Back in Twyford Wharf

Next to the M40.

Probably about 500m from here. There’s kind of a hillock separating us, but you can still hear it, more or less, depending on the wind.

Went cycling around Banbury which is where I took the photo for this post.

Whilst working there the other day, I saw this?

I didn’t capture the first part on my phone, but the larger spider was making the web when the other smaller one came from a fissure in the wall and attacked it!

Whilst I went to the car to get my phone, it had wrapped it up.

False widow or Steatoda eats it’s friend

I’d not seen that before.

Also, I saw this badger. It was running toward me over the roadbridge and clearly didn’t hear me coming over the sounds of the traffic.

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Moved

Only a parish, which is the requirement by the CRT.

In the meadows, there is no parish. I guess here in Twyford, there are a few houses and a little bit of industry.

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In the meadows

Not Sumerton this time, more up toward King’s Sutton. Close to Banbury.

Twyford Meadows
Twyford Meadows

Close to the M40 as well. Constant sound of the motorway here. Still, it looks nice. There’s not many boaters around, as like the title says, it’s in the fields.

It’s a nice stop. It makes a change being almost completely on your own. The solar panels like it here also and with the lack of hedges or trees make the whole day a charging day.

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Somerton and 9 hours in Aynho

My time in Somerton Meadows finished. What a pretty place it is.

Whilst walking back to pick the car up on my first night. I took these photos.

Night moon over Heyford
Harvest moon – Heyford, Oxfordshire

I’ve not seen a glow-worm in the UK for years.

These were just under the railway bridge on the towpath close to Heyford. When you pick them up, they’re about the size of a wasp! They don’t sting like one though, they were fairly docile. I put him back on his leaf after having a quick look at him.

Just goes to show, not all the insects have died out…. Yet.

Somerton

I stayed in Somerton for the full 2 weeks and left on Sunday.

I don’t think it rained once but the farmer did put the cows back in the field which meant we had the additional obstacle of cow-pats to negotiate. The bull was in there too. I only saw him once: when I was bringing my shopping and laundry back. I didn’t want to walk around the cows, which were all bunched up, so I shooed them out of the way. To my surprise, in the middle of the bunch as the cows moved out of the way, a big bull stood looking back at me!

He’s fairly docile specimen. I think he thought I was going to round him up using his nose ring, but I just continued forging through the cow heard with my heavy shopping bags back to the boat.

Morning view
Morning view

View’s down onto the floodplain.

It’s a nice spot.

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Heyford

Last stop now finished in Heyford. Upper Heyford to be exact.

I’ve been here before in this post

Cruised through Lower Heyford.

It has a terrible mobile signal amongst other things, not, to recommend it.

Duck, flowers and sleeping baby ducks

Mo Barley

The Pub I went to a few times last time I was here, (Barley Mow), has gone downhill. Stopped serving food. A ‘wet’ pub nowadays.

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Back in the Uk – Fishing on the Cherwell in Elsow

I’ve moved from Kidlington. I ended up being resident there for 9 months. 4 months of that was due to a gas leak and Bonnie not passing her Boat Safety Scheme examination.

This caused a couple of problems in that the engineer who I got from Blueglow in Whitney told me there was no leak, as identified by the BSS examiner, and that the boat was fine.

Second inspection

Once I’d got the BSS guy down for a second look, I discovered this was not the case and the boat failed again which left me feeling a bit confused.

One engineer said it was all fine, the other told me that the system was still leaking gas at 1 millibar per 2 minutes.

To add to this, I had to go on holiday in Turkey, which interrupted the repairs which needed to be done within three months of the first examination date.

Eventually, I got the work done. It cost me £300. I had one of these bubble testers put in.

Bubble tester on a narrowboat

It was fitted by the gas engineer from Blueglow. He needed to replace the old stop valve which was the source of the original leak and I asked that it be replaced by a bubble tester.

They cost about £60. If you live on your boat like I do, they need to be fitted by a gas safe engineer, otherwise, it can be fitted by a ‘competent person’.

Seeing as a lot of the pipework needed replacing anyhow, it was a job for an engineer rather than a competent person.

With a bubble tester fitted, future BSS cost less. This is because it negates the need for the BSS inspector to carry out a physical test on the gas called a ‘tightness test‘. Simply holding down the bubble tester for 2 minutes is adequate.

The second inspector, from High Wycombe, came around looked at the various bits and pieces like fire extinguishers, the cooker, the water heater and ventilation. Had a look in the engine room and passed it. Took about half an hour in total.

Gas leak
Before – Leaking gas stop valve.
Narrowboat bubble tester
After – Fitted a new bubble tester
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