Day Forty - Lower Heyford to Banbury

We didn’t come to Banbury on a cock horse but a canal boat! And when we went to find the cross of the nursery rhyme fame there really wasn’t one. We did find one cross at the end of the very long High Street which was built in 1859 to commemorate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter. Apparently earlier crosses of which there were three were removed by the Puritans in 1600.
We left at eight fifteen and although the forecast was dire we were lucky with the weather as it was bleak but with only the odd sprinkle of rain. Surprisingly the temperature is mild and certainly not as cold as last weekend when it was sunny! When we arrived at Banbury two o’clock the rain started to get heavier. It was a slower trip than anticipated today as there were many moored boats which means we have to travel at a very slow speed so as not to disturb their moorings. We also had some very deep locks. One lock, the Somerton Deep Lock, which vies for the deepest lock on the canal system was twelve feet deep and it had the mother of heavy lock doors. I could not budge the door to close it after Henk took the boat in. Henk ingeniously took the boat’s long pole and prised it between the lock door and the lock wall and pushed the door closed with me on top pulling it shut. At the next lock we came across the shallowest lock on our trip at eight inches! It was hardly worth filling!
Banbury has kept its high street with the little shops but competing against it is a huge shopping centre, Castle Quay sitting right on the canal. The town makes the most of its connection with the nursery rhyme. A statue of the “Fine Lady on a white horse” was put in place near the Victorian cross in 2003.
The Banbury Tourist Information Centre had an excellent leaflet on the background to the nursery rhyme. There seems to have been many variations of the rhyme over the centuries including a 1785 version which says:
Ride a cock-horse, to Banbury Cross, To see what Tommy can buy, A Penny White Loaf, A Penny White Cake, And a Hugegy penny pye.
We only have two days left on the boat before we return it to Napton on Saturday morning.
Photos: Henk taking the boat into the Somerton Deep Lock; A fine lady on a white horse; A lift bridge over the canal.

Day Thirty-Nine - Oxford to Lower Heyford

As we walked from the Oxford to Kidlington bus to return to our boat in the middle of the afternoon Henk said to me, “I’ll be looking forward to seeing how you write this one up!”. Well, today our beloved camera decided to suicide by drowning. As I was jogging along the tow path between the locks the camera decided to jump out of its little velcroed leather pouch, bounce on the bitumen, bounce onto the grass and then plopped itself into the canal. It only took a nanosecond! Henk saw it happen from the boat. We both couldn’t believe it. Henk brought the boat in and we tried desperately to pluck it from about a metre of water with the boat’s pole. At one stage we got to see the chord as we brought it up but it slipped away again. The water was so murky it was hopeless. I was bereft.
At the next lock we told one of the boaties that we had lost the camera and he said it was a shame to lose all our holiday photos. I explained we had downloaded them all to our little computer. “Well, your lucky.” he said. “Is it insured?” “Yes, I said.” “Well, your lucky.” he said. And it made me realise that we were lucky and all we really needed to do was to buy another camera.
We stopped at next town of Kidlington and caught a bus back to Oxford. It took twenty minutes by bus and we had spent three hours on the canal to get to Kidlington. We bought our new camera at a store called Argos which is an interesting way to shop. All they have in their store front are quite a number of counters with large catalogues. We chose our replacement camera from the catalogue, went to the check-out and paid, they gave us a number and when the camera had been brought out of storage we collected it. It took about ten minutes. We took longer to buy a replacement camera bag. This time it has a zip and no Velcro! We then decided to eat lunch at Oxford before returning to Kidlington. The whole exercise took two hours and fifteen minutes and we didn’t think we would see Oxford again so soon!
And so the photos being displayed on this blog page are being provided by the new Canon Powershot SX 120. We wondered when the old camera and its memory card would be found. Maybe in 2000 years!
We left Oxford at eight thirty and arrived at Lower Heyford at seven o’clock. We went from the wide Thames River onto the narrow Oxford Canal. For the first time in weeks we are back to single locks and for the first time in over a week I am back to doing manual locks with my trusty windlass. We are also going up in the locks and I am filling them as we rise from the Thames to Napton. We also went through quite a number of lift bridges which are a challenge as they are all operate differently.
We saw quite a variety of wildlife today including squirrels, a paddock full of pheasants and some deer.
It is getting dark earlier and when we set out for the pub for dinner we had to use a torch for the first time. It was an overcast day today but the forecast for the next three days is not looking great.
Photos: Henk going under a lift bridge; Late afternoon on the canal; The narrow Oxford Canal; Autumn trees.

Day Thirty-Eight - Oxford

We are moored quite close to the Oxford Rowing Club and it was hardly surprising that there were early rowers on the Thames. We had a lovely relaxing day getting to know Oxford using the City Sightseeing Bus again for their running commentary and a means to get around the city. It was hard to get our head around Oxford University. Unlike our universities in Australia where they are mostly on one campus there is no one campus in Oxford but thirty colleges placed throughout the city. It really is a university town with many bicycles and buses.
After our morning coffee at a cosy coffee house and a visit to the Information Centre we set out and visited the nearby Covered Market which has been in place since the seventeen hundreds. It comprised of rows of tiny shops selling a wide range of wares and little eating places tucked away in its little nooks and crannies. At eleven thirty we joined a small tour group to visit the Bodleian Library. It was established in the late fifteen hundreds and contains thousands of very old manuscripts and books and it was very impressive.
We had a late lunch at “The Eagle and Child”, a pub affectionately called “The Bird and Baby” where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and other authors used to meet on a regular basis for a pint and to discuss their writing. It was a snug pub and we enjoyed a Lincolnshire curled sausage with potato mash and deep fried onion rings. We were starving and it fitted the bill on a wet day.
We went on a final tour on the bus and on the way back to the boat we called into Alice’s Shop. This was the shop Alice Liddell, the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford used to visit to buy barley sugar. Charles Dodgson based ‘Alice in Wonderland’ on Alice. The shop was filled with countless souvenirs based on the book as well as a range of sweets including barley sugar.
Photos: Henk outside “The Eagle and Child”; The Bridge of Sighs; Fancy patty cakes at a cake shop at the Covered Markets; In the Divinity School, Bodleian Library Building.

Day Thirty-Seven - Dorchester to Oxford

We were keen to set out from the banks of the Thames to get to our destination of Oxford as soon as possible. We left at eight thirty and arrived at one o’clock and had a late lunch. It was still very chilly but thankfully it didn’t rain. Henk had all his warm gear and gortex jacket on again to try and keep warm. It’s the wind factor that seems to be keeping the weather chilly. I’m wearing my long johns, a singlet and spencer under my clothes. This afternoon Henk bought some t-shirts from Marks and Spencers to wear under his shirts to keep him warm.
We thought it was best to moor on the Thames River side of Oxford which is just ten minutes from the city centre rather than go through two further locks which would have taken us onto the Oxford Canal. We figured there could have been more canal boats moored on the Oxford Canal rather than pay the steep licence fee to come onto the Thames. We’ll find out the day after tomorrow when we leave Oxford and start making our way up the Oxford Canal to return the boat to Napton this Saturday.
When we headed into Oxford mid afternoon it started to rain. We decided to board a City Sightseeing Bus to get out of the rain and to get an overview of the city. The tour was very good and they covered so much it was hard to take it in. We thought we might do it again sometime tomorrow as the ticket remains current for twenty-four hours.
I dragged Henk to Evensong at the Christ Church Cathedral at six o’clock. The choir sounded lovely but the choice of hymns could have been better. The cathedral is apparently the smallest in England with the largest diocese. It is compact but it had a good feel about it.
Tomorrow we can sleep in before we continue to see the sights of Oxford.
Photos: Sunset on the Thames where we moored our boat near Dorchester; Abingdon near Oxford; Canoeists coming out of a lock.

Day Thirty-Six - Reading to Dorchester

We woke to clear skies which was great to see after yesterday’s drizzle. The morning was very chilly. Before we went to bed I put the extra doona from the spare bed (Brian’s bunk!) on top of my doona. Henk put two spare doona covers on top of his doona. We weren’t cold overnight but we were during the day. Henk with my beanie and gloves braved the chill and steered until we arrived at Wallingford at lunchtime. I kept making hot drinks to keep him going.
When we left Reading at eight thirty we encountered quite a number of rowers and canoeists making most of the weekend sunshine. At times it was a bit tricky especially with the novice rowers. We could tell which ones they were as they couldn’t row straight and occasionally rowed into the overhanging trees along the banks of the river or in front of us!
We had lunch on the boat and then spent a couple of hours in Wallingford. It was a pleasant, small town with a wide range of little shops and a long history. The town was fortified by Alfred the Great and we visited the castle built by William the Conqueror. There is very little remaining of the castle as Henry VIII ordered much of its timber and lead to be shipped downstream for enlarging Windsor Castle. We found a tea room at the top of the High Street specialising in patty cakes and we tried their vanilla variety with lashings of icing. They were very good.
We were going to stay overnight at Wallingford but as we had made good time we decided to do an extra couple of hours in the afternoon which will give us more time in Oxford.
As we had planned eating on the boat we didn’t need to moor alongside a town and we moored along a green bank near a very tiny Dorchester. The paddock beside the boat had over a hundred geese waiting to greet us.
Photos: Henk rugged up against the chill; Peering through a window at Wallingford Castle; Shillingford Court on the bank of the Thames; Our backyard for our overnight stay; Henk tying up the boat for the evening.

