RED KITES AND WOODPECKERS.

A Green Woodpecker

We have now entered proper Red Kite country and we are seeing these magnificent birds on a regular basis, close up and personnel as they soar above the boat. We have seen 2 Greater Spotted Woodpeckers and one, a first for us, a Green Woodpecker and a few kingfishers. I caught sight of a couple of Dippers, a Tree Creeper and a common Tern as well.

We left Banbury and the configuration of the locks changed, still narrow locks, but with only one gate at the bottom end. This made the gates quiet heavy to open and close, but I managed most without help. I had company at King’s Sutton lock, when a friendly local cat came to be stroked and then stayed to watch and offer moral support.

We moored for the night outside The Pig Place, it came highly recommended but we didn’t give it a try as we fancied a quiet night in, and the Captain wanted to watch the British Grand Prix.

https://thepigplace.co.uk/

Also in the skies above us we have seen Chinook helicopters, or as the Captain calls them wocca wocca’s due to the sound their twin rotor blades make. We are quiet close to Brize Norton airbase here so we have had other military aeroplanes overhead too.

We got to Lower Hayford on Tuesday after 5 quite deep locks, and called in at The Bell. We are still struggling to find dark ales for the Captain, so he had to make do with a Guinness.

Next day we stopped at Lower Hayford wharf for diesel, but the Captain balked at paying the price they were asking. So we went and queued for water instead. NB Cherry Tree was filling up, they said it was a slow tap so it took a while, but as always on the water there is no rushing. Its Captain and crew were American and heading to Oxford, a place they had not visited before.

In one of the locks I spotted a pair of pretty grey Wagtails, whose nest was in the wall of the lock. They were taking food to their chicks.

Grey Wagtail

The Captain had marked some offside moorings in our Nicholson book, but couldn’t remember a lot about them. There were 3 boats moored as we cruised slowly by, so we decided to keep going. Then a shout from the bank ‘hey you 2 haven’t seen you for a while’ I racked my brains trying to recall this friendly boater and came up with the name Phil, as we were expecting to see Phil Brook Little on this stretch of the canal. The guy laughed and said no, Rick. It all kind of fell into place then, we had met Rick at the Cape of Good Hope on a rainy afternoon spent in the pub. Bubbles our ginger tom had joined us in the pub, until he spotted Rick’s dog then he turned tail and fled. The barman told me he would have to be on a lead if we wanted to bring him in again. Happy memories and quite a few years ago. We had a chat, and will probably see him and his boat NB Juniper again on the Thames or K&A.

We never did meet up with Phil.

I also discovered a great new recipe for making roti’s

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roti_31237

Thursday was another day for unexpected reunions, and busy. The Captain planned to stay at Thrupp, then going on to Wolvercote next day where we could catch the bus into Oxford. There were 3 locks, and at one of these I was happily chatting to the. guy off the boat behind us. As he helped with the lock his wife came along and recognised me and the Captain. It was Ken and Annie on NB Ceilidh who we had met going into Warwick in 2017. We got along famously and had done some serious foraging with them before a pint in the pub. They have sold their boat due to family commitments, but were getting their yearly boating fix on their daughters boat. They were heading back to base on the K&A.

We couldn’t get in at Thrupp, so pushed onto Wolvercote. As I said in the last blog, the South Oxford canal is terrible for mooring, as in most places the vegetation is so overgrown, and the canal shallow, you simply can’t get to the side to moor.

We were not able to moor at Wolvercote either, as a long length of the bank is given over to Agenda 21 permanent moorings, and I mean a long long way. Each time we thought we had come to the end of them, round the bend it would start again. There were signs for visitors moorings, but as with a lot of the canal they were overgrown and inaccessible.

http://narrowboater.blogspot.com/2011/09/agenda-21.html

So on we went, the Captain getting increasingly grumpy, things improved when we got to Jerico and found the moorings we had used 7yrs ago, still there and very accessible and free. Yippee.

So we pulled in and stayed for a couple of nights. We went to try a couple of the local pubs, The Old Bookbinders Ale House first, a lovely pub with an interesting menu, but no darks, so just the one.

https://craftybelle.uk/oldbookbinders/

Then on to the Harcourt Arms, no darks on the bar, but I did spot bottles of Fullers London Porter and Black Cab in the chiller, so the Captain was a happy bunny. I wasn’t when I went to pay £11.20 for a porter and a pint of Birra Moretti. Deep intake of breath and a gulp of beer to steady my nerves.

Next day and our trip into Oxford, £3 return on the bus not too bad, but I was having a bad day with my knee so I wasn’t real feeling it.

The buildings in Oxford are lovely and we did take a steady walk round, we went to the indoor market, full of interesting and quirky shops, but the best find was the food market at Gloucester Green. There was Sri Lankan, Mexican, Greek, Nepalese, Chinese,, but the one doing the best trade was South Korean, she had organised like a buffet were you could buy small portions at a reasonable price and mix and match things. It smelt wonderful too.

https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20231/markets/109/gloucester_green_market

We were eating out but first a pint. We walked out of the first 2 pubs, no darks on of course, but the Swan and Castle had Rudgate Ruby Mild on so that’s were we headed, it was a Wetherspoons so we knew we could eat there to.

To end a lovely day the Captain treated me to a bottle of Whitely and Neill rhubarb and ginger gin. He’s a wonderful fella.

Next day and it was time to leave the canal and join the mighty river Thames, but first a pump out and fuel at College Cruisers. The price of their fuel was a lot more reasonable so the Captain was happy.

https://www.collegecruisers.com/

Through Isis Lock and we were on the Thames, that’s for next time folks.