Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 13:20:43 +0100 From: Bruce Napier Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: streamline Trip II [ 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. ] Wednesday 9 May 2001 Weather a disappointment after yesterday. Bright first thing but then a high overcast developed and the sun never broke through. Great fun going back up the Cherwell. Had the engine running just over 2000 revs and she went up very well. Maybe river cruising could be fun. Lots of birds about today including a common tern fishing the canal just in front of us; a spotted woodpecker in the woods alongside; several more herons and one kingfisher. Saw a new Kate Boat called Rebecca. Looks as though they haven't changed the design much. Couldn't look too closely as we were heading for a hawthorn bush at the time. As we passed through Lower Heyford we were amused to see a mother duck trying to entice her brood off the nest. This was difficult, as she had nested in the crotch of a pollarded willow, about six feet off the ground. The hapless chicks were dropping onto a bed of weeds then waddling down to the canal to join their mother. Moored at Aynho Wharf just in time. The rain started just as we went below. Quick cup of tea and we went across to check out the shop at the wharf. It was closed, just as it was when we passed on the way down. This begins to look a bit permanent. Had a drink at the Great Western. Beer OK but publican seemed depressed. No sign of menus or food but a local seemed to be ordering something. We decided to give it a miss and ate on board. Generally rather a depressing place. Thursday 10 May 2001 Another overcast morning but with hope of improvement. Put in a steady morning's boating to reach Banbury by lunchtime. Moored at Banbury in glorious sunshine providing a focal point for people lunching by the canal. Glad the brass was clean! Excellent shopping in Banbury. Not only a good range of shops but also Thursday is market day and there is a big street market. Also visited amazing Chinese supermarket which had all the vegetables. spices and sauces for real oriental cