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