Sunday, 15 June 2025

EVER CHANGING PLANS.

 

The Perfect Veiw.

And this is what boating can be about for various reasons. But before I get into that, I was going to call this instalment ‘The Land of the Hire Boats’.

That’s because there are a lot of boat hire firms in this area, and we seem to have seen all of them. The companies include, Napton Narrowboats, Kate Boats, Rose Narrowboats, Ashby Boats, Clifton Cruisers and Diamond Resorts to name just a few. We always approach hirers with some caution, as you never know if the Captain and crew are complete newbies, or seasoned boaters. And we know all about being newbies on a hire boat, as our boating life started in2010 and our first holiday on a narrowboat. 3 more holidays over 2 years, and look where we ended up.

Hiring a narrowboat is not cheap, but a great experience, and something we always advise people to do if they fancy living on a boat full time.

Right back to our journey. We left Banbury on Wednesday and headed for Cropredy and found good moorings. Of course we headed off to the pub, firstly The Red Lion, a quaint local pub with very friendly dogs and a good pint, then onto the Brasenose Arms, a bit of a foody pub, but we had an interesting chat with a local about the Cropredy Festival, known as the Fairport Convention Festival after the 1960/70’s folk rock band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairport%27s_Cropredy_Convention

We know a few boaters that attend this but never fancied it ourselves, maybe something for the future.

Stayed put next day, the weather has been good for the time of year, but we were promised rain, and got it. We did venture out later but just to the Red Lion again.

https://www.redlioncropredypub.co.uk/

At Cropredy lock we met up with David on NB Jennoria once again and I helped him through. I was chatting to a gongoozler called Keith from Rotherham, on my request the Captain gave him a trip up through the lock and explained how locks, and in particular how the mitred gates work.

A short hop to Fenny Compton and we were lucky to nab the last mooring spot just before the Wharf pub. We had to give it a try, and for once I was very disappointed on how organised I am with planning our meals, because the food looked and smelt amazing, but tea was waiting for us back on the boat.

https://www.facebook.com/TheWharfInnFennyCompton/?locale=en_GB

The locks on this stretch tend to be spaced out rather than being a flight, but that changed with the upcoming Napton flight of 2 locks, a short gap, and then 7 locks together. The village of Napton on the Hill is a short walk from the canal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napton_on_the_Hill

We moored at the top and descended next day, with it being Sunday the locks were busy with boats moving in both direction, which is what you really want, as it helps with water conservation and makes it more fun with lots of chatting and banter.

A lock

We moored between the 2 bottom locks were there is room for about 4/5 boats, a boat coming up nabbed the space we really wanted, but we still managed to moor without a problem just further away from the pub, The Folly. A great canal side pub we have visited a few time before, once before we even had the boat as we were camped nearby. During Covid they built the Potting Shed, which is an amazing outside bar, and this is were we sat rather than going into the pub itself which is on the small side and would be busy with people eating their Sunday roast. A good pint and another friendly dog.

http://follyatnapton.co.uk/


The Potting Shed

The next stretch of the Oxford canal is sadly lacking in good pubs, or pubs at all. So we spent the next night in the MONW.

I needed a little shopping the next day so Rugby was our destination, but as we set off it seemed like every man and his dog was on the move, and 10 boats passed us as we set off, this continued until we reached the 3 side by side locks at Hillmorton. The Captain reckoned another 10 boats passed us whilst we were moving.

At Hillmorton I was pleased to see a Vol Lockee on, another boat was already going into one of the locks and we soon were in the one next to them, 2 boats were going down ahead of us, one being a single hander who did not impress the lady crew of the boat with us at all. Although she asked him to drop a paddle and shut the gate he made no effort to get off his boat, she was not happy and we had an in depth chat about boating etiquette.

I helped as much as I could whilst locking the Captain and our boat down, and we were soon on our way to Rugby. We were told, much to our surprise, that the majority of boats using the locks were travelling in our direction, very strange bearing in mind how many boats had been coming towards us before we reached the locks.

https://www.hillmortonlocks.co.uk/

The mooring at Rugby were surprisingly quiet and we moored up with ease.

