Summer in Oxfordshire

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post. In fact, the whole of the summer has passed.

So glad I moved the boat from Milton Keynes. MK is an MOR dump with plenty of weirdos. I once got assaulted by a householder in Milton Keynes in my last job working as a Field Interviewer. Was trying to confirm his address and he punched me in the mouth. Not a big bloke either.

Glad I didn’t get to see MK with lots of people around. A lucky escape.

Still, I’m out now and enjoying the rustic charms of Oxfordshire.

I’ve moved down the Oxford Canal on the boat, and the canal has closed after me.

The whole of the Northern stretch remains closed as I write this. I don’t have to move the boat every two weeks due to the lifting of restrictions. This could be seen as a good or bad thing. Most, like me, see it as a positive, only having to move when you need water etc. Although, unlike them in the North, I’m not confined to one space. I can move if I want, and not if I don’t

Since my last instalment I’ve stayed at Summertown Meadows, Enslow and here, Kidlington.

Alex James’s Big Feastival

The ex-bassist out of Blur’s own creation. I visited this a couple of years ago. It was pretty good then, so I decided to go this year.

Allen’s Lock to Enslow

A showcase of food and music I guess you might call it. There’s some camping available. That usually sells out. It takes place over the August bank holiday, 3 days.

The weather held out, just about. Although there were a few sprinkles of rain, nothing set in.

I had a souvlaki pita and momo dumplings for lunch, washed down with Atlantic IPA from Sharp’s Brewery. £6.90 a pint. Not too damaging as Oxfordshire prices go.

Watched Bastille on the main stage and went to the Britpop bar where I had a little dance. One of the DJ’s was Simon Pegg. That’s right, you heard correctly, the actor Simon Pegg. Fancies himself as a DJ, Music decidedly on the fromagé side. Not really my cup of tea. Back to the main stage to watch Doves, Fabio and Grooverider. Took part in walking, eating and drinking in varying degrees as the day wore into night…

I can only faintly remember that I had a pulled pork something for dinner, and a cocktail in a bag to round the evening off.

Got lost around some woods and the river Evenload on the way back to the car. Couldn’t see my mobile phone clearly and it had gone on to battery saver.

Standard festival stuff.

Big Feastival – Main Stage

Was pretty flaked out by the time I got to bed.

The festival all ended pretty quickly. Not sure if the locals have made complaints about the noise levels, I seem to remember it carrying on later last time I came.

I was just getting warmed up!

Mooring at Somerton meadows

Spent a month or so at this location. There’s actually no towpath here, the access is by right of way of the land owner.

Each morning, I had to cycle half a mile or so across this field to reach the car and get to work.

HMP Bullingdon

Due to a lack of finances, I applied for an ‘escort’ role at the local prison. This is basically where you walk around, opening doors for contractors and making sure they don’t leave any rope ladders, vapes or knives for inmates to pick up and expand their retinue.

Scraped this from the internet using our soon-to-be nemesis, (AI LLM).

I worked there for 2 months.

It’s finished now. The project was handed over from Keir to the MOJ on the 2nd October, 2026.

Although the agency offered me more work on site, they never discussed it in any detail, just that ‘work’ would be ongoing. The general view of my colleagues was that the ‘new’ project would be overstaffed, and there would be a lot of sitting around involved.

I took this as my cue to make a clean exit. As some random person once said to me in HMP Bullingdon’s sterile area………. ‘get in and get out‘.

That’s the nature of contact work.

Better to make a clean break.

Manpower

Manpower got a pay rise of 6% for our role within the prison and sent an email telling us they wouldn’t be passing it on.

Took 2 days off sick, emailed them about it. Got no reply, emailed again asking them to explain why they weren’t paying it, even though it was their statutory requirement.

It’s not a lot of money, a piffling amount.

Agencies are not a long term thing.

• No sick pay.
• No pension.
• No rights.
• Worse pay than you actually should be getting for your role.
  
  The only thing is, they smooth your entry and exit from a position.

If you’re serious about the work you do, you’d never work for an agency.

I took the money. Now I’m out.

Bastille day – Horse and Groom

Every year, the owners put on a two day music and food festival at the Horse and Groom pub in Caulcott, Oxfordshire.

