Couldn't get any internet signal last night, so a double post tonight!! Can you take it?
So, Banbury, I quite like Banbury, it's got some interesting old buildings and seems to have a lot of history.
After breakfast we decided (it wasn't raining!!) to do a treasure hunt, we've had one on the boat for Banbury for a while now and today seems the opportune moment. For those that don't know, myself and Penny are quite fond of these (www.treasuretrails.co.uk) we find it a good way of exploring some of the towns and villages that we pass through, quite often getting to see bits that we would otherwise ignore, and no, we're not on any commission!! It was all pretty straightforward until clue 18, which turned out to be underneath the fruit & veg stall in the market square, so it was a bit of a thing, me crawling under the tables moving empty boxes about to get at the answer. Anyway, hunt successfully completed, we returned to boat for coffee and then set off. No problem through the lift bridge and lock, then it started raining rather a lot!! Penny retired to book reader and I put up the umbrella. It was heavy but didn't last too long and by the time we got to Grants lock it had stopped and the sun was out. Very windy though, making the boat handling a bit awkward, I was actually quite impressed with Penny's steering into a couple of the locks in the wind, she seems to be doing
things instinctively!! how times have changed!!
We stopped early, in the middle of nowhere, good views, nobody about, peace and quiet, lovely!! So, I set about continuing the works to our dinette, got on really well and it looks a lot better. Still quite a bit to do to get it right, including a trip to Andover in the hope that my good friend Chris will help me make a new table, I understand he's got every woodworking tool known to man, so that should make it a doddle!!
Some nice cod fillets for dinner, some wine, another good day with lots more to come.
Por mis amigos de clase Espanol, vi un barco se llama chubasco, que raro! El tiempo es muy variable, a veces hace sol, a veces llover!! Pasamos un buen tiempo, hasta pronto. Estaremos en Odiham el 23 y 24 de mayo estareis bienvenido venir alli. Espero comprender mi espanol!!
Somewhere I'd like to buy and convert to living accommodation:
Today: 8 miles - 5 locks - 4 hours
So Far: 13 miles - 9 locks - 7 hours
Sunday 10th May
Neither of us slept particularly well last night, no idea as to why, so inevitably we eventually fell asleep and didn't want to get up!! Get up we did only to find that one of our aquatic friends had spent the night on the back, literally spreading muck all over the place!! So job number 1 was to clean up.
Mysteriously, the lift bridge we were moored near had been dropped overnight, I wonder why? As I was getting ready to go, I noticed a boat approaching, so, perhaps naughtily? rushed to get going in front of it, after all Somerton Deep lock was just around the corner and I didn't want to wait while we turned it round.
A bit windy and overcast this morning, but no problems with the boat handling. A few more boats about today, but straightforward cruising..... until pigeon lock where we arrived to find 3 boats queued to go down, where the hell did they all come from?? There was no room on the lock landing so we had to hang around alongside a moored boat, when we moved onto the landing we took advantage of the delay and had a bit of lunch. There were a couple of boats waiting to come up at Bakers lock, and all of a sudden the canal felt very busy, lots of boats about. Nearly had a bit of a moment on the twisty bit of the Cherwell below Bakers with an oncoming rental that didn't see us, they went aground and we sailed off into the distance.
Arrived at Shipton Weir lock:
Arrived at Thrupp, there was a bit of an incident where I thought my foot was going to get badly crushed when we tried using it as a fender, but no harm done, a reminder that care must be taken at all time though, canals can be dangerous.
Tonights mooring in Thrupp:
Penny took me to Annies for cake, the nice sounding coffee & walnut was so nice there was none left, so I settled for double chocolate. Some dark clouds about now, but it still hasn't rained, I even had to water the petunias.
No works to the dinette tonight, a quiet night in, looking forward to gammon steaks for dinner, no Spanish for my classmates either, maybe tomorrow!!
Today: 12 miles - 8 locks - 7 hours
So Far: 25 miles - 17 locks - 14 hours
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