It was at Rugby that our plans began to change, the Captain has been suffering with a bad leg which hurt when he walks, this needed sorting out before our cruise on the big ship. It came to ahead in Rugby, as I fancied catching the bus into the town, but he didn’t want to walk anywhere, he didn’t even want to come shopping with me, (I hate shopping on my own). So I told him that he needed to get it sorted.

Our plan after Hawkesbury Junction was to head to Atherstone, and then maybe go up the Ashby canal to Stoke Golding, there are very good real ale pubs in both of these towns.

But if he needed to see a doctor we needed to head back to Swan Lane. The plan kind of remained the same until he had had a telephone consultation with the doctor. The doctor confirmed our thoughts on what the problem was, and that we were doing everything possible to alleviate the symptoms, but he needed to see a physio and this was booked in 2 weeks time, but still before our holiday.

The issue of a pump out then reared its head, we could head to Atherstone and get one at a marina or boatyard and pay £25-30, or we could return to Swan Lane and do one for free, then head off to Atherstone, sounded good. But like the title said, ever changing plans. The Captain suggested after getting the pump out at Swan Lane we could head down Coventry basin for a night or 2, go to the Hop and have meal at one of the many restaurants there. Then we could take a couple of days to get to Atherstone, and then see. The world is our oyster. So that’s what we decided (up to now).

After leaving Rugby we had another night in the MONW, then our journey took us to Hawkesbury Junction, where we were able to catch up with an old friend Barbara on NB Meander Lily, she had moored at Swan Lane for a time and it was great to have a chat, and we again managed to nab the last mooring just before the stop lock and pub. As with a couple of days earlier, boats just kept coming and coming, one after another in both directions. And of course we had to visit the pub. The Greyhound

https://www.thegreyhoundsuttonstop.co.uk/


The Greyhound

50 miles, 24 locks, 1 tunnel (250yrds) and 1 movable bridge.

Thursday, 5 June 2025

WILDLIFE AND NARROW WATERS

 

The Black Swan

Before I start writing about our journey over the last week, I just wanted to fill you in on some of the wonderful wildlife we have seen whilst on the Thames. The biggest shock, and surprise, was a large seal that joined us in one of the locks. I was in position at the front of the boat holding onto the bowline, when I thought I saw one of those foil balloons pop up in the water, then it popped down again, balloons don’t do that I thought to myself, so what was it? then a head appeared at the side of the boat, a big doey eyed black seal, swimming leisurely up and down the lock between the boats. It was an amazing sight.

The sea in the lock

Then shortly after we spotted one of the prettiest birds I had ever seen, a black swan with a bright red beak. These beautiful birds are native to Australia, but have been introduced into the UK because of their unusual plumage, a bit like mandarin and wood ducks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan

We have also seen, Little Egrets, sleek terns performing aerobatics above the boat, Great Crest Grebes, Cormorants, Herons and more Mandarin Ducks and Egyptian Geese. The usual run of Swans, Mallards, Canada and Greylag Geese, with their ducklings, goslings and signets. We hear but don’t see, Chiffchaffs, Wrens, Blackbirds, Robins and Black Caps. But it definitely has been the year of the Red Kite, and I don’t think a day has passed without seeing these magnificent birds over and over again, and we have seen a couple of buzzards too.

Right onto our journey. We spent a very quiet day in Abingdon and didn’t even venture out to the pub, the weather wasn’t great. It was better weather the next day and so we made our way to Oxford, saying goodbye to the wide river, and rejoined a very narrow canal at Isis lock. I felt that if I spread my arms out I could touch both sides of the canal as we went along. A narrow canal means narrow locks, and these you do yourself with your trusty windlass. I had gotten used to the friendly lock keepers who do everything for you, or just the push of a couple of buttons to operate the locks. It was now back to winding and pushing.


