wind to have to contend with.  I did feel awful sorry for him, and was glad that we had no onlookers today… not that there was much to look at, just there were plenty of choice words from Vic!!

That’s the way it goes sometimes, we could have stayed put, but the weathermen are not promising any different weather for the next week, so we may as well just wrap up warm and practice all the swear words!

You know even freezing cold days like today have their high spots… not the best of pics, but this is one I enjoyed today..

I think this is a buzzard.. whatever it was a very big bird indeed, and we enjoyed watching it circle above before settling in a tree some 50 yards away.  I was lucky to get a shot of this, throwing the tiller to Vic and grabbing the camera.. pity it was facing away from me.. no worry, made my day that!

We will stay here tomorrow though.. I am looking forward to a couple of friends popping in tomorrow afternoon, plus I will change the template on the blog here back to the way it was.  I changed it to an external linking system that automatically notes when any of the blog links has been updated, but it needs Active X switched on, and, fair enough it can be a security issue, and some people don’t have that switched on.  I note that Mark had to switch his on to see it, and Gillian is not seeing the links at all.  I don’t want people to switch that on just for this blog.  Hopefully will do that tomorrow.

I see the Inland Waterways Association are holding their 2007 Festival at St Ives on the Great River Ouse over in East Anglia.  I am very taken aback indeed!!.. I don’t know where they are going to put all the boats.. there is going to be a terrible tupperware conflict.. I can’t believe that it will work there.. half of the narrowboats built today will not go under the bridges on the middle levels for a start.. No Problem only just fits those bridges and she is a ‘low’ boat.. That has put paid to any plans of spending the summer of 2007 in East Anglia for us.

Superfast from Cropredy to the top of Claydon Locks..

Cropredy to Knotts Bridge (130), Oxford Canal, 8.75 miles, 8 locks

Poor Vic, he damaged a muscle in his shoulder the other day, so we decided that he should rest it as much as possible over the next week. So today I was out on the towpath locking up through to the top of Claydon Flight while Vic took the skippers hat.  Ann and Chas and Moore2Life were already ahead of us and moored above the flight, and this morning Annie walked back to give me a hand.  With Annie’s help No Problem took just one hour and 35 minutes from Cropredy to the top of the flight.  That is quite quick, especialy for NP!   There were 8 locks and 2.5 miles.. a total of 10.5 lock miles..

Stopping a while there for a cuppa and some late breakfast, I decided that I better do some logs for this evening..

See I can even put my hand to swinging the axe!.. then it was onward to Fenny Compton.  Vic skippered No Problem for most of the day today.. he is a rusty skipper and needs more time on the tiler, so I left him to it through Fenny Compton ‘Tunnel’ and took to the towpath with Lucy and the camera to capture a couple of decent pics..

A lovely area this, the ‘tunnel’ as they call it, has no roof any more! There used to be a real tunnel through this stretch…

Now it is all opened up, narrow though it is.. Just after this we stopped at Fenny Compton Marina to get a new bottle of gas, the lady there had an injured foot and .. “I do not have a man here”… haha.. I knew what that meant.. “Do it yourself Sue!” .  Poor Vic.. he so wanted to help out, but I just want his shoulder better, so I told him in my own words to “Shuddup” and got on with changing the empty for a full gas bottle!!

On our way again shortly afterwards…I was pleased that I put the back canopy up as the wind was getting colder.. it sure does keep us warmer.  Had enough by the time we got to bridge 130, we had hoped to get to Marsdon Doles tonight, but…. brrrrrrrrr .  Anyway gave me a chance of a late walk tonight with Lucy before dark…

The Folly tomorrow night then I hope.. hope they have their open fire on the go

Bye Banbury, we will be back soon..

Banbury to Cropredy, Oxford Canal, 4 miles 4 locks

We were moored on the offside ‘unofficial moorings’ by Tescos, and I found out on the internet that a bus ran from Tesco to the town every hour. It’s about a half hour walk into the centre of town from there, so we decided to catch the bus into town after a lazy morning and go get a couple of bits from Matalan.  The bus driver was great, he actually stopped and dropped us off right outside, although there was no bus stop there..  Handy stuff!!

We treated ourselves to lunch out.. well there are so many nice cafes in Banbury.  Then it was off to the Docs for Vic… Yep the doc was pleased at Vic’s efforts to stop smoking.. three weeks today it is, but he will need a bit of specialist treatment at Oxford sometime.  We guessed that, but Vic is fine, he is feeling good, and all we have to do is wait for an appointment at Oxford Hospital.  The doctor in Banbury was excellent.. he was happy to refer Vic to any hospital in the country as he knew that we lived on a narrowboat.. well we decided Oxford, we can get to it OK from most parts, and it is sort of in the centre of the south of England!