Day Thirty-Five - Marlow to Reading

Last night’s storm brought repeated light showers and a decided drop in the temperature. The BBC Weather tells us that this will continue for the next few days with maximums of fourteen and minimums of four. It was a day where we spent most of it in our wet and warm gear. We can’t complain as we have had mostly good weather and it’s all part of the adventure.
We woke up snug in our boat and had no need to turn on the diesel heating for the radiators. Given that the day was not looking great we set out at eight o’clock to try and get most of the motoring out of the way by the early afternoon and we could retreat to inside the boat.
I had to undertake the first two locks at Marlow and Temple Locks and after nine o’clock the lock keepers were on duty.
I spent two long hours in the morning worrying about my mother as I couldn’t raise her on her landline or her mobile. And I knew she should have been at home at six o’clock in the evening. I passed over the problem to Sandra who duly found Mum at the St Andrews Hospital and everything checked out just fine. I could then get on with the rest of my day!
As expected we passed very few boats today and those we did had all the gear on just like us. We moored after Shiplake Lock, filled the boat with water, got rid of the rubbish and had lunch. The cold, wet weather certainly makes us hungry.
We arrived at Reading at about two thirty at quite a good spot near the centre. After a small rest we decided not to change out of our boat gear as we would be walking in the wet and headed to see the sites of Reading. First on our list was a warm coffee shop which we found in one of the large shopping malls. It was a great feeling to have the warm air waft over us as we walked in.
We bunkered down for the evening with the heating on and each of us reading a Jeffrey Archer book. They are good holiday reading.
Photos: Last night’s storm; Early morning Marlow Lock; Autumn trees; Good weather for geese and ducks.

Day Thirty-Four - Windsor to Marlow

We spent the morning touring Windsor Castle. This worked out well as it rained in the morning and cleared up in the afternoon. Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. The Queen was not in residence as the Union Jack was flyng on the round tour rather than her personal standard. However, Prince Charles welcomed us to Windsor; well, he did on the audio guide! In contrast to Hampton Court Palace it was good to see a castle which is still in use by the current monarch. A number of rooms had video footage of Queen Elizabeth and showed how the rooms are used for state banquets and award ceremonies. The audio guide description of the fire and how the rooms were restored was interesting. In the main room affected by the fire the floor boards which were marked by burning ash and water were cleaned and turned over rather than replacing them.
We had lunch on High St at Windsor and set off at twelve thirty to make our way to Marlow. Once again there were a few locks but these were handled by the lock keepers. The Thames River between Windsor and Marlow was wide and had many impressive large houses along its banks. There were a few farms along the way as well.
During the afternoon the rain held off but we had quite a storm go over us in the early evening. It poured down and there was a bit of lightening but we were safe in our little boat!
We arrived at Marlow at four thirty and we immediately set out to see the town. It was quite a surprise as it had an impressive High St with some very fashionable, sophisticated stores. The houses also were substantial and we have obviously moored on the side of a wealthy area.
Photos: Windsor Castle with its moat; An impressive house along the Thames; A wide stretch of the Thames River; Henk with an old car driving through Marlow.

Day Thirty-Three - Hampton Court to Windsor

We woke to a wonderful sunny day with beautiful calm water. The reflections were magnificent. We set out at eight o’clock as we wanted to get to Windsor by the early afternoon. It was an easy day for me as there were only five locks and I only had to operate two of them. One was before nine o’clock and one at lunch time when the lock keepers aren’t available. If I see the sign ‘Self Service’ then I know I have to get off the boat and do the lock myself. I feel quite powerful pressing the buttons on the lock panel. They have buttons which say ‘Sluice open’, ‘Sluice Close’ and ‘Gates Open’ and ‘Gates Close’. I just remember the principles of the manual locks and I’m away.
Motoring along the non-tidal part of the Thames River has been very easy. We think we are going quite fast until the local rowers go past us. The traffic has been light and we would have only passed about half a dozen canal boats on the river today.
We arrived at Windsor at two thirty. There seemed to be very few mooring sites and we moored beside a dirt bank called ‘The Brocas’ with Windsor Castle in the background. The site is owned by Eton College and the mooring of the boat is permitted by the Provost and the Fellows at a cost of six pounds per night!
We spent a lazy afternoon walking along the High Streets of Eton and Windsor. The place was buzzing with many tourists with the corresponding tourist gift shops. Eton High Street did have some very posh small shops including quite a few tailor shops. We saw the Eton boys in their black tailed school uniform as they walked outside Eton College.
Tomorrow morning we hope to do a tour of Windsor Castle before setting off after lunch.
Photos: Reflections on the water opposite Hampton Court Palace; Henk coming into the lock after I have worked the buttons!; Henk mooring the boat with Windsor Castle in the background; A sign on a tailor shop, High St, Eton.

Day Thirty-Two - Brentford to Hampton Court

We had an amazing day starting out walking from our boat to the Thames River to see how low the tide can go and ending with a visit to Hampton Court.
We had the morning off waiting for the opening of the Thames Lock onto the river at one o’clock. We were pleased we walked to the Thames River which was only fifteen minutes from where we moored to see the very low tide. It was good to compare what we saw early in the morning to when we motored through in the early afternoon.
Our guide book gave us very little information about getting onto the Thames River and what to expect. The lock keeper gave us a guide book and a quick talk about all the rules and what to do. He kept referring to the guide book which covers what he referred to as “Bibs and Bobs”. And before we knew it he opened the lock gates and we were on the Thames. We had no time to refer to the guide book. We immediately hit roughish water as we turned right out of the lock and headed westward. The river was wide and we had the tide pushing us along. At times our rudder was out of the water because of the roughness. It took us over an hour to complete the tidal section of the river before we reached Teddington Locks. From here we will be on the non-tidal section of the Thames for about a week.
There were only three boats lined up to come onto the Thames. We think we know the reason. When we got to Teddington Locks we had to buy a licence for the non-tidal part of the Thames. It cost one hundred and nine pounds! No wonder we haven’t seen any canal boats over the past few days! We picked ourselves off the lock keeper’s floor and made our way to the boat feeling quite fleeced!
The ride up the Thames from Teddington Locks was calm and we had beautiful views across the breadth of the river. We moored “Carli” at Hampton Court moorings at four o’clock and we felt like Henry VIII when he brought his royal barge up the river to his royal court. We quickly locked the boat and spent two hours looking through the palace and gardens. It was magnificent.
Tomorrow we move onto Windsor.
Photos: Low tide, River Thames; Richmond Bridge, River Thames; Hampton Court and gardens; Garden at Hampton Court

Day Thirty-One - Uxbridge to Brentford

It was a disappointing day as we learned that Brian won’t be joining us for the last of our boat trip or our two weeks stay in Italy. The doctor has advised that it would be unwise for Brian to travel with Ross River Fever. So we are disappointed as we were looking forward to Brian joining us. However, we are obviously not as disappointed as Brian!
We didn’t set out until after nine o’clock as we wanted to ring the Lockmaster of the Thames Locks to book in our boat for tomorrow to enable us to get onto the Thames River. There was no answer and Henk left a message with our details. Henk rang later in the day and found that the office is only opened when the tide is high. We secured a booking for the first boat through at high tide at twelve forty-five. We are yet to secure a licence for the Thames and we will do that tomorrow morning after we find out how to get one!
There were only eleven locks today and six of them were very close together at the Hanwell Locks. This meant I didn’t have to get on and off the boat but merely walk the short distance between the locks.
For the past few days I have been enlisting the assistance of any person showing an interest in the locks. I am getting them to open and close the gates. Yesterday it was a father with two small sons, an Indian chap who spoke little English and a older guy who didn’t have a clue but was eager to learn. Today at the six Hanwell Locks some elderly men were keen to assist and one of them had previously owned a canal boat. They were good company and good assistance!
It’s hard to imagine that we are in London as most of the canal has trees either side. We are close to Heathrow and as we came down the canal we could see large planes ahead of us about to land every two minutes.
All the boaties have been saying that we would like Brentford as the moorings are good and the British Waterways facilities are also good. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Brentford there were no moorings left and Henk had to turn the boat around in a brisk wind. It was exceedingly difficult. We found a mooring a little way back and Henk was able to turn the boat around again and moor ready for tomorrow. When we walked into Brentford Basin we found a notice which said that due to limited space boats needed to double up along the moorings. It was too late for us to find out!
We had a look at the electrically operated Gauging Locks at the Brentford Basin. I will need to operate them when we leave tomorrow. They looked daunting at first but we had a little practice and I’ve got the hang of it.
Photos: A tight squeeze south of Uxbridge; Swans flying towards us; My assistants at the Hanwell Locks; Gallows Bridge made by Horseley Iron Works near Birmingham 1820.

