Pinkhill Resevoir

Got woken up at 9.30am by a shiny shiny narrowboat owner reversing badly, and ramming us. BONNNNNGGG! Sumo jumped on the bed for reassurance. Mrs Shiny appeared at the back hatch, berating Mr. Shiny for his bad steering. But then they just buggered off. Cruised up to Oxford Cruisers marina to see if they'd got the fanbelts they'd ordered for me. They hadn't. They are an 'unusual' size apparently. Yep, I knew that four days ago, mate. Cheers.. Will have to find them somewhere else now. Pootled on through Pinkhill Lock and bagged us a nice mooring by the resevoir and nature reserve. A pleasant peaceful spot, where we're staying for the night..

Turning around and heading back for Oxford tomorrow, so we can hopefully meet up with our good friend, Graham.

Ye Meadows

Another day of alternating sunshine and deluges. Go out in waterproofs, and 20 minutes later, they've turned into a sweatsuit. At lunchtime, narrowboat 'No Problem' berthed up alongside us, so we could have a chinwag and a cup of coffee (Cheers for the milk!). Sue explained how we could get Tesco's to deliver directly to our boat, and told us about a nifty boathandling manouever, which I'm looking forward to trying out. Vic kindly gave me a chimney liner and a stubby chimney, for when we lose ours at the first canal bridge we encounter. Thanks guys! Ten minutes after they'd taken off, it heaved it down with rain.

Saw narrowboat 'Rallentando' (from the CWDF) cruise by. No sign of "Lady Muck", but the "Submarine Captain" was at the helm. Didn't have time to pop out and wave at them, because they looked like they were on a mission to get downstream quickly.

Pootled ourselves down to the waterpoint at Eynsham and filled up, but all the 24 hour moorings were taken, so we had to turn around and moor ourselves back upstream, then walk back into the town for supplies. Keeps us fit, anyway.

Flapjack Day

"I'm walking.. Just walking.. In the Rain." ~ Grace Jones

Not a very nice day for going anywhere. So I made some flapjacks. So good, they deserve two photos..

4oz Butter
2oz Brown Sugar
4oz Oats
1oz Dessicated Coconut
1tbsp Golden Syrup
1tbsp Chocolate Syrup
A sprinkling of Raisins

1. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup until caramelised.
2. Pour over the dry ingredients
3. Mash it up!
4. Smooth into a greased baking tray
5. Gas Mark 4, for 15-20 minutes. 25, if you like them burnt.
6. Let them cool down on a wire rack, while you exercise some self-restraint.

Grumpy Bastids

Top ten reasons why narrowboaters are grumpy.

1. No Milk.
2. No TV/Internet reception.
3. Inconsiderately moored plastics.
4. Other narrowboats not waving.
5. Other narrowboats always waving.
6. Wife doing all the steering.
7. Poo tank full, and nowhere to pump out.
8. "Canya?" *
9. A favourite mooring spot that you are heading for is taken up by another boat!
10. Boat passes you, just as you were about to set off, and takes all the locks that were set ready for you by a boat coming down the flight!

* See Comments

Swinford Meadows

Another beautifully sunny summer day. We set off at lunch time, using a mooring post on the old ferry at Bablock Hythe, to turn us around without having to use the engine. Sadly, nobody saw this magnificent piece of boat handling, with which I'm sure the old working boatmen would have nodded their approval. "Aye, Lad".

Down, past the caravan park, and through Pinkhill Lock.

Passed Oxford Cruisers boatyard.

And carried on down, through Eynsham Lock, where we tied up for a couple of hours, took Sumo for a walk, and chatted to a rather p1ssed-on-wine Kiwi boatowner, called Terry. He'd just been to view several £750,000 pound propeties in Eynsham village, where the 'luxury' fixtures, fittings and furnishings turned out to have been glued on, and hastily constructed. I think it was the Bordeaux talking, when he said this..