Not wanting to wait for the bus back to No Problem we walked the threequarter mile along the busy road.  So much pollution.. travelling by canal is much healthier!  So we pulled the pins on Banbury just as soon as we got back not much before 4pm.  I was sorry to leave in a way, I have always liked Banbury, I wondered how long it would be ‘till we returned again.

It wasn’t long ‘till we were away from the numerous roads that circle Banbury and out into the country.  Here a farmer is out in the fields this evening lambing.. just got a shot of this black lamb, newly born that very moment.. ah but I am not sure if I can say black lamb.. I think I have to say rainbow lamb in Oxfordshire!

Cropredy we were heading for.. 8 lock miles and just a couple of hours to do that in… it wasn’t a problem although it was very slow going the last mile into Cropredy with a long, long line of narrowboats moored before the lock.. must have been a mile of them…

Hey look, second boat there is Jannock!.. Nobody ‘in’ today though.

The pins were put in at 6pm, hey not bad going… then Lucy was most insistent on a 45 minute walk across the fields… so dinner was a bit late tonight! 

Stocking up on all those bits and bobs in Banbury

Moored Banbury, Oxford Canal

It’s all the odd bits and bobs that I can’t get in little village shops along the waterways… elastic bands, staples, brown tape, you know that sort of thing.  I use elastic bands a lot.. fairly big ones.  Elastic bands are used especially for putting round opened packets of stuff, such as flour or sugar.  It's not like living in a house.. this house might get knocked at a lock or something similar, and  what flies out of the cupboards onto the floor is dependent on how hard I thump No Problem!  Oh I have only had Vic’s beers out of the cupboard and on the floor once in 3 years, so not so bad really!!

Brown Tape has two main purposes on our narrowboat.  The first one is that it is used to tape up the large plastic bags that we keep all the ‘visitor’ bedding in that lives in the lockers underneath our bed.  It keeps it all compact and dry in the bags.  I was looking at those bags that you can suck the air out of, they look good for that sort of stuff.. but what we do seems to work for now, and there is plenty of storage..

The other purpose for the brown tape is for sealing up all the fresh meat for the freezer.. it is an art you know, putting 13 or 14 meals for two people into one of those little freezer compartments in these small fridges.  The meat comes with tons of packaging on.. I normally try to buy enough to be able to split into two meals.. cutting roast joints in half.. well then that gets put into a sandwich bag, all the air out, and sealed with … yes brown tape.  Then the magic marker comes out and the brown tape is labeled.. it all looks the same in the freezer!… Anyway, it all only just fits in when I do a main buy… so whatever comes out in the morning is what we have for tea!

Ann and Chas on NB Moore2Life went on north this morning.  Chas’s mum has arrived for a week, and they are all making their way to Braunston for next weekend.. final wave from Ann as she goes out of sight..

We are still in Banbury, Vic is seeing the Doc here tomorrow afternoon for a bit of a MOT before we ourselves move on north…. Lucy is complaining.. she is definitely not keen on pavement walking!

The delights of Bodicote and we return to Banbury

Today – Nadkey Bridge 173 to Banbury, Oxford Canal, 2.5 miles 1 lock
Sat & Sun – Chisnell Swing Bridge to Nadkey Bridge, Oxford Canal, 7 miles 3 locks

The wind was calm on Saturday morning.. so taking advantage of that we pulled the pins (loads of them!!) on our emergency mooring of Friday afternoon.  We left the canopy up all the way on Saturday, confident that it would pass under the lift bridges… and it went under very easily.  We were so pleased that our decision to have it one foot lower than first planned had gone ahead.  It has been absolutely fantastic.. keeping us dry and warm as we cruise along this winter.  Here Moore2Life going under Nell’s Bridge into the lock.  This is the bridge we were worried about.. the canal here has the river Cherwell also running with it, and at the moment it is high.. but as you see plenty of room still..

Saturday night we settled at the lovely Nadkey Bridge just outside Banbury, and Ann and I decided to go have a look at Bodicote, about half a mile away across the fields to the West.  The Nicholson Guide to the Oxford Canal does not mention this place, and when you look at on a map it seems part of the sprawl of Banbury, so we were well surprised to find a most delightful village.  Three pubs and stone church and a wonderful village atmosphere.. “Oh no, you won’t get milk this afternoon, the village shop closes at lunchtime on a Saturday”.. Ah well, never mind. ..

Sunday was TV day!

Pleased that Alonso won the F1 but devastated about the rugby!!  If you don’t know what I am talking about, don’t worry!..

This morning, how about this for service from Mr Tesco… waiting for us to arrive… here on the towpath all the boxes with the goodies.. just need to moor now! ..

Packed that lot away, went to Morrisons, across the bridge you see in the pic, to pick up enough fresh meat for a couple of weeks, then it was off to the centre of Banbury to ‘do’ the services..

Here all in a lovely round building.. this building shares half of itself with the canal users needs and the the other half for the needs of the busy bus station, with loos on the other side and baby changing facilities etc.. very nice.. on the other side of the canal is ..

The Arts Theatre.  A great place this, it hosts all sorts of stuff.. Julie Felix was on here one time we were passing through, OK, so, not exactly a modern artist, but one of real folk type traditional songs, I bet some were of canal folk.. but this Arts Centre has tremendous facilities for young people, with a large youth acting theatre very active.  Lovely place. You can get coffee in there too, and a bite to eat.. but I noticed it was very smokey… which is very interesting, I didn’t mind that, but I hadn’t noticed it was the last time I was there.  Well it is three weeks now since Vic and I stopped smoking.. and yes we are feeling the benefits of that… much fitter already!

I had to be really careful through Banbury Lock, well there were a lot of Gongoozlers today.. all Japanese.  They all had cameras focused on just about every part of the boat.. wish I had totally cleared up inside this morning!!.. I was wondering if I has shut the loo door… the cameras were in every window, and when not in the windows were recording my every move.. “Gently does it” were my thoughts..

On through Banbury then, and guess what I passed? ………………..

Missed by one day again, Andrew Denny is never ‘in’ these days!!.. Although I note on his blog tonight…..

“James Marshall has set up Wireless Waterways as a sort of database or clearing house for waterways wireless internet hot spots:
He says it's brand new and empty, but would appreciate it if people can start to populate it.   Someone's already added one at Berkhamsted.”

Ah now, I know who added the one for Berkhamsted, it was me!!  Thought I would be the first to give it a go.. I was going to talk about this tonight, but Andrew has let me off the hook.. another place to look for Wifi Hotspots is on Multimap.com. Thats a handy one.  Put in the search box the place you are travelling through, then on the right you have a drop down choice of ‘attractions’  I think hotels is the default, but if you click on the down arrow and go to the very bottom there is ‘wifi hotspots’.  Having said that, I am very happy with my 3g speed tonight from Orange.. tis very fast, me thinks even fast enough for the likes of Andrew!

Good Grief!!!

Waterways News Snippets

Thugs tape ducks bill

Who are these people who can do something like this to our wildlife?

“Cruel thugs have taped a duck's bill together with blue waterproof insulating tape - leaving it to starve to death slowly as rescuers look on helplessly.”

I do hope they can get hold of this poor duck before it’s too late.  I have heard reports too of kids using airguns on swans lately.  I must say these must be very sad people.

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

It's a bit wet at Heyford and the trains are loud too!!

Lower Heyford to Somerton, Oxford Canal, 3.5 miles 2 locks

We only stopped at Lower Heyford yesterday because we had taken most of the afternoon to cut and load wood onto the roof of No Problem.. we needed water badly, the tap being opposite the boatyard of Oxfordshire Narrowboats, a large hire fleet they have.  It was too late to put water on and continue north, nowhere to moor you see for quite some stretch, so we settled for a very noisy evening and lots of trains to listen too!

So I was pleased that the morning was dry, and we pulled the pins and duly picked up water and dumped rubbish before setting off to Somerton.  But no sooner had we set off than the heavens opened, and once again I was teased by Vic “It’s all your fault” says he to me “Don’t ever mention that we need rain ever again!”  OK I won’t!

I had the back canopy down… its the lift bridges, I am scared that the canopy might get caught under them, but it was raining far too much for my liking, and in mid canal I sent out the orders to the First Mate to “up canopy!”… Errrrrr well up it went, but I have to take the tiller off to do it, and we weren’t quite quick enough getting the thing up and getting the tiller on, and we took a bit of a bow view of someone's back garden… I don’t think they were looking, well it was raining, I doubt they would be worrying about a narrowboat entering their back garden somehow!  Wasn’t long ‘till I had extracted No Problem’s bow from their rockery, leaving both in one piece..

At least we were in the dry now.. Of course we wouldn’t normally be moving in the rain, but our winter companions Chas and Ann of NB Moore2Life need to be in Banbury at the weekend.. so its onward a bit each day.  It cheered up a bit later though, and back down the canopy came.. here both crews helping No Problem and Moore2Life lock through Heyford Common Lock..

I was wondering today just how many miles Lucy has done along the towpaths.. I must have a look at the logs to see.  She loves trotting along beside the boat..

