On to Goring and Dinner with Abbie and Dave.

Thursday 31st August 2017 in Goring-on-Thames.
A truly magical morning at sunrise!

We walked to the nearby Waitrose in Abingdon for a "few bits", where we fell into conversation with Mike and Wendy; we were admiring their Morris 8, which was R's first ever car when he was 16.  Their car was very much in its original condition, which Mike described as "oily-rag"! He said that it had recently won a concourse competition as being the most original car there - if not the shiniest!

Walking back to the river, we photographed MM's mooring. Abingdon is a town that is proud of its association with the river and actually encourages visitors by providing excellent free mooring facilities.

As we left Abingdon, we passed the original junction with the Wilts & Berks Canal which once connected the Thames to the Severn. There is a restoration group making slow progress, but they have a mountain to climb to get it restored as much of its original course has since been built on. We wish them well, as it would be marvellous to link the two waterways with such a direct route.

How many times we have travelled across this railway bridge and looked down on the Thames - the last time was two days ago!

When we arrived at Goring-on Thames, all the moorings were taken so we tied up opposite the lock - but our luck was in as one of the moored boats moved and we were able to move into its space and moor up.

We have seen many mirabelle trees along our route and all of them are laden with fruit; this tree was just next to our mooring and the fruit looked like bunches of grapes, there were so many.

Another KG boat, nb "Nattergal", came along looking for a mooring, travelling with another boat. We offered to let them breast up against us, as did our neighbours, so we ended up with four boats moored in two spaces.

R walked into Goring to visit the Capture offices where he used to work. When he returned, he found Guy on look-out duty, waiting for Abbie and Dave. They came down to the boat where we celebrated with a bottle of bubbly.

Afterwards, we went for dinner at the local, excellent, Chinese restaurant. It was great to see Abbie and Dave again and to catch up with them.
Today: 14 miles, 6 locks and 6.1 hours.
Trip: 268 miles, 270 locks and 180.8 hours.

Back on Board at Last!

Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th August 2017 in Enslow and Abingdon.
After spending two weeks helping Elle and Matt with their new Idol Hands premises, we had a surprisingly easy journey back to Enslow via Oxford Parkway railway station, where Richard Haynes very kindly picked us up and drove us to the marina.
We spent some time with Tiffany, Richard and Simon (our engineer), and admired their new workshop and the huge houseboat that KG is in the process of building.

MM was pleased to have spent the time in her original marina, where she was launched six years ago, surrounded by a number of other Kingsground boats.

Guy was definitely not pleased at the prospect of all those peas! He wanted bananas and was afraid that he would be called upon to start shelling the peas (luckily M enjoys podding peas, so Guy got away with just watching).

We stayed overnight in the marina, planning to make an early start tomorrow. R brought the diary up to date to when we arrived in Enslow two weeks ago with some help from a very friendly cat off one of the other boats; she came into MM to investigate and stayed for quite a while.

The next morning dawned bright and clear.

After a visit to the workshop to say goodbye to Simon, we set off south. Again, we are in something of a hurry as we have to be back home as quickly as possible to clear our kitchen and downstairs bathroom before the builder arrives in the middle of September.

For once, M didn't have to operate this lift bridge as a young lady and her father from a hire boat came to help.

At the bottom of the Oxford Canal, we turned on to the very narrow "Duke's Cut" that took us across to the Thames.

M spent the time gathering blackberries while MM was in the lock. Just a few hundred yards later, we were on the wide River Thames and heading south - what a contrast to the narrow, winding Oxford Canal!

At the first of the Thames Locks, Godstow Lock, the lock keeper was at lunch so the lock was on self-service. The paddle gear is unusual as it is operated with large wheels. As indicated by the wet weather gear, it had started to rain, but fortunately didn't last.

We shared the next lock with this camouflage boat. The owner was a real eccentric - as is his boat, but he was delightful to talk to.

Posh Abingdon, so R thought that he would wash down the roof, but...

A sudden rain shower produced a beautiful rainbow...

Followed by a lovely sunset.

Today: 19 miles, 12 locks and 8.5 hours.
Trip: 254 miles, 264 locks and 174.7 hours.

Strange Sights Come in Threes?

Tuesday 15th August 2017 at Enslow Marina.
R, who was up early, with a long day ahead, captured this image of the mist lingering over the meadow next to the canal.

Today was much brighter and R washed MM down so that she would be looking her best when she arrived at Enslow, which is where Kingsground, who built MM, is based.

The overnight mooring had been very quiet and picturesque but it was a long way to Enslow and R wanted to get home tonight if possible so set off as soon as MM was cleaned.

This tythe barn reminded R of the one at Bradford-on-Avon, which is in similar beautiful condition.

One sees some strange sights next to the canal. Not sure if the rabbit was shooting at the golfing frog or just at passing boats.

As far as strange sights go, this was another unusual one. Ignoring the difficulty of tacking back and forth across a 30 ft canal, how does he get that mast under the bridges?

And they say that these things go in threes... One single black swan. The last time we saw black swans anywhere was a couple of years ago! Definitely "Billy no-mates".