Day Thirty - Hunton Bridge to Uxbridge

We had a big day setting out at eight thirty and finishing at five o’clock. We did seventeen locks. Needless to say we are feeling a bit weary at the end of the day. We are pleased we made the effort as it puts us in a good position to get onto the Thames on Tuesday. We are yet to get a licence for the Thames section and we will organise that tomorrow. We aren’t sure of the cost either.
The closer we get to the Thames River the more boats we pass which are permanently moored alongside the canal. We are also seeing more houseboats. It is obvious that many people live on their boats. Many boats are weary looking with the need of maintenance. We passed very few travelling boats on the section today.
When we set out the Scottish men were still having breakfast. We soon found other boats to share the locks. One was an artist and his partner who are about to repaint their six year old boat and rename it from “Zig Zag‘ to “Trotsky“. Henk asked did he consider it bad luck to which he replied, “F…. that!” So they are obviously not superstitious.
Later in the morning we caught up to a guy motoring alone and trying to do the locks. He was a friendly guy and we did quite a number of locks with him. He appreciated the help and gave Henk a bottle of red wine for me. After today I did partake in a glass!
We stopped for lunch at Rickmansworth for three quarters of an hour. It was a good break and we finished the remainder of the very naughty cold pork pies.
The weather is getting cooler and my resolve not to wear my one and only fleece went by the way today as it was too chilly to be standing at the locks waiting for the water to fill and empty. I’ll just have to be careful not to get grease on it.
Photos: An unusual houseboat; A quirky sign on the back of a boat; A lovely back garden we motored past;

Day Twenty-Nine - Berkhamsted to Hunton Bridge

At seven o’clock we were woken by the pecking noise of ducks eating the moss off the side of our boat. For the first time we had to put on the heaters in the morning as it was decidedly chilly. As we had moored quite close to Waitroses I dashed in to buy the Saturday edition of “The Daily Telegraph” before we set off just after eight thirty. I love the weekend papers as they have so much in them. We had nineteen locks to do today. We were in luck as we shared the locks the entire day with three retired Edinburgh men all in their sixties on their tiny boat the Meadow Waters. They have had the boat for twenty years and spend weeks at a time on it. We got into a very good rhythm with them with one of us walking to the next lock to set it up to enable the boats to motor straight in.
Just before noon we decided to have a break and the three Scottish men moored near a pub. One of them was keen to have a pint. Henk and I motored on further and stopped to have very tasty little pork pies for lunch. I have discovered each of them has three hundred calories! It’s a good think I’m doing the locks to burn up the calories. I read the papers and Henk was engrossed in Jeffrey Archer’s book, “A Prisoner of Birth”. Lyn left it with us to read. She, too, couldn’t put it down.
After a two hour break we headed off only to find the Scottish men coming up the canal behind us. We shared the rest of the locks with them for the remainder of the afternoon.
We are getting very close to the Thames River and should reach it by Tuesday. We went under the M25, the London ring road this afternoon.
As it was Saturday night Henk and I decided to go out for dinner. We walked the brief distance to the little village of Hunton Bridge. The two pubs were booked out for private functions which was good thing as we came to the Waterside Italia Restaurant where we had a wonderful meal. Henk says he had the best Tiramisu he has ever tasted. The evenings are getting darker earlier at eight o’clock. Autumn is here.
Photos: Berkhamsted Totem Pole imported from Canada on the side of the canal; Henk coming out of an overflowing lock; Busy canal after Berkhamsted.

Day Twenty-Eight - Marsworth to Berkhamsted

After filling up with water we left Marsworth at nine o’clock and went straight to the Marsworth Locks of which there were seven in a row. It was a crisp, sunny morning and I needed to do some locks to warm up. There were very few boats on the canal today which meant we had to do most of the double locks by ourselves.
When we reached Northchurch Locks a British Waterways worker told us of vandalism at the locks overnight. Someone had opened up the paddles to some of the locks and this had flooded the lower lying areas of Berkhamsted where we were staying the night. The locks were overflowing and this made it difficult to open and shut them. We met Katie again and she was motoring along and doing the locks by herself as her friend had returned to London. She was joined at noon by her mother who came to help her with the locks for the day. We did a few locks together before we moored at Berkhamsted at two o’clock. We may see Katie again with the “Leaking Cauldron” at Reading as we pass through.
Henk and I spent the afternoon strolling around the impressive High Street of Berkhamsted with its wide footpaths. The town was bustling with people and had a great energy. It had an impressive range of shops including a Waterstones bookshop which we can never resist entering. Our canal guide described Berkhamsted as “Many fine buildings combine to create a favourable impression: the 16th century Monks House (now a French restaurant); the Town Hall (now a French Restaurant) and St Peter’s Church (which hasn’t become a French restaurant - yet!). We had a scrumptious afternoon tea at the Town Hall.
Since the start of our boating holiday I have been photographing the names of the boats. It’s is amazing the range of names we come across and we often wonder how a boat was given its name. There are those named after people such as “Charlotte“, “Elizabeth” and “Yvonne“, those named after Shakespeare’s characters on the Shakespeare Classic Line boat company such as “King John” and “Puck” and the more humorous ones such as “The Jolly Buccaneers“, “Dingo“, “Me and Er“, “The Water Rat“, “Lock and Roll”, “Don’t Panic”, “Rising Damp”, “Snuggly Buggly” and “Unowotzizname”. We have even passed a “Platypus”! A very apt one for us has been “Dunwirkin”.
It was a chilly night and for only the second time we have put on the oil heaters for about half an hour to warm the boat in the evening. As it’s not a big boat it doesn’t take much for the boat to be heated.
Photos: Early morning Marsworth; An overflowing lock; The name of a boat for the Bach family; Afternoon tea at the Town Hall, Barkhamsted.

Day Twenty-Seven - Leighton Buzzard to Marsworth

We woke to hear from Brian to say that his trip has been delayed due to a dose of Ross River Fever. We were due to pick up Brian just before getting on to the Thames River this Wednesday. If he is given the all-clear to travel then we may pick him up a few days later at Windsor or Reading on our way to Oxford and then back to the marina at Napton. We were looking forward to seeing Brian so hopefully it won’t be too many days later when he joins us.
Henk rang Black Prince at eight o’clock to report our dead television and they got back to us an hour later to say that they were despatching another one from Napton. We have just under two and a half weeks to go on the boat and we use the BBC weather reports to give us a guide as to what we will be doing the next day. Sometimes we leave earlier or later depending on the weather. A very friendly young female boat owner who is apprenticed to Black Prince arrived with our new television. It’s very modern and this evening it had a lot of coverage of the Pope visiting the UK. It’s only the second time since Henry VIII’s reign has a pope visited this country.
Whilst awaiting the television Henk and I had a good look around Leighton Buzzard. It’s a good looking town with a range of shops along its High Street. We spent some time in a cosy tea room reading the paper.
We were going to set off straight after lunch but the rain came down in buckets. We waited for ten minutes and it was gone and we got underway. The weather is so changeable. The overcast sky of the morning cleared to a bright sunny afternoon.
Between twelve thirty and five thirty we did eleven locks. We were joined in the double locks by two young women about thirty years old. One had bought a boat, the “Leaky Cauldron”, further north and she was bringing it down to Reading where she will moor it. She is going to live on the boat as a cheaper option than trying to buy an apartment. The other woman was her friend who was helping her out for the day. It was good to have the company for the afternoon. You tend to share your life stories as you go about the business of getting through the locks.
It’s interesting asking the boaties how their boats acquired their names but many don’t know as they have acquired their boat second or third hand. They are all superstitious and won’t change the name in case it brings bad luck.
We meet quite a few eccentrics along the way. Today was a guy at one of the locks selling his 2011 calendar which is a comical look at the modern inland waterways. He lives off his boat and this is one of his ways of making a living.
We also bid farewell to two eccentric guys we have seen over the past three days. We shared quite a few double locks together. They have turned around and are heading north to get their boat back to the marina. We passed them whilst walking on the tow path to our boat this morning from Leighton Buzzard and one of them was wearing a red kilt. It matched his mates red Mohawk!
Photos: High Street, Leighton Buzzard; A Scottish kilt helps steer a boat; The boatman cartoonist; Last lock of the day - late afternoon at Pitstone Lock No 38.