Cleared by the hospital and can now go cruising

No more visits required to the hospital and it should take another 2/3 weeks before the gas bubble has completely gone. My sight has come back although it will not be perfect its far better than I thought it would be and I can now drive which is a great relief to Anne as I have not been a very good side seat passenger!

We have decided to take the boat further down the Oxford canal and join the Thames for a trip up to Lechlade. The Thames above Oxford is very rural and not a busy as the lower part (which we did 3 years ago) due to the height restriction at Osney Bridge which prevents the larger motor cruisers going any further.

Hopefully I will be able to get an Orange 3g signal and update the blog.

Sun comes out so trip to Gayton Junction

Janet went home on Sunday afternoon and as the forecast looked much better than the weekend we decided to take a trip down the Grand Union to Gayton Junction for the week as I have a check up on the eye next week.

The classic shot of Braunston Church and old windmill from the Puddle Bank.


We were delayed on the way down the Buckby flight - BW had a one day closure on the second lock down the flight- to replace the lock beam. It had apparently been snapped off when a hire boater decided to bash the gate open - BW are supposed to be sending him a bill. Although they had a closure all day the gang really did well and we were on our way by 13.30.

The steam tug Adamant on its way to the Stoke Bruerne gala weekend

The working boats Nuneaton and Brighton on their way to Stoke Bruerne

The Gongoozelers Rest outside Braunston marina with perhaps "Horses d'oeurves" on the menu

Nb George ( the last remaining Royalty class boat) with attitude!!!

The weather for our first trip out this year was great with only a few heavy showers at the start of the week but then plenty of sunshine with three BBQs and a serious amount of paint jobs ticked from the list.

Trip at last but in the rain

We came up to the boat Thursday 4 June with a view to go down the Oxford canal towards Banbury for a few days with Anne's sister Janet as extra crew.
We set off mid Friday morning in nice sunshine and I could now see things with my right eye and didn't hit anything on the way up Napton flight.

As we went round Napton Hill there are always a few "Thelwell" style ponies in the field.



The trip towards Fenny Compton is twisty but through some lovely countryside

Janet in action cutting along the edges that the contractors have missed

The above photographs do not show how bad the weather was- most of Saturday and Sunday morning it absolutely threw it down- at least my new waterproof jacket was fully tested it was excellent and dried in less than an hour.

Wet and Windy

We have just come back from 8 days on the boat during which we managed to do all the jobs that needed to be done. The only thing we didn't do was take the boat out for a trip. The weather can only be described as bl......y awful with strong winds and heavy rain showers every day - except the day we came home!!!! anyway it was still very nice to be back on the boat.

Whilst we were in NZ I had a continuing problem with my right eye which was still playing up on my return. To cut a very long story short I had an operation for a detached retina 2 weeks ago. The NHS have been fantastic with the operation carried out at the Brighton Eye Hospital a week after I first saw them. I have a gas bubble in my eye which will be replaced over the next 2/3 months by vitreous fluid which should give me back the majority of my sight. The only down side is that I cannot drive and Anne is acting as my very good chauffeur. Therefore no long gtrips this year as I need to go back to the hospital so that they can check progress.

We went to visit Pip & Richard (who spent a few days last year with us on the Llangollen canal ) on their new boat Fino on the River Nene at Oundle Cruising Club

The lovely new boat

Whilst there we walked over to Upper Barnwell Lock with its refurbished Mill restaurant.

No spring trip yet

We have not been up to the boat since February as we have been in New Zealand for 7 weeks and also seen Tokyo and San Fransisco -we both had a fantastic time. You can see our trip details at our travels blog site.

Hopefully we will go up to BB soon to get her ready for a 2 month trip in June/July- so please keep an eye on this site.

Wintery pictures

The frozen canal from the bridge by the Folly Inn Napton Jan09


Napton Junction bridge from the entrance to our marina with the canal frozen over about 4inches thick Jan 09

Simon and Debs had three of my pictures - two from last year trip and one from our trip down the Thames in 2005 - framed for our Christmas present probably to go in the hall or the dining room at home.

Looking down the Grand Union from Bucky Top Lock which shows how deep these ponds are so that they have sufficient water for the flight of wide locks. I went looking for my lost mooring hook but couldn't find it- somebody got there before me.

We did see a few moorhens around and I wondered how they coped when the canal is suddenly emptied, as the drop from the sides is a good 4/5feet in places. Do they suddenly wake up from their overnight nest spot and fall to the bottom wondering whats going on - where's the water ,nobody told me I must contact BW!!!!!!

Winter trips to the boat

Due to illness - man flu for me and a cold for Anne we didn't manage to get to the boat between Christmas and New Year. We eventually came up on Sunday 4th January - it was very cold minus5 inside the boat and the marina frozen solid with it going down to minus8 during the night. Didn't take the boat out but did manage a few jobs although we need to do some serious restaining/waxing where condensation has marked the light oak wood.

We went up again last week 12 February when it was not as cold inside the boat only 0 but the marina was still frozen and lots of snow still on the ground.

I will post a few photographs of the frozen surroundings and some of the dewatered Buckby flight which is closed until the beginning of March09.