Arriving, at Enslow Wharf, R took the opportunity to fill up with diesel and was very happy to see Tiffany and Richard, the owners of the marina and Kingsground.  He spent a while catching up with them and looking at their brilliant new workshop, including their latest boat nb "Never Ending Story" that was due to be launched the following day.
Finally, R went to take MM from the service bay to the mooring where she will stay for the next two weeks, but before he could leave the service bay he was joined by "Buttons", the marina cat, who explored MM happily while R moved her.

Richard then very kindly drove R to Oxford Parkway to start the journey home.
We plan to be back in two weeks and continue our journey down to Guildford - so please watch this space.
Today: 8 miles, 5 locks and 4.6 hours.
Trip: 235 miles, 242 locks and 166.2 hours.

Fairport Cropredy Convention

Monday 14th August 2017 at Somerton.
An overcast morning as we continued our descent towards Oxford and the Thames, 33 miles and 25 locks away. Our first lock of the day was Elkington's Lock.

We have seen many fields beside the canal that show evidence of the ancient "Ridge & Furrow" system, but this one was very pronounced.

Every year at Cropredy, there is the Fairport Cropredy Convention and this weekend was the fiftieth anniversary year. Hundreds of narrowboats and over 20,000 people turn up for the three days - Thursday, Friday and Saturday. As we were heading south towards Cropredy, there was a steady stream of narrowboats coming the other way, so at almost every lock we just had to wait a couple of minutes for whoever was coming out of the lock to leave and just cruised in. Great - a very "good road" as the old boaters would say.
When we arrived at Cropredy, there were still dozens of boats moored up. Some of the decorations were impressive...

Some were just comical...

M was thrilled when a passing chimney sweep greeted her (as you would expect on the towpath) and asked her to blow him a kiss for luck.

She did, and he in turn serenaded her with a rendition of "Nature Boy". She was delighted as she remembers well the intriguing yet lovely words from a release in the mid 1960s, although the original is much earlier.

Very little evidence remained of the convention site and campground, all that was left was neat piles of rubbish bags.

Unfortunately, not all the rubbish ended up in those neat black plastic bags as some of it got caught  up on MM's propellor.

All of a sudden, on the other side of Cropredy, all the boats were going the same way as we were so there were queues for every lock. At one lock we found ourselves fifth in line; however, as always, everyone was good humoured and helped other boats through.

This lovely lockside cottage is now derelict and sadly in need of TLC. It appears that no one wants to buy it as there is no road access. M said that, to her, that was a positive advantage!

Then into Banbury, where R walked M to the railway station, so she could go home early to help Elle and Matt with their move. R will continue on with MM down to Enslow, where MM was launched and where she is booked in for two weeks.

On the way, R passed under the open lift bridge that we always see from the M40 as we go by in the car.

R continued on his own with MM for another 9 miles and 6 locks, although he was lucky enough to have help at every lock but one, including Somerton Deep Lock - all 12 ft of it.
Eventually he found a beautiful overnight mooring next to a wide meadow near Somerton.

Today: 16 miles,13 locks and 9.5 hours.
Trip: 227 miles, 237 locks and 161.6 hours.

A Cruise with Scott and Family.

Sunday 13th August 2017 at Claydon.
A beautiful sunrise at 5:50am.

Guy loves the rural countryside but he really is not much help with the locks!

The Napton Locks are renowned for their picturesque setting, although the convoluted Oxford canal means that you continually see the same pretty views - but from different directions. It can be very disconcerting!

Buffalo? In Warwickshire? What a surprise, for a moment we thought that we were back on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake in Utah (but with more trees and more green grass).

The wheat crop is ready for harvesting; in fact, in some places it has already been harvested; another sign of a good summer and a potentially bumper crop.

It was a real treat that Scott, Paula, Lachlan and Amelia were able to join us again today. They had driven to Fenny Compton and then walked back down the towpath towards us. Peanut had already been in the water.

It was a lovely cruise to Fenny Compton with Scott and family. Peanut stayed on the stern deck and was generally well behaved - except for the time that he stepped off the back! Luckily his lead was still attached and we managed to haul him back on board.
We moored up for lunch just past Fenny Compton with some difficulty. We couldn't get close to the bank, so we had to "walk the plank". Fenny Compton visitors' moorings were overflowing with boats returning from the Cropedy Music Festival.
A surprise meeting while we were moored up for lunch - Mike Kelly went past on his boat "Marionette" (named after his wife, who is also a Marion). As his boat is short, he was able to spin around and come back for a chat. They were also returning from the Festival.

We got to know them through the software they produce which documents the waterways - a copy of which was one of M's wedding presents to R. It was great to see Mike again and to catch up with his news.
Scott left shortly after, saying that they had all had a really super afternoon. It was certainly marvellous to see them all again so unexpectedly.

We were still on the summit of the South Oxford canal and as we were keen to get a few more locks under our belts before the end of the day, we continued on for a further three miles and then down the five Claydon locks before mooring up for the night south of Claydon.
As M was walking ahead to set the next lock in the Claydon flight, a powered paraglider briefly intruded on the calm of the evening, following the twisting line of the canal and waving to us as he went past.

We moored up at about 7:30 after another good day.
Today: 14 miles, 14 locks and 8.3 hours.
Trip: 211 miles, 224 locks and 152.1 hours.