Moving along from Banbury

 We are at Cropredy. We arrived early on Sunday afternoon.

 

Entering Hardwick Lock on the way to Cropredy

 

I had planned to leave on the Monday ready for my doctor’s appointment at the surgery on the following day but the weather forecast for then was so poor that on Sunday morning with the day fine and sunny, I decided to go at once. All work to the boat had been completed and all I had been waiting for was for ‘Roots and Wings’ to finish too, so that we could move on together. Janis and I decided that she would follow in her boat on Tuesday morning when she was completed and the weather scheduled to improve.

 

Autumn colours at Cropredy

 

It had been a long stay in my home town this time; we had plenty of work to be done and all this needed to be fitted around the numerous events that were happening at the time. For a whole week the dry dock at Tooley’s was out of action due to the Canal Day festivities and the ‘Theatre in the Dock’ production when the dry dock was turned into a stage and auditorium.

 

The Horse fair turned into a fun fair

 

Unrelated to this however was the arrival of the annual Michaelmas Fair, held every year in the town centre for three nights on or around the 14th October. This tends not only to disrupt all local businesses (except the fast food shops of course who revel in it) but to interrupt the lives of the population for miles around as everybody floods in to enjoy it. Each year we all complain at the arrival of the fair but each year, in spite of ride fares going up ‘yet again’ we all love to indulge in it. The whole event apparently dates back to some medieval charter that cannot be altered and I rather think that we all feel we should complain about the needless waste of time and precious money but nonetheless love the wanton thrills on the ever more sensational rides every year. It’s all very colourful and I managed to capture a few good pictures with my camera, which I’m pleased about. The weather, which traditionally is cold and very wet every year, was perfect. It was dry and warm enough to go without an overcoat.

 

The fair in front of the Town Hall

 

However Janis missed it all since she was away being sea sick in the Channel on a square rigged sailing ship. The ‘Stavros Niarchos’ is one of the famous ‘Tall Ships’ that race every now and again all  over the world. However there was no competition this time as Janis cruised on her from Southampton for five days. In spite of her initial ‘mal de mer’ she loved the experience enormously and is now talking me into going with her next time. You know, I might just try that.

Time to branch out

The Skipper’s away ashore at the moment so I’m going to slip in here a quick word.

It’s simply not good enough the amount of time I’m allowed to say anything on this blog these days. I can hardly get a word in edgeways. If the Boss’s aboard he’s always on the computer and then when he goes ashore he takes it with him now in the search of a Wetherspoons pub or MacDonalds. You see he’s recently realised that he can use their free wi-fi .... the tight old git.

So guess what? I’ve opened my own blog site.

It’s on www.futurestnumberone.simplesite.com and I’ve just entered my first posting. So please read.

Me and the Skipper do get on fine generally but I only think it’s right that I should be able to tell you my side of the story. As I’ve said before he’s a great dreamer and makes everything up as he goes along. So I feel it’s up to me to let you know that he’s not perfect like he thinks he is.

I was always anxious that one day he would read what I had to say in his pages so I’m happy now that I’ve got my own platform.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thoughts of late Summer

Though Banbury Canal Festival was only here for one day, on Sunday last, the character of the Banbury Waterside for the whole of this week so far has been transformed.

 

The crowds at Banbury Lock on Canal Day

 

Before the weekend was upon us all the moorings outside the Castle Quay Shopping Mall were suspended to visitors, having been booked previously by trading boats and others relevant for the coming festival. So those like us, patiently awaiting work to be carried out by Tooley’s Boatyard, had to be moved to the fourteen day moorings to the south of the lock.

 

Banbury Canal Day

 

Furthermore since the dry-dock at the yard has been suspended to accommodate the ‘Theatre in the Dock’ for single performances on two separate nights this week, it too has been out of commission all week in preparation. For the purposes of the Canal day in fact the whole of Tooley’s Yard was opened to the public as part of the Museum, so very little work has been done at all.