It was not far from where the boat was moored at the time. Maybe 4 miles. The best way there was to cycle; along the towpath to Somerton, then across the grounds of the old USAF base at Upper Heyford.

This was in July, the height of the summer. Some of the views across the Cherwell valley were worth the cycle ride in their own right.

Harvest was early this year due to the hot climate.

As you can see, Milton Keynes, it ain’t.

Undermined trees

One of the things I’ve noticed is how trees are being undermined by the increasing propensity of the Cherwell to flood.

I’m guessing the flood water is simply washing the soil away from the roots of the trees and depriving them of the nutriments they need to survive.

All along the river from Somerton down, dead and dying trees are strewn along the banks.

Here at Tackley, where I stopped for lunch, it used to have a thick and overhanging woody canopy. Now, not so much….

The canopy is faded and decayed. Here is an example:

Canal side:

River side:

Felt slightly weird looking forward to a lunch and a cold cider sitting in the shade and finding that the trees had gone! Still, that’s climate change, or not, if we are to believe our petro-dollar hegemonic overlords.

To Enslow and beyond

Having transited the no-mans land below Heyford, I’m on the Enslow and final miles into Oxford.

Enslow is adjacent to a nature reserve which runs along the left of this picture. At night, owls sit in the trees and there seemed to be a constant detail of fisher-persons on the towpath approach to my boat. All very nature-al.

Mobile signal isn’t great. It’s fairly peaceful though and the Cherwell is right next to you on the left.

It has a nice walking circuit of footpaths and hardly used lanes, taking you around the radar centre, (not pictured). I used to walk along this section of towpath near to Pigeons Lock.

As I stayed, the towpath steadily deteriorated. The brambles grew, and walkers had to move further and further toward the edge of the towpath, leading to that falling away as well.

Eventually, I had to write an email to the CRT, along with some photos asking them to sort it out.

After some further clarification with a CRT office bod about the photo’s location, “not on the Golf Course?“. To their credit the CRT crew turned up within 2 working days and chopped back all the bushes. When I left Enslow, the path was clear!

I was able to continue walking without getting brambles in my face, or falling in the canal.

Nice.

To Kidlington

Through Bakers lock. The canal merges with the Cherwell for the second time on it’s length.

The navigation becomes much deeper.

Kidlington.

Can be a good or a bad thing.

If I were to moor on the standard, CRT towpath side, it would be a bad thing:

• The mooring is overcast, little solar
• Mobile signal is poor, intermittent or non-existent
• Parking. 15 min towpath walk away from mooring locations

Towpath is narrow. Pretty nasty. Wouldn’t stop at all were it not for the fact you can offside moor here.

Usually offside mooring is permitted at the landowners discretion.

Where I am, the landowner is Cherwell Council.

They don’t seem to have any problems, or if they do, they haven’t let me know.

CRT do get on to me, but being the Oxford canal, the CRT don’t own the offside bank as they do on most other canals. That restricts them as to what they can enforce on me.

Taking out the trash

I’ve got to sort a few logistical and mechanical issues with the boat, not least the removal of the pump out toilet, and installation of a new Thetford C403L cassette toilet.

I’ve done a short video you can watch here.

I’ve removed the tank, which I did along with the help of my mothers partner, Michael. It was 80kg, pictured below. Very heavy and awkward, also full of shit.

I then had to get it down to the scrapyard, where they gave me £6.60 for it. Handily, almost exactly the price of a pint of IPA.

The boat related work continues:

• Fix solar panels: Repair laminate bubbling on flexible solar panels surface.
• Replace solar panels: One set of flexible panels has failed completely and need replacing.
• Service boat: Needs attention before the winter season

My own body needs a service too. I’ve discovered I’ve got a small nodule on my underarm. It’s slightly painful to the touch and I’d like to know what it is.

Also, the dentist is sending me emails telling me I need to get my teeth checked.

All these are things which can be done easily here at my current location, or, much more difficultly at any other location.

So for the moment, I remain here in Kidlington as Autumn progresses and Winter approaches.

Hope you enjoyed my much delayed blog.

Until next time.