Even on a day like today, it doesn’t matter whether it is wet or dry she wants to be out there. It was funny today, there are some gates along the towpath which were closed, presumably the farmers graze their cattle in the fields which include the towpath, anyway Lucy just could not find a way past one of them.  If she was tiny would have been no problem getting through, but nope she couldn't find a bit big enough… I suggested to her to get into the water and swim round it as we passed her.. but nope she decided that if she ‘barged’ into one of the gaps in the gate, her body might just squeeze through… well I nearly drove into the far side of the canal laughing.. Yes she had barged through, but such was the force, the gate swung open leaving her stuck for a moment in the tiny gap she tried to squeeze through!!  She sorted herself and pulled free to dive through the now open gate before it swung shut again!..  Great little dog, I am so lucky!

Here Moore2Life arriving at Somerton ahead of us.. nice mooring here, there are some nice walks around too.. umm maybe tomorrow there will be time to explore

We wander back up the Oxford Canal towards Braunston

Nr Kirklington to Lower Heyford, Oxford Canal, 3 miles 2 locks

It rained all morning, and I really thought we would not be on the move today, but by late lunch time the pattering stopped on the roof and the sun poked it’s head out from behind the clouds, so we pulled the pins on this delightful spot overlooking the cherwell in the most peaceful surroundings imaginable.

A couple of locks to do today.. the second one gave us a bit of grief.. the bottom gates wouldn't shut completely, so we opened the top paddles and sure enough it pushed the gate shut.  Something was jammed in there though, it was leaking quite badly as the lock was filling.  It is always in this situation you wonder if you should empty the lock and free whatever is stuck in the gate or continue filling it up hoping that more water is coming in from the top than is leaking from the bottom if you see what I mean.  Well only just, and No Problem was out.  Moore2Life was behind us, so we emptied the lock again hoping that whatever was stuck around the bottom gate would be flushed away.  Yep, Chas and Ann’s narrowboat entered the lock and we had no trouble this time shutting the bottom gate.  Here exiting the lock….

Ann and I duly dropped off the Canal Traveller bug in the cache close by to one of the locks.. I explained about this in yesterdays blog if you don’t know what I am talking about, and then it was onward to a mooring close to tons of wood that had been felled near the railway.. it’s good for us that trains are late when there are leaves on the track!  ‘Tis a shame though to see so many good trees felled and just dumped on the ground

So the roof is full again of quality logs.  Should keep us nice and warm all the way back to Braunston and further if those locks are open when we get there.  March 17th they are suppose to be open I think, but some say it will be later.  We will phone ahead to friends in Braunston Marina for an update.

I saw this morning that British Waterways are wanting 50 new marinas to provide 11,000 moorings an interesting read that from the Financial Times.  It’s scary really to think that all these moorings are needed..

Wonderfully remote in the rain...

Moored Near Kirklington, Oxford Canal

So I mentioned yesterday that we needed rain.. OK, OK, so today we got it!  It’s given me a chance to catch up with writing up some of the scores of walks that I have been on.  I hope to publish them all some day, but then I really do need to stop walking and start writing!!

I am very pleased to see that Per Angusta now has a blog as well as the excellent website which, in particular, has the most excellent ‘boat build’ with some very good information as to how to go about checking out each stage with a surveyor right here.

I want to also mention Paul’s Waterway Routes website.  Paul is a frequent visitor to No Problem, and I am delighted to see this website come to life.  I have been watching ‘the build’ of this for quite a few weeks now, and it is looking good so far!

Tomorrow I think we are on the move.. we have a very special item onboard No Problem at the moment….

This is The Canal Traveller Travel Bug in front of a map of Banbury!  No is OK, I haven’t gone mad.. this is something Ann and I found in a geocache in Cropredy a couple of weeks ago.  It has a Inland Waterways Plaque from 2004 at Burton on Trent and one of Preston Brook from 2005.  Geocaching.. I described that back in January…

“To fully understand you do need to study the geocachers site, but a quick description of a geocacher is one who trapses over the countryside with given clues to a secret hiding place of a box or other receptacle containing goodies which can be swapped for goodies of your own.. there is also a log book and pencil to enter your visit.  Sometimes there are ‘travel bugs’ which, as the name suggests, like to travel to other places, they sometimes have a mission too like wanting to visit a certain county”

Well this particular ‘travel bug’ has a mission.. To get from the last Inland Waterways Festival at Preston Brook to the Inland Waterways Festival at Beale Park this August.

So tomorrow we will put ‘The Canal Traveller’ bug into a box or ‘cache’ to describe it correctly.  There is a web page where it’s progress can be monitored here.  We will update that page when we have dropped it off.  I do hope another narrowboater picks it up again and takes it towards the Thames… we are heading north again now!

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..