Five on a boat to Oxford - part 6

It was on Monday 18th that we finally decided that it was unrealistic of us to expect the engine to heat the domestic water. When Pete the mechanic came to track down the problem. he couldn't. He left us with an assurance that the engine was being cooled perfectly, and that the apparent blockage on the calorifier side of things would "probably shift" when we ran the engine for a good time. Well, we'd now had ten days of engine use, and still the domestic hot water was - well, cold. The apparent blockage on the calorifier side of things was not going to "shift". The Alde boiler would have to carry on doing the job, but it's not nearly as efficient as engine heating.

It was a very slow journey to Lower Heyford, where Dorothy had arranged for Martin to meet her. We'd got used to it now, the slowness of hire-boats with very inexperienced crews. We were patient with them, of course. Why would we not be, but I did lose that patience with an idiot woman who confessed that she and her party had been shown a film of boating basics at their hire base, but that they'd "talked over it" because "it all seemed pretty straightforward"! So straightforward, it would seem, that no-one knew anything about taking a boat up through a flight of locks. I think that kind of attitude might be common amongst hirers, such is the ineptitude of so many.

We arrived at Lower Heyford, right next to the railway station, just minutes after Martin had arrived.

He had a bit of lunch with us before he and his mum departed for Wellington, and the four of us carried on to a wild, desolate mooring above Somerton Mill Bridge - just in time before a very heavy downpour!

Tuesday, however, started dry and bright, and we joined a queue of boats, hired and otherwise, for a day of slow and interesting boating. Somerton Deep Lock was managed with great style by Mike.

We spent some time with NB Quercus whom we'd seen a number of times over the past days, and we breasted up to them at The Pig Place where we bought bacon, beer and gas. When we untied from Quercus and they sailed off, we tied up at the pontoon for a relaxed lunch.

The rest of the afternoon continued in the same, dithery way, and we were glad to arrive at Bridge 171 just south of Banbury, where we moored for the night.

 It was a beautiful, warm evening, and a lovely place to moor.