Both our ships were moored originally at the Castle Quay but to avoid the inevitable rush for the limited fourteen day moorings when the time came for everybody to move out for the festival, Sharon and I shifted the boats very early on in the previous  week. Sharon, in  the absence of her sister, who was temporarily in Newark, took command of ‘Roots and Wings’ and very competently navigated her through two turning points as well as Banbury Lock to arrive at the new moorings. To add to her record she also took on fresh water and emptied the cassette toilet for the first time without any assistance from anybody.

Since both boats are awaiting either work to be carried out or concluded by Tooleys it has been a quiet week for us. But because Janis and I volunteered to help prepare for ‘Theatre in the Dock’ for my friend Kate, who is producing it as well as performing, our week has been quite busy. Nonetheless during this period I’ve had time to recollect my thoughts and feelings of our wonderful and memorable Summer. Even though we are well into Autumn the weather remains fine, the Sun shines during the day and the air is warm during nights that are becoming longer as Winter approaches. However these remaining  vestiges of Summer hang on encouraging my thoughts.

After a cruise that must have been very unforgettable Sharon left us last Wednesday to fly home to Australia leaving Janis and myself on our own once more. She was a helpful crew member and we shall miss her.

Tonight is the last night of ‘Theatre in the Dock’. Immediately afterwards we shall need to dismantle the stage and return all the chairs and tables to the town hall, ready for the dock to be refilled with water in order to take in its first floating customer tomorrow morning. Things will then rapidly return to normal I feel and we shall go back to the moorings adjacent to the yard in due course to await our turn to be seen to. ‘Roots and Wings’ goes into the dock on Monday while ‘Futurest’ awaits the conclusion of her engine service.

Banbury

 

Below Kidlington Green Lock

 

We arrived in Banbury last Monday and in doing so we have completed a ring of three hundred and fifty one miles. It has taken us five months to do it, so it doesn’t need any great mathematical skill to deduce that it is not a record breaking trip for speed.

But it has been a very memorable one. We have visited and seen many different and interesting places and though I did the trip three years ago on my own, this time with two companions I enjoyed a complete new experience, which I hope you have enjoyed too in the previous postings.

 

In spite of the summer weather, tinges of autumn showing in the trees

 

Taking on water at tidy Thrupp

 

On Monday afternoon as we approached Banbury Lock, both ships were given an unexpected hand by a lady who introduced herself as one of the blog readers. Candy’s help was greatly appreciated, especially with the lift bridge which otherwise takes some detailed planning take two single handed boats through without disturbing the life of pedestrians too much. It was lovely also to be hailed by a stranger who reads what I write. Thank you Candy for both your help and reading loyalty.

 

Aynho Weir lock takes two 57 footers at the same time

 

Since then Janis has set off by coach for Newark and she will be away for a few days, while sister Sharon re-joined us on Tuesday to look after ‘Roots and Wings’ in the meantime, having returned from her trip to Greece. Next Friday Sharon finally leaves us after a glorious summer, to return to Australia where she lives. Her companionship as well as her crewing and planning expertise will be greatly missed I know.

 

Quiet and peaceful mooring at Kirtlington

 

As is usual there is much going on in Banbury at the moment. On Wednesday evening Sharon and I went to the Folk Club at the nearby Mill where we were so thrilled by the professionalism of the performing local talent that I’m sure I shall go again next week. I need to have my Russell Newbery serviced by John at Tooley’s while Janis needs ‘Roots and Wings’ to be dry-docked for blacking, so we should also be around for the now famed ‘Banbury Canal Day’ celebrations, including ‘Theatre in the Dock’, when the ancient dry-dock (circa 1790) is turned into a theatre. This should be good fun and I’m looking forward to it.

In the meantime I am very happy to soak up the ambience of my old home town. Even though the shop front names in the shopping mall are changed each time I visit, the atmosphere remains the same. The character of the people hasn’t altered at all since when I was a lad. Though the faces are not the same over the many years, the quality and nature has not changed so that they appear to be the same person over different generations; That dirty bearded fellow still dosses on a cold winter night on the seat in the bus shelter open to the elements, as he has done for centuries, while the same table by the door at the ‘Fleur de Lys’ pub, providing quick access outside for a few puffs in between drinks, is still surrounded by the taciturn group of men that I am sure have been there every day for fifty years. Not that I have been there myself each time to find out of course, but you know what I mean. Change takes a long time in Banbury.

Though I have no ties here in Banbury any more, my deep roots  will always remain.

Onto the Oxford Canal

After spending a glorious month on the busy and magnificent River Thames, our two little ships now find themselves on the relative backwater that is the Oxford Canal.

Today it is trying very hard to rain as forecast, so since we have a day to spare in order to arrive in Banbury at the right time to rendezvous with Janis’ sister Sharon returning from her Greek Island adventure, we have decided to spend a quiet day at our current mooring just below Kidlington Green Lock. Here the silence is almost pure, there being just the gentle sigh of a breeze in the trees, the occasional patter of rain on the cratch cover and the quiet babble of water leaking through the nearby lock gate to interfere with it.

We have become so accustomed and spoilt over the last month having others look after us in the giant locks of the Thames that on our way out of the river on the Dukes Cut yesterday, we felt very strange and clumsy when challenged in quick succession with a narrow lock, an immediate very low and narrow bridge and then a sharp narrow left hand bend into a second narrow lock.  After so long on the wide expanse of the river, imagine the confusion aboard. When we were settled in the top lock and gently rising with the incoming water I had to make myself a cup of coffee to recuperate but then had to hurry it on as somebody else was waiting to pass down through the lock. We learned very quickly, if perhaps a little gruesomely, that we were back on the narrow but endearing Oxford Canal.

But our last two days on the river were wonderful and will always be memorable. Before making the last passage from Oxford to the canal we were moored opposite green and lush Christchurch Meadow just below Folly Bridge where busy Oxford rushed about its business overhead on the road and  large Salters Steamers and many rowing crews, from single sculls up to full ‘eights’ dashed past on the wide river beside us.

 

The ‘High’ Oxford

 

The World War One Roll of Honour Book Christchurch Cathedral

 

The world’s first Oxfam Shop in the ‘Broad’…..

 

…. with its plaque

Janis at the Bridge of Sides

 

While the weather did its best, Janis and I spent a whole day touring the city. We never saw everything of course but were happy with the places we did visit including Sainsbury’s in the Westgate Shopping Centre, which we called at finally for well needed provisions. The Bodleian Library and Christchurch Cathedral were memorable of course, the latter in particular as I was moved at the time of our visit by some talented person practicing on the organ. I found it very emotional. Here I also found in the roll of honour book of the First World War the name of my uncle who was killed at the age of nineteen.

And now we are on our last passage north towards Banbury when we meet Sharon again and have our engines serviced by Tooleys. Janis is also having ‘Roots and Wings dry-docked for bottom blacking so we should be around for some time.

 

‘Futurest’ moored below Kidlington Green Lock

 

Sharon returns home to Australia after a brief stay in Banbury and later Janis and I take our ships up to Warwick and winter moorings.

Wallingford and on to Abingdon

At eight o’clock on Wednesday morning last Sharon, Janis’ sister and very worthy crew member, decided she needed a break so caught a bus at Wallingford at the start of a trip to the Greek Islands and shortly afterwards our little fleet cast off for the passage north towards Abingdon.

 

This is just the boathouse!

 

In close company…..

 

……with friends

 

The Red Kite in flight

 

We had arrived at Wallingford on the previous Sunday afternoon from Beale Park in good sunshine, so to make the most of it, we set off straightaway to reconnoitre the ancient town and castle remains. Unfortunately all that remains of the latter, one of the largest in Medieval England, is two fragments of wall, an extensive meadow that must be wonderful in Springtime festooned with wild flowers and a tall mound that was the original motte in the days of William the Conqueror. It looked an impressive structure from the plans that were shown on various boards in the park.

