The Sun Has Got His Hat On!!

Sunset over the meadows at Eynsham

Hip, hip, hip HOOORRRAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!  Wow!  Summer has arrived and we are happy bunnies as we find ourselves on a luxury cruise of the Upper Thames with our own pool next to our suite!!  First though, back at Fenny Compton…….  We had a lovely meal with Jill and Alan, Jill is a great cook and had done us a thai curry with accompaniments, although she almost tried to palm us off with microwave rice…..really Jill…….. tut tut…….  It was lovely to see them and their son Ben who is always pleased to be forgotten about as we chat away and he scores some extra time staying up.  The next morning we headed off for Cropredy, an uneventful day that started in shorts, increased in layers as the day went on and ended up in full waterproofs.  There was a queue at the first lock but then we all spread out a bit and we were just following one ahead of us, but with the locks being narrowguage and everyone helping everyone else out, we got through quite quickly really.  At Cropredy I went for a run and Mike popped to the wee shop for some bits and pieces.  There was no signal on the telly, as there hadn’t been at Fenny either, so we watched a dvd instead, glad that we had stocked up on our last charity shop visit.  Next stop was Banbury and we headed off in the morning, straight through the lock at Cropredy and then caught up on a queue further on.  As I waited for a boat coming up, I could see rain moving across the field.  I ran inside, got my waterproofs on by the time which the rain was coming in the closed windows (they leak if the rain is at a certain angle).  Mike was already sprinting back to shut the front doors and help close the shutters.  It was pretty miserable and stayed fairly wet until we reached Banbury.  We’ve been to Banbury before and enjoyed it.  They’ve made the most of the canal running through the town and there are good moorings and shops of every shape and size.  We decided to have our 48 hours on the town moorings and take the opportunity to go to Screwfix and  Homebase as well as do a big food shop at the Morrisons.  Again, as before, there was no tv signal so we got a couple of new DVDs in  HMV to watch, two for a tenner – we won’t spend more than £5 on a DVD, and that’s top price.  Yorkshire and Scots – a good combination for tight purse strings……

We continued on down the Oxford on Friday, with no real plans except that we were now being met by Angela on Saturday for the night.  We made loose plans with her, but, as with all good plans, they started to crumble slightly when we went further than intended and then couldn’t get a phone, internet or tv signal  (not that the latter would help in terms of updating Ange!).  So we kept going, pulling up every now and then to let me walk along the roof in some form of worship to the god of mobile phone signals to try and get my message to Ange to go.  At one stage I had a very quiet and civilised tantrum and told Mike I was fed up, had had enough, just wanted a bloody signal so the message would go, so we could moor up, so I could go for a run and have my tea and go to bed.  Mike apologised and said he just couldn’t do that for me…. Bless.  Finally, a clearing across the fields and my message went.   We tried to moor up, but it was too shallow, so continued on, finally stopping eight hours after we set off above a lock.  I can’t remember which one and I don’t really care.  I went for a run, and we had our tea.  It was a beautiful night and the rural mooring was lovely, looking across vast fields with hills in the distance.  Sometimes you just get such great views from your kitchen window on a boat.

 

First queue of the day - still beats the M6 anyday.

This was about three minutes before this.........

Okay, enough water already.  Please turn the tap off!!

Mike finds a little furry friend to help on the lock

South of Banbury is The Pig Place where you can visit the pigs.  Then eat them :(  The sausages were excellent!

One of the diamond-shaped locks on the Oxford - heavy gates and very slow.

Just in case we were worried we'd taken a wrong turn.....

Another queue but at least it's warm and sunny!  The dayboat behind was full of a bunch of very nice young people, one of whom, a girl, started being sick.  I offered seasick tablets and explained that one of our friends (Fran!!) gets seasick on the boat if it rocks around too much.  She said yes please, but when her mum came to collect it from me, she whispered, "Is it okay to take if you're pregnant??  She hasn't told the rest of the family yet!"  It wasn't, so she'd just decided to say they were out of date when there were whoops from the group, "Ah..... I think she just told them....".  But I knew first!!!!!!!  Mwuahahahahahahahahahaha..... I hope she still managed to enjoy the day on board!

Some of the bridges almost shaved the top of our chimneys, but we only had to remove them on one - not this one!

I got my next phone signal at 12.20 on Saturday as we made our way to Thrupp.  With the signal came Ange’s reply from the previous night saying she would make her way to Thrupp and see us there.  We had a lovely cruise through some of the most beautiful countryside, made all the more lovely by hot sun and knowing that our friend and some fine food and drink at the Boat Inn were waiting for us at Thrupp.  Sadly Ange was only with us overnight and headed off on Sunday.  I say sadly because it was sad for her that she couldn’t accompany us down the last stretch of the Oxford and onto New Territory for us – The Upper Thames!!!!!!   

Looking back from the Lock Entrance of the Duke's Cut to the Oxford Canal

We’ve been told many times (a lot by the same people – Toby and Sue) that the Upper Thames is the best of all the rivers in Britain to navigate.  I must admit, two days in and I’m finding myself agreeing!  We feel as though we are truly on holiday; boating, swimming, kayaking through the most amazing English countryside and in the most amazing weather.  It will really feel like a real UK holiday on Friday if the rain forecast comes to fruition………  If you don’t believe me, take a look at these…

Our mooring on Sunday night was on a meadow above Eynsham Lock, where we found Quaintrelle's sister Baleine and her lovely skipper and crew Sue and Toby.  (I hope I've got that the right way round....)

Quaintrelle and Baleine catching up

We had a lovely couple of hours in the setting sun catching up with Toby and Sue and checking out the best moorings on the Upper Thames!

Toby went in for a dip - his second of the day.  Sue said he was skinny-dipping, but I didn't like to look too closely to see if she was joking.

We're new to these waters, so we do what we're told. "Come in!!!  It's lovely!!!" said Toby.  Mike obliged.

As if the mooring,  river and company weren't idyllic enough already, a barn owl did a fly past a few times whilst searching out his supper.

 

On Monday we had breakfast out on deck as the sun burned off the clouds then set off for a few hours cruising, passing through our first lock of the day, Pinkhill Lock.  The locks on the Thames are manned and today, these guys had the best job in the world!

Passing through Newbridge

First time I've seen a hot tub afloat!!

Two more locks later and we found another tranquil spot for the night.  Now, time for a swim - it's boiling!!!

And if it's good enough for Toby........

Spot the white bits!!!  (And the tattoo ;) )

Today's mooring was slightly shallower than yesterday's which lent itself perfectly to a bit of DIY on a hot sunny day, where Mike could reach parts of the blacking he normally can't.

Having done a run together in the kayake I settled down to do the blog and Mike went off on his own - but he got tired!!!!  Thankfully someone was willing to give him a tow.  I told him he should have left him where he was........

So the sun has got his hat on right enough and so have we – will it last…????