Voyage of the Spurvehog, 2024

 So to make it possible to get Chris online at home by 1.00pm we needed to leave Gayton about 11.00am and so set off from our overnight mooring just after 9.00am.  I did some packing up whilst Chris drove the boat - no locks so that was all very straightforward, and then we swapped over.  This meant I got to do the potentially tricky bits of a sharp left turn onto the Northampton Arm of the canal at Gayton, and into the marina and our mooring.  The first manoeuvre was very much assisted by a favourable wind, and that together with gentle steering took the boat round very easily.  It's very satisfying when that happens as I've said before.  The turn into the marina also went well which was good as there were people watching! To get onto the mooring you have to turn away from the jetty and back into it.  This also went very well which was pleasing too.  I very much feel that I should be able to get the boat in and out of the berth, but I am aware th...

As I hoped, the light at the end of the tunnel (which had not been turned off) where we had moored overnight was wonderful this morning. There was a fairly constant stream of boats going past, mostly going into the tunnel, but there were a few going the other way too. The occasional pile up ensued!! The boat closest to the tunnel was diffident about going in as a boat's headlight could be seen coming towards the tunnel exit, but the boat behind was not happy to have to wait, but couldn't practically get past the first one.  It can be a bit stressful at moments like this!  But we only had to wait and watch!!  But you can also have moments of calm to enjoy, too! The men went off to move the cars - pick up one from Napton and then leave one at Weedon and come back to the boat.  Meanwhile we washed up and then moved the boat along the flat section of water out of the tunnel and up to Norton Junction. It's a straightish section of canal but does have a number of bridges o...

The morning was full of sunshine again which was much appreciated, and the 'moving the cars party' set off to do that involving a drive from Napton to Fenny Compton and then on to Welton, a  village near the exit from the Braunston Tunnel which was where we planned to moor for the night and the back to join the boat at Napton.  The first part of the canal route is along a flat section of canal without locks, and winds its way around Napton Hill.  You get a good view of the whole windmill as you do that route, rather than just one sail that is now visible from the canal flight down the hill.  The canal route is quite windy and passes Napton Canal Boat rentals before the Oxford Canal ends as it joins the Grand Union. The next six miles are windy in some places and it's interesting that there does seem to be a Law that ensures that you pass boats going the other way at constrictions such as bridges or bends.  We did that several times!  We stopped for lunch at...

It was an absolutely lovely day again today.  I had some editorial stuff to do on the newsletter I am responsible for editing, and so Chris and James set off to get the other car and move one to Napton, our destination for the day. So they moved cars, I edited and Belinda did some boat cleaning.  All very diligent! We set off at about 11.30am and the first part of the journey is an extremely windy bit of canal, following the contours around all sorts of bends, some very sharp, some much less so.  At one point we got back to the place where there is a bit of HS2 work going on,  There were plenty of workers in evidence, and Tonka toys moving about too.  It's a huge space, and you really wonder what it's all for, and whether any of it is really necessary.  There is a project here to explore the way cement settles with different sorts of reinforcement. The engineers in the crew were a bit sceptical about the whole thing!! There were all sorts of big machines in...

Chris set off before 9.00am to go to see his brother and sister, leaving the three of us to move the boat up the canal from Cropredy to Fenny Compton. It was a bit of a cold and grey day when we did the journey in the other direction!  Today could not have been more different.  The sun shone and the temperature rose.   Cropredy Bridge over the Cherwell was the site of an important battle in the English Civil War in 1644 when a large force of Parliamentarians failed to capture King Charles who managed to escape to the west.  There's nothing much to see there now, but it's interesting to get a sense of how much of the land we have been travelling through was part of significant battles in the Civil War, partly due to the strategic importance of the location of Oxford.  It is fairly featureless land without major hills, roads or villages really, but was important for the war effort nevertheless.  I was doing the driving this morning leaving our friends on...

So the rest of the troops did car moving yesterday and I spent the day at the boat feeling a bit dizzy - better today I'm glad to say. I had taken this picture the night before - just before 10.00pm - of the reflections from a building right next to the canal in front of our mooring.  I really like the colours! Anyway, today we did some food shopping while Chris and James went off to look at Tooley's Yard - a yard which had been in place since the canal was constructed in the 1700s.  I bet some of the tools are original! It has a set of all sorts of equipment used to make wooden hulled boats as well as more modern boat equipment.  James and Belinda were off to see friends for lunch fairly close to here, so Chris and I went and collected our washing and then went to Upton House, a National Trust property about 7 miles from here.  (We had the car here so that was easy!)  The house was owned by Lord Bearwood who bought it in 1927 and who amended the house that had ...

It was a bright morning again when we had had breakfast, and so we were happy to set off in the dry to Banbury.  The boat was moored in an internet dead spot, so we had to hope that our original expectations of the weather as being only showery were met.  We did have the pleasure of conferring over breakfast about the cuckoo we had heard a little while before we had early morning tea! It must have been pretty close to the boat. Much of canal was rural today, and it was quite a surprise to see these cows in the water. They didn't seem to fussed to see us!  Looking at this picture that I took from further back, I thought there was a building on the skyline among the hedgerow trees, but enlarging the picture it is clear that they are just a few unleafed trees which look as though they ought to be a tower of some sort! A very bucolic scene!  We had to cross the Cherwell again today, and there was quite a lot of water passing over the weir, but it didn't have too much of ...

 Blue and sunny it was when we were ready to go this morning which was a very lovely start to the day. The first thing we had to do was open the lift bridge near our mooring.  This required the effort of putting a key in a lock and pressing the up button until the lock was at the top, waiting for the boat to go through, and then pressing the down button - well within my capability first thing in the morning! I let another boat go through the other way before we were ready to go through - social as far as the boater is concerned, but meant that a couple of cars had to wait - they didn't seem to mind too much!  It's hard getting back on the boat at that point as there are a lot of moored boats along the canal so I walked along to the first bridge where it's easy to get on the boat.  It doesn't seem to matter to me how many bridges there are on the canals, which all look rather similar, but the view through them espeically in the sunshine, always has an appeal. The litt...