Our mooring Tuesday evening above Kings Sutton lock- what it does not show is the hum from the M40 about quarter mile away. sorry about the underlining-its doing it again
Totals to date are now 360 miles , 268 locks, 16 cappuccinos and 7 events. Only a few days left of the trip now- ahaaaaaa.
The 7 events in no order are;-
1.Going up and down the Caen Hill flight- I have just seen that they are currently closed until further notice as a boat has hit a gate and they need to assess the damage- if a gate collapsed when it was holding back a head of water it would be a problem.
2.Going through the Reading Oracle shopping centre when the K&A was still in flood ie we were going against a still strong current.
3.Going along the side of the Avon Valley as we entered Bath in spring time.
4. Steam days seeing Crofton Pumping Station in steam and seeing Tornado go through Great Bedwyn both on the same day.
5. I always wave at passenger trains that pass us and we have been close to the railway during this trip. In April I waved at a train as we came out of Aynho Weir lock. We moored near a boat at Pewsey the owner of which said I saw you wave to the train as I was on that train.
6. Mooring alongside Mike and Dini's GRP boat outside Tesco's at Reading on the Thames. A GRP boater moored near us at Goring had seen it and was amazed.
7. It continues to be the people we have met and talked to all the way along our journey- it really makes the trip so enjoyable and interesting-long may it last as it confirms that the UK is still a great place to live.
The ultimate driving seat!!!! not sure if it was fixed down so could be interesting if you got the boat on the plane.
As we came towards Aynho Weir lock we saw a Black Prince hire boat come out. As they got near they all shouted at us. It was the Atterill tribe from Battle out cruising for a week. They had only mentioned us yesterday when hey presto we appeared. A quick stop and a lovely chat in mid channel. A very pleasant surprise to a great days cruising in glorious sunshine.
The South Oxford canal is famous for its lift bridges. This is No 193 Chisnell Lift Bridge - they all have names but don't know why its called this. Its in a lovely location and just connects two fields.
Somerton Deep lock is at 12ft one of the deepest. The lock cottage like all the others is a private dwelling. This one though has no road access and the property comes with its own boat as the nearest road is about a quarter mile away.
We had to stop again at one of our favourite places- Somerton Meadows where we were greeted by the locals again.
We had decided to go back on the Oxford canal through Oxford and this is the first lock -Isis lock which is the other name for the Thames.
Just a lovely building as we approached Folly bridge on the Thames at Oxford.
As we left our mooring at Sandford lock on the River Thames we passed this 3 storey tuppaware boat it was really tall. I do need to add that narrow boats are also refered to as ditch crawlers which is just as bad as tuppaware boats.
