Thursday 20 September.

Decided to try and get up early and catch up with the Bruce Trust boat ready for the return to Gt Bedwyn from the paralympics. Failed miserably and what a grind through locks, swing bridges and weirs! Took for ages and we did not catch the Bruce Trust boat. Zoomed through Aldermaston and Newbury, but to no avail.
Forgot to mention that we were also delayed by a couple of octogenarians on their Silver Jubilee boat. They eventually had to let us join them in a lock and so for 3 locks we were able to "help" each other.
Finally stopped at Hamstead and are now in the Red House for an anniversary meal. A wonderful restaurant. Could not have done better if I had booked somewhere.

Wednesday 19 September

Up early and away by 8.30 to head for the K&A. A lovely sunny day not a cloud in the sky when we left our mooring and turned around from facing upstream to head off for Reading.  It was such a lovely day and we would like to have meandered more.  But you cannot just moor up on the Thames and need to stop mainly around where the locks are.  We both decided that we need to bring back our Motor home and explore this area.  I have spent the last two days sitting in the front of the boat (Where the Lock keeper suggested) sitting in the sun and soaking up the lovely views beautiful houses. Then we hit Reading and it all changed. Once we were off the Thames and on the Kennett and Avon we both really appreciated our time on the Thames and being well looked after by the Lock keepers apart from Mr Grumpy.  Yet again we were confronted with different types of Paddles on the first lock the paddles were opened by huge steering wheels. But we managed.  At one point there were traffic lights. John struggled a bit to press the button and I thought he was going in for a dip.  Once the light went to green we were were told we could  not stop until the next lock.  We cruised by Debenhams, House of Fraser, Jaime's Restaurant and Vue Cinema.  What a lovely atmosphere.  Lots of people busy during their lunch break. We were soon at the next lock and struggled a little to moor up due to a weir.  For the rest of the day we travelled on every lock was a real challenge.  Either a weir before or after. Very larger paddles which gushed the water in and leaving John to try and keep Martini steady and one thought she had been drinking she was all over the place.  At one lock there were no sides and the water poured over the banks. The final straw was the Swing Bridge.  It was a road variety and John had to read the instructions, stop the traffic (in Rush Hour) and after all of this we decided enough was enough and we moored at Theale. According to the book it was 3/4 mile so I persuaded  John to get the bikes off the back.  FIRST TIME.  We are now sitting in a pub with a pint each, and we are not in Theale we went the wrong way!

Tuesday 18 September.

0830 and at the Isis Lock for the Thames! John is very anxious about going onto the river and had asked me to sit at the back with him.  Unsure as to why.  Anyhow at the first lock I was commanded to go to the front by the lock keeper: he was a little grumpy.  This was so that I could tie the boat up at the front in the lock.  We held up proceedings as we did not have a River Thames Licence.  So he needed to shell out £35 using his credit card.  The Lock keeper's mood did not improve.  Once out of the lock there it was the huge wide River Thames. It felt very strange after spending the last month living in a lock. But hey the sun shone and the huge properties with their lovely boathouses were a joy to view.  Lots of plastic boats on the Thames and they appear to look down on the tradional canal boats.  What a difference in attitude for us.  The speed limit rose to 5 miles per hour although I would say that most of the plastic boats were doing a lot more than that.  We had help through all of the locks apart from one at lunchtiome when the lock keeper was on his break and it was self service.  We both got off and looked at the instructions. Decided that I would man the gate and John would bring the boat through.  We were managing well on the first part and before I had chance to go to the other end to start to open her up Jesus sent me a helper; a man in a plastic boat who obliged. (Did he really - John)  Even more in luck as it started to rain just as I jumped back on board leaving the man to do the lock and J ohn to stear.

We moored up at   ..  forgot the name.  Wallingford. According to our guide it is where Midsummer Murders is filmed. We had a quick trot around the town and did some shopping in Waitrose.  Quick drink on the local to check if they had WIFI and back to the boat. Did not return to use the wifi.

Monday 17 September

Very slow progress today. Too many moored boats and bridge lifts. Part of the canal looked like the slums of Oxford given the state of the residential boats. Never mind the other OAPs doddering along through the locks, complete with boat hook in hand and life preserver. Hope we don't get like that, but no doubt it will come! Made Oxford and found the Anchor courtesy of the Good Pub Guide, courtesy of Angela. Thanks. Visited Oxford on the bus. (Highlight of the day.)
Due to hit the River Thames tomorrow. A little bit of trepidation, but no fear.

Saturday 15 September.

Got up early and headed for Banbury. Moored and ready for the off in town by 9.30.
Gone sightseeing/shopping/drinking/eating and surfing care of Weatherspoon's. Very handy they are too, in every major place that we have stopped so far. Replaced all the lost clothing from yesterday.
Very impressed with the canal setting in Banbury. Right next to the shopping centre, town centre, bus station, sports centre and sanitation station. All within 5 minutes of the berth.

Sunday 16 September

Left Banbury and headed towards Oxford. John did all the locks due to Chris's bad leg. (Or so she says.) Got told off for not doubling up in a lock, but the previous boat did not double with us, and there was nothing to really indicate that this funny shaped lock was for doubling. It would take a lot of shifting back and forth to fit two boats in.Did not reach Oxford. En route spent time looking for the washing pegs. Finally realised that they were at the bottom of the canal with the clothes from Friday.

Friday 14 September

Left Napton-on-the-hill, but saw the windmill. Bad day weather very windy. Locks once again have different paddles and on the first lock I jammed the windlass on and when I released the safety catch the windlass swung round and hit my right boob.

Washing got blown off the boat due to a large gust of wind.  John tried to catch it but it all went under.  Spent a few minutes with the hook pole but all we found was one t shirt.  I just hope that my black bra does not get caught round their propellor.  Very upset as my favourite PJ's (the ones that Jean Parkes and I brought in an expensive shop in Malvern) are at the bottom of the canel or round another propellor.  Did not reach Banbury so moored up by a railway line and the M 40. Very poor television reception; every time a train went past we lost the picture.  Went to bed in disgust with a book.

Thursday 13th September

Today we have been on the boat for 1 month.  We have got ourselves into a routine and we now start to have a good knowledge about the boat.  We need to keep her clean and tidy both inside and out.  It is surprising how many comments we get about the boat after we have given her a good clean outside.  However we never get both sides clean at the same time. 

We got up early this morning and I nipped to the co-op which was about 30 seconds from our mooring.  We really liked Leamington Spa and felt really at home there. 

In order to turn the boat round we needed to go towards Warwick before we found a winding hole.

Great weather this morning: I could have worn my shorts.  Lots of locks again today and we needed to find a partner boat to travel with.  This took a little while but eventually we found the right couple who owned their boat so therefore understood the locks etc.  No excitement today apart from a baby duck who got in the staircase lock with us. Very pleased to hear that the Gorry's received my card and are now blogging us.  Also we had a Waterways Volunteer who informed us that there was a noisy mother duck at the top of the locks.  Well the baby appeared to love the locks and understood them as soon as the gate was open he was first in and out.  He was treating the locks like a Disney Ride.

We stopped at around 5 p.m., both knackered as we had being doing the locks all day. We have just counted and it was 23, all wide beam locks, with terrible paddles and the gearing is just bizarre and you need to give them about 36 turns on each paddle.

 

Moored up on the Oxford Canal just before the next long flight of locks by Nap ton-on-the-Hill.

Wednesday 12 September.

We caught a bus into Warwick and spent a few hours going round the castle, in the dungeons and climbed up the ramparts and towers.  Lots of notices to remind you that if you had a medical condition not to do this.  (Just like Disney.) We ingnored it all and went up and down.  The views from the towers were spectacular.  The best part of the visit was the display by the eagles and vultures.

Afterwards we walked into town and then visited the Leyester Hospital. (Similar to the Chelsea Hospital.)  This was also well worth a visit. Tea in the old Brethren dining hall.  Bus back to Leamington. Then into town to get our provisions as the next few days we will be out in the wild again; lots of locks and no shops.

Tuesday 11 September.

Left the Two Boats and headed for Leamington Spa.  The first lock was a staircase and very difficult to open the paddles, and it was very deep.  We did this one on our own.

The next locks we were able to double up.  A hire boat; four on board; our luck was in.  I continued to walk forward to set the next lock. There were 9 in total and I walked three miles.  The people from the other boat were from Swindon.  So lots of chat.  We moored up in Leamington in the centre of town.  Supermarket 10 seconds from the boat.  John and I both had our hair cut very short so we both look like escaped convicts.

We walked around Leamington and its famous park, the Pump Room and the museum. The sun was shining and we enjoyed our time.  We rounded the evening off with supper in a pub where we were able to get on line, but we forgot the Blog.

Monday 10 September.
It's only ten days until our wedding annivsary.  This morning was not a shorts day. Cruised to Braunston turn and then turned right at Napton Junction heading for Leamington Spa.   We were lucky to pair up with another boat to Stockton Locks (12).  We were really lucky as the other couple were as good as us(!) and we made a good team.
Moored up at the bottom and walked into the village for provisions. A very pretty village with at least 5 pubs that were all open. We had to go to the Charlie Wells Pub. This made John very happy as reminded him of our early days together drinking in The Fox at Carlton, Beds. (Don Allen, please note.)

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Sunday 9 September.
Still needing to wear our shorts not a cloud in the sky when I went to collect the paper. Into the small lock and heading towards  Hillmorton close to Rugby. Progress was very slow as we were the last of 6 boats.  The leader being incredibly slow.  At one point a Plastic Boat with family on board overtook the slow boats to the front of the queue.  The last three locks were being manned by British Waterways Volunteers which was very helpfull.  Today has been the busiest so far and what with the slow boats and the volume of other boats we were glad to moor up and watch the Grand Prix and Lewis won.  We opened a bottle of Fizz, care of Diane to celebrate.

Saturday 8 September.
Hi, Sunny again today and we left early and cruised down to Hawkesbury Junction. As we tried to moor up a Gentleman on the next boat jumped off his to help us moor up.  I take back all what I said about men yesterday.

We decided not to take the boat down into the Coventry Basin due to it not being seen as very safe.

We walked to the main road and caught a bus into Coventry Town Centre.  The journey in was very intersting lots of Temples well there were three on my side of the bus.  It reminded us of being in Mumbai.

We got off in the Town Centre and had our Picnic Lunch in the grounds of the old Cathedral.  We also went inside the new one.  I had not been back to the Cathedral or indeed Coventry since I came with my mum and dad to celebrate being a Queens Guide.  There was an organ recital going on so it was very pleasant walking around.

Next we went to the Guidhall and then was told that it was a Coventry Heritage open day where entried to museums etc was all free: can't be bad.  We also visited the Council Chambers. Neither of us had realised how interesting Coventry was with a lot of history.  We caught a 1960's Coventry Co-rporation bus: it was a Daimler and we had an hour touring around Coventry.  It was very intersting except when the bus stopped we all got very hot upstairs.  There was no insulation and we are used to air conditioning.  Then a quick trip around the transport museum.  Well worth a visit with lots to see.  But we left it a bit late to go in so only had 3/4 hour.  Now in Westherspoons again just for a drink and to write up this blog.