Complete Independence = Isolation
Complete Freedom = Insanity

Set off back upstream, rather later than we'd anticipated. Toot-tooted Sue & Vic (Nb 'No Problem'). And found ourselves a nice secluded mooring on Swinford Meadows. Just behind a narrowboat called 'Ratty', who's owner peeped out of his front door, just like a character from Wind in the Willows. Which made us laugh.

Tomorrow is a lazy day, we're staying put. And either, wandering down to see Sue & Vic, or walking up to Oxford Cruisers to pick up the fanbelts. Hopefully both.

Three Swims

Not a puff of wind. Hardly any river traffic, and the sun not too scorching hot. A very nice day to be out and about. Cruised up to Eynsham, where alas, the public moorings were full of hireboating people having lunch. Went through Eynsham Lock, and on past the Swinford toll bridge, where we were able to moor ourselves up on the free part past the farmer's fields. Enjoyed a pleasant walk back into Eynsham, to pick up supplies. Sumo got two swims. Then we tickover cruised our way up the river for about a mile, and pulled into 'Oxford cruisers' hirebase, to order two spare fanbelts.

Decided to try our luck at Pinkhill resevoir, but unfortunately, we'd left it too late in the day, and it was full. There were plenty of moorings on the right hand bank (going upstream), but the fields were full of grazing sheep, and we didn't want to alarm or frighten them. As it was a beautiful day, and there were no boats coming in the opposite direction, we decided to carry on for a bit. Past the miles and miles of riverside caravan park, and have finally tied ourselves up for the evening on the free moorings at the excellently named 'Bablock Hythe'. Where Sumo got another swim, and I got a nice pint of extra cold Guinness.

Tomorrow, it's tempting to carry on further upstream. So totally different to our last journey on this stretch, where the wind was blowing in our faces all the way, and it was more about endurance. The river doesn't have a ripple on it, it's like a pond. A real pleasure to boat along. Everybody that we've spoken to, has said it's unusually quiet for this time of year. But, we'll probably head downstream, and try Pinkhill again. It looks nice there. Some nice wide open spaces to walk around.

Kings Lock

Yesterday we travelled from Abingdon, all the way up to Oxford. Where we spent a night tied to a tree, because the Folley Bridge visitor moorings were all stuffed. Pleasant enough, but the ground was so dusty, we were wondering if the pins would hold. Huge chunks of it disintegrated and fell into the river. But thankfully, I didn't. Sumo got me up at 7am, shortly before the joggers and cyclists spoilt the tranquility of the towpath. It was nice to stroll around for 20 minutes, and not see anybody else at all. Otherwise, Oxford was "full on" in summer mode. Hordes of people, wandering about aimlessly. And Salter's steamers tripboats overloaded to a worrying level of capacity. Not the sort of place we'd enjoy staying for too long at this time of year. So we bought some supplies, pulled the pins, and headed off upstream at slightly faster than tickover.

At Osney Lock, we were informed there was a tree blocking Duke's cut. So we wouldn't be able to get onto the Oxford canal that way. The lock keeper advised us to go via Sheepwash, where we would be ogled. Even after the hairpin bends all the way up to Lechlade, we didn't feel like pulling off 2 90 degree turns in sucession, and then working our first canal lock with a large audience. So, the plan is to go up to Eynsham, to see if we can get a spare fan belt from 'Oxford Cruisers', and then probably spend a couple of nights at Pinkhill, if it's not too busy there. Just pottering about, and enjoying the sunshine.

Sheena steered us under Osney bridge, and was well chuffed we didn't lose the chimney. The water level was a couple of inches lower than the last time we went through it, so we made it comfortably. Saw Dave on Nb 'Chavori', and gave him a wave.

Godstow lock was a doddle, without a wind blowing us into the shallows. Managed to moor up in the bullrushes, ahead of Nb 'The Great Escape' (thankfully, nobody was home), so that Sumo could have a river dunk, and we could wander back to have a look at the ruined Nunnery. There was lots of it remaining, unlike Abingdon, and Wallingford, which have both been levelled, and had all their stone pinched by Henry VIII.

Currently moored up at the Kings Lock campsite we first visited a month ago. It's a lovely peaceful spot.