Sign in a Thames Lock

The moorings in Oxford were surprisingly quiet, and we moored up opposite the boatyard quite easily. We nipped for a pint or two. Firstly the Old Bookbinders Ale House, but no darks on in here, then onto the Harcourt Arms, a nice bottle of London Porter for the Captain, then the Rickety Press, a bit of a students bar but a nice pint.

We had to go into Oxford next day to pick up the Captains prescription from Boots, and decided to have a few pints and then tea at Cosmos. After visiting Boots we called in at the Royal Blenheim, a Titanic brewery tap house, so plenty of choice in here, then onto the Grapes, another great real ale pub. Tea was very tasty.

https://www.titanicbrewery.co.uk/pubs-and-bods/pubs/the-royal-blenheim

https://www.thegrapesoxford.co.uk/


Sweet Treats at Cosmos

We had intended on getting a pump out at the boatyard before leaving next morning, but it was the turn round day for their hire fleet, and it would have been late afternoon before they could have fitted us in, so we decided to head to Thrupp and use the pump out machine at the boat club there.

We are back in the realm of lift bridges and locks and we reached Thrupp after 3 lift bridges and 4 locks. We were very lucky and got moorings right outside the Boat Inn, and were soon joined by NB Nellie Jean who we had met a couple of times on the Thames. We had a chat with its Captain and Crew before heading to the pub.

https://theboatinnthrupp.co.uk/

The boat club services were busy next morning and we had to wait our turn, but soon we had it all, an empty toilet tank, a full water tank and rubbish binned, perfect. We headed off to finding moorings in the MONW for the night.

Sunday, and every man and his dog seemed to be out on the water. We met day boats, hire boats and private boats enjoying the good weather. We were following NB Even Balance, and at each lock I went up to help out and enjoyed chatting to its crew, who I think was called Julia. Another night in the MONW.


Don't ask me how !!!

The Captain had thought to take 2 days to get to our next stop at Banbury, but the rain that was forecast changed his mind, we had an early start and managed to get there just after lunch. We met up with Even Balance again, but they stopped at Kings Sutton, so we had to part ways.

We have been lucky so far with finding decent moorings, and this continued when we got to Banbury and we moored outside the GF social club and Banbury Museum, which is very handy for Lidl (3 mins walk) and the town centre. It is a very busy spot, and very narrow as boats are moored on both side of the canal, and there is always someone on the move.

I had wanted to get to Banbury by Monday so I could go to a Slimming World meeting to get weighed. There were a couple to chose from, but before that I really bit the bullet and went and got my hair cut, first time in at least 2yrs. I tried to explain to the very nice Turkish lady that I only wanted a little off the length, but she told me in no uncertain terms I needed more, so I let her get on with it and was happy with the result. Although I do feel like she scalped me, as I am used to having very long hair. It will grow back. I was also very happy when I got weighed as I had stayed the same, a miracle given the amount of beer I have drunk over the past 6 weeks.

On my return from SW we took a walk to the local Wetherspoons, The Exchange, the app was showing it had Broadside on, a favourite of the Captains, but when we got there the clip said Old Peculiar, not a problem, its another of the Captains favourites. However a rather confused barman tried to tell use that although the tag said coming soon, it actually meant they didn’t have any, so he had a Singha lager instead. Only 5 minutes later we spotted the barman was pulling a perfect pint of Old Peculiar! It wasn’t that they didn’t have any, it just wasn’t quite ready when we asked. So the Captain grumbled but eventually got his preferred pint.

The rain came the next day and we stayed put, only walking out in the afternoon to shop at Lidl, and then have a pint in the Social Tap in the food court in Lock 29. A very good pint of Dead Wax, a London porter from Orbit brewery, and at £4 a pint a bargain.

https://www.tapsocialmovement.com/pages/lock29?srsltid=AfmBOoon8syqbLAZpN_OczjFB7K5D07CMc7i4EhRUgkM0zMIfLgKflNb

We are slowly getting back home and ready for our adventure on the big ship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marella_Explorer_2


Marella Explorer 2

37 miles, 22 locks 9 Lift bridges 1 canal, the South Oxford 2 rivers, the Thames and the Cherwell