Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 13:19:57 +0100 From: Bruce Napier Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Streamline Trip I (long) [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Here's our first attempt at a trip report - two weeks out of Blue Lias Marina, first down the S Oxford, and then down the GU to gayton. Hope it's OK! Friday 4 May 2001 Arrived Blue Lias Marina 1.00pm in time for lunch in The Boat then loaded Streamline and away. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and we had a delightful afternoon working up Calcutt and round Napton into the S Oxford canal. This is a lovely time of year to boat with blossom on the trees and tiny ducklings on the water. Lots of very small lambs in the fields and one very young foal wobbling along by its mother. We planned to moor at Bridge 113 for the Folly Pie Pub but the mooring was nearly full. Fortunately a charming couple in a Napton Narrowboat moved up to make space for us. In the process they dropped a mooring spike in the cut and were amazed when Bruce produced the magnet and fished it out for them. After talking boats for a while we inspected each others boats. The Napton boat was fitted out by Stephen Goldsborough. Hated the layout but the finish was fantastic. Off to the pub with our new friends for a very pleasant evening although the meal was not special. Saturday 5 May 2001 A beautiful morning for boating - a clear blue sky, bright sun and a light breeze. Only the breeze had room for improvement - it was decidedly chilly. Napton locks are very well maintained and light to work and with several boats moving in each direction we hardly worked any of the locks on our own. Saw the first goslings of this season and more ducklings. Lovely colour in the hedgerows from all the wild flowers including lots of cowslips - thought they were becoming rare. A lot of the towpath is still closed as a foot &mouth precaution so we kept moving through lunch time and reached Fenny Compton Wharf in early afternoon. We decided to stop there instead of making a long day of it to Cropredy. Long walk from the Wharf to the village but good general stores open all hours. Saw Janus - narrow dutch barge we last saw being painted in Blue Haven Marine dry dock. Pleasant meal in The Wharf Inn although the service was a bit Fawlty Towers. Rather noisy with children and a lively party of teen & twenty off a pair of Calcutt boats. Sunday 6 May 2001 Not such a nice start to the day - overcast and a little rain. Rain stopped before we cast off and the weather gradually improved to alternating sun and overcast. Nice mix of locks and cruising today. Most of the locks are well maintained and look very attractive, particularly Cropredy of course. Heard first Cuckoo at one of the locks. More lovely wild flowers and plenty of wild birds but for some reason no Kingfishers and no Herons. Does this suggest that there are not many fish in this canal? Decided to keep boating again and get to Banbury early in case the moorings are busy. The Nicholsons recommended mooring just short of the town centre by a park but the tow path is terrible and the other side of the canal has noisy factories. Tidy new moorings in the centre of town just above the lift bridge and lock. Security patrol and totally quiet overnight - an excellent mooring. Walked past Castle Wharf centre then turned left through back alley to reach old town. Plenty of choice of places to eat. We found very satisfactory Indian. Monday 7 May 2001 Brilliant day's boating. More sunny than not and gradually heating up. The locks below Banbury are physically hard work because both top and bottom gates are single. Apart from Banbury itself all the lift bridges were open until Lower Heyford. Once clear of Banbury the scenery started to improve and by the end of the day was idyllic. Aynho lock very odd, it is diamond shaped and the river crossing the canal just above it makes the entry very challenging. Stopped for night just through the lift bridge at Lower Heyford. Good decision as the, admittedly better, moorings near the boatyard are right by the railway. Started painting the shafts and the control box with Sadolin. Dinner at the Old Bell which we cannot recommend. We arrived at 6.30 and the pub advertises food served 6.30 - 9.00 Mon - Sat + Sunday lunch (not as stated in the Nicholson). Admittedly we did not order starters but 70 minutes before the food reached our table was slow by any standards. The eleven item menu of main courses was ambitious but admittedly the baked trout and sirloin steak which we ordered were acceptable. The accompanying plain boiled vegetables however were not. Only the potato slices showed any sign of dressing with a simple white sauce. Otherwise it was boiled carrot, swede, asparagus, red cabbage and broccoli with no touch of butter or dressing or flavouring. We thought the dishes over priced starting as they did at £9.95. We elected to drink beer with our meal which was in good condition but was served in brim full measured glasses which were not full. The sweets were good but arrived in the middle of huge soup bowls swimming in single cream. We were not asked if we wanted cream, which was not mentioned on the menu. The offer of perhaps ice cream as an alternative would have been a nice gesture. It was noticeable that while we waited a local was able to walk in, give his order to the waitress, sit down and receive his meal before we could even order. Our conclusion was that this is one pub best left to the locals. Tuesday 8 May 2001 The best day yet. Started with a bright blue cloudless sky and although some fleecy cloud developed it stayed fine until mid evening. Pleasant cruise to Baker's Lock. Began to see a few herons. Below Northbrook Lock and just before Kirtlington Quarry saw a house set back on the left which looked like a stately home but also looked brand new. Very odd. The style was distinctly stately home but the stonework was so clean and the roof so perfect that it looked newly built. There were no mature trees near it and no established grounds which also suggested that it was new as did the very modern burglar alarm mounted high on one side. You don't get many of them on listed buildings. On the other hand who is building mansions like that in the middle of the countryside in this day and age? On the right bank above Baker's Lock saw a collection of large satellite dishes. Map calls it "Satellite Earth Station" must look it up. Below Baker's Lock on the river Cherwell the boating was extra special. The water was moving between 2 and 3 knots so I suppose Streamline was doing about 6 or 7. It seemed a tremendous speed. Really had to concentrate on the steering as the river is very bendy. Shipton Wier Lock is a large diamond shape with room for a flotilla inside. After the river we found Thrupp Wide rather an anticlimax, just one more linear mooring with slightly more room to pass than usual. Decided to wind at the end of the Wide rather than going in to Oxford. Visited "The Boat" a proper boaters' pub with a good range of plain food and excellent beer. TBC Cheers Bruce -- **************************************************** Bruce Napier 1/12 nb Streamline 1/12 nb Sceptre 'Go steady, but keep on going' - Old Boaters saying Although originating from the University of Wales, Bangor, the content and copyright of this email is personal to me, and UWB takes no responsibility for it. Permission is hereby given for it to be quoted elsewhere, provided that the sense (if any) remains essentially the same. **************************************************** ---