Woke up in the morning to find the boat on it’s side. During the night, the pound, (the expanse of water between locks), had emptied out. I can see from my bed that one side of the boat is much lower than the other. This makes me kind of uneasy, as I don’t know how much water has gone from under the boat. As I look out of the window, it doesn’t look to be a lot. Still, if I…
18 Locks and 11 miles later I feel exhausted. I’ve got to go to bed. Going to leave you with these photos. (Visited 10 times, 1 visits today)Related Posts Blisworth -> Stoke -> Blisworth Only spent 2 nights in Stoke Bruerne. The rest was over the Christmas period during which I was out visiting people. Stoke Bruerne Has two pubs… Gayton Junction -> Blisworth Only moving down a little bit. This is the place closest to work, so I’m here…
Getting really bored of writing this blog now. Can’t wait till it’s over and I can have a rest. Leaving Theale Today leaving Theale after my flooding incident at Garston locks. The boat is more or less dried out. Here’s a picture of a locks similar to Garston. As you can see, the spouts of water project from under the gate, and in my case straight into the bow area. On my case, it came up to the windows on…
Starting to feel a bit tired now. 8 days without a break. Came through Goring and Reading OK. No trouble with the river police over my invalid licence. Stopped off at Tesco Extra in Reading, which was backing onto the river. (Visited 3 times, 1 visits today)Related Posts Blisworth -> Stoke -> Blisworth Only spent 2 nights in Stoke Bruerne. The rest was over the Christmas period during which I was out visiting people. Stoke Bruerne Has two pubs… Gayton…
Started at the ISIS lock, the entry to the river Thames. This kind of winds it’s way out of Oxford, then broadens out a bit after the Osney lock. Wrong date The lock keeper at the Osney lock issues me a licence with the wrong date on it. I paid for 2 days, as you can see, but she’s yesterdays date on it, the 13th. Also, I paid by cash. She’s put that I paid by card. This is going…
Another full day of boating through the unspoilt Oxfordshire countryside. This time, on the River Cherwell to Thrupp, where I was going to visit the deserted village; Hampton Gay. After looking on Googlemaps satellite, it became clear, it was only 3 empty farmhouses and a dis-used church and really wasn’t worth getting the bike out for. I stopped in Thrupp for lunch, then moved on. The canal is virtually deserted. During the course of a 10 hour day, I encounter…
A long day, starting at 8.45. Finishing at around 17:45. Taking me through Banbury, the Oxford canal weaved through the site of Europe’s largest folk festival, Cropredy down the Claydon locks, through King’s Sutton and ending up just past Aynho. It was a long day. I expected to be in Oxford, more or less, but the state of the canal just didn’t allow it. Low speed Taking all the different factors into account, locks, stoppages bridges, boat traffic, the whole…
So here I am at the second large flight of locks on the Oxford/Coventry canal. It’s a place called Claydon, where the TV reception ain’t so good and there’s lots of sheep around. There was a dead sheep in the canal. I was behind this novice boater swerving around and I looked down and saw a dead sheep floating in the canal! Crazy. There were sheep escaped at Napton. I guess they have a roving sheep problem in these area….
Beautiful day of sailing. Moved on from the Coventry, on the Oxford. Started my trip in earnest this morning, after having visited the Aldi in Coventry, not far from Ansty, where I was staying. Was only a quick trip over the M6 on my bike. Took me about 40minutes as I went the wrong way initially. Didn’t sleep very well, was listening to the US presidential debate. Here’s a morning shot of Bonnie. Admire her sleek lines. The Oxford canal…
Long day. Didn’t even stop for lunch. Atherstone locks A series of 11 locks, taking you from an altitude of around 230ft to 310ft, (above sea level) through the Warwickshire countryside. Each lock has a water-pound alongside, these used to be used to keep the locks topped up in times gone by. Now they are all redundant, some with the sluice gate operational, most not. Just weedy duck ponds by the sides of the locks. The locks are quite pretty…