 

A fragment of Wall that was Wallingford Castle

 

A blaze of colour in Wallingford

 

Dame Agatha Christie’s Gravestone at Cholsey

 

On the Tuesday, the previous day having been rained off, we three set off to walk the three miles to Cholsey, a nearby small village where in the churchyard there are the remains of Dame Agatha Christie. After viewing the gravestone we enjoyed a drink at the local Red Lion before setting off on our walk back across the fields.

After leaving Wallingford on Wednesday morning, Janis and I breasted our two boats together a couple of hours later at a very quiet rural mooring just above Day’s Lock and with white cattle lowing in the background, set off to explore nearby Dorchester with its ancient Abbey. We were impressed and marvelled that they could trace their history back to early pagan Saxon times, when St Birinus was sent from Rome in the Seventh Century as a missionary. He was the first Bishop of Dorchester and his shrine is in the abbey.

 

Our quiet mooring at Day’s Lock

 

We spent a quiet night at Day’s Lock before setting off, arriving here in Abingdon yesterday afternoon. Today has been quiet with me cleaning ship, doing the laundry and writing this post. Tomorrow we plan to be tourists again.

Beale Park and peacefulness

Yesterday the wide and majestic River Thames continued to bewitch us as, bathed in glorious calm sunshine yet again, we travelled the six and a half miles from Henley on Thames to Beale Park, just north of Pangbourne and the urban mass of Reading.

 

Early morning fog at Henley

 

At the latter near the entrance to the Kennet and Avon Waterway we stopped for an hour at the Tesco mooring for a quick shop before pressing on with the rest of the passage.

Here at Beale Park the mooring is very rural with both ends of ‘Futurest’ tied to a convenient tree and, most wonderful of all, it is so very still and quiet. At times the river is very busy with all manner of craft passing by from the unusual ‘Floating Beach Hut’ to the very large, white ocean going cruisers, which create such a large wash as they rush by. It is good to see the occasional narrowboat too and the others just do not know what they are missing.

 

Garden and Norman Ruins at Greys Court

 

From the top of the Tower at Greys Court

 

Field Bindweed

 

Henley towards the church and river

 

The memorial in the churchyard to an icon of my time

 

Sharon at the helm

 

‘Futurest’ into the lock

 

The post box on Whitchurch Bridge. For boaters?

At twilight there is a mass honking of Canada Geese as hundreds of them appear overhead from all directions and dropping swiftly down, fly off up river just skimming the surface to some favoured anchorage further north. Momentarily it is noisy but evocatively not out of place as the calm stillness soon returns.

Navigating the river can be expensive with mooring fees up to ten pounds for twenty four hours sometimes. We stopped in Henley for two nights for a total of sixteen pounds, but what a lovely stay we had while we were there. The weather on  both evenings was balmy enough for us to sit outside on our deckchairs, with gin and tonic in hand and watch the bright star constellations appear while discussing the happy goings on of the day.

On the day after the first night there, the two girls and myself walked the three miles across country to nearby Greys Court, a large house dating back to the Tudor period and lived in until quite recently by the Brunner Family. It is now owned by the National Trust and open to the public. In the extensive gardens there are even romantic ruins that date back to Norman times and the house has the only donkey wheel for pumping water from the well in the country. It was in use till quite recent times.

We walked a different way back to the ships at the end of the day but again, as on the way out, it was most pleasantly accomplished along footpaths and bridle ways, festooned with pink and white Field Bindweed and large Blackberry Briars. The latter tended to delay our journey somewhat but we were refreshed by the sweet succulent fruit.

Today we intended to visit another National Trust property, Basildon House, which is across Beale Park, the road and railway line, which run parallel to each other at this point and high up on the deeply wooded hill at the side of the valley. But the weather has changed. We awoke this morning to a heavily overcast sky and the unusual patter of raindrops on the roof. I’ve been spoilt this year and since the undergrowth to the road would be wet and soggy underfoot I have elected to stay aboard to write this posting. The two girls eager to arrange a bus journey for Sharon from Wallingford to Luton Airport; she leaves us temporarily again when we arrive there, have gone for a walk, computer in bag, into Pangbourne for a free Wi-Fi signal somewhere.

I expect them back at any time now.