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.

Five on a boat to Oxford - part 5

It's Sunday, 17th September We're half-way through our trip - no longer to Oxford since we don't have the time - and we're wanting to get to Thrupp by the end of the day. Tomorrow, we'll turn and head back towards some location as yet unspecified where Dorothy's son Martin will meet her and drive her back to Wellington in Somerset. In fact, Thrupp is the better winding-point, because the canal down towards Oxford itself is far from pleasant, and the city end of the navigation leaves a great deal to be desired. Those who actually want to visit Oxford, a fine city worthy of a visit, tend to moor in Thrupp and catch the bus.

As we set off towards Somerton Deep Lock, our hearts sank. We very soon caught up with an extremely slow hire-boat. Clearly, they had had no previous experience of narrowboats, and were finding it very hard to keep a straight path on the straight bits, and to turn appropriately on the bends. And there were many bends! However, they were aware enough of us to pull over at the lock, and let us go down first, apologizing profusely as we passed.

"No need to apologize," we called out. "You did the right thing. We can be very fierce!"

The last time I managed Somerton Deep Lock, I failed to close the bottom gate. It was extremely heavy, and my honour was saved by a woman from the boat in front of us, who came back to give me a hand. This time, I'm glad to say, it was no problem.

At Bakers Lock, one starts the short trip upon the River Cherwell, flow conditions allowing.

Shortly after this lock, the Cherwell flows in from the right, the water's deeper, and the speed kicks in! It's wide and winding, fast and fun!

And, all too soon, we arrive at Shipton Weir Lock, which takes us down away off the river and back onto the canal.

There were just three lift bridges now before Thrupp, each of which needed to be opened, one of them electronically. And at Thrupp, we chugged slowly past long lines of moored craft, hoping to find a 60-foot space for the night. We passed one, gambling on there being more closer to the wharf, but that was in vain. We pulled over for the services, winded and made our way back to the space we'd passed. It was still vacant, and we were grateful!

On towards Oxford

Saturday morning was sunny and bright, but nonetheless windy and cold, and we set out after lunch wearing several layers of clothing. This stretch of the Oxford Canal has a lot of lift bridges, all of them already open so far, and there were three locks to descend, one of them being only 12 inches deep. Strangely, however, the lock chamber is wider than the gates, and the one foot descent is stupidly slow!

We see a lot of boat names, of course. Many are very ordinary – Heron, Kingfisher, Willow – and many are human names, mostly female – Jenny, Alice, Anthea, and of course the famous May family; Peggy May, Betty May, Molly May (I'm waiting for the boat called “Cindy Might”, “Mary's Thinking About It”, or “Susie Did”). But today we came across one of the most unusual names we've seen - “P45”! The owner was made redundant, and used his redundancy money to have the boat built. I love it!

We stopped at The Pig Stop, a free range pig farm selling their own produce as well as a small range of other food. Unfortunately, they had sold out of bacon, but we bought a cylinder of gas and fitted that.

We moored in another bright, open and quiet spot just below Belcher's Lift Bridge (no. 189)

Sunday's weather was nothing like the heavy, all-day rain forecast by the BBC. It was cloudy, although the sun broke through from time to time, but cold and very windy. We made our way down to Aynho Wharf for services, but found it closed.

Carrying on along the meandering route through beautiful farming countryside, we found the canal very narrow in places because of large trees overhanging the edges. Although these add to the attractiveness of the canal, they really need to be cut back. The canal is often shallow towards the edges, and passing other craft can be more difficult than it should be.

Where our last lock had been just 12 inches deep, the next, Somerton Deep Lock, is 12 feet deep, with a very heavy bottom gate which I simply could not close on my own. Thankfully, a young lady from the boat which had just left the lock came back and gave me a hand.

We stopped for lunch at Upper Heyford, just above Allen's Lock, and afterwards walked into the tiny village in search of a shop selling food. It turned out that the “shop” mentioned in Nicholson's Guide is an art gallery. In future, we'll look for what the guide calls “stores”!

Since the wind was really quite unpleasant, we decided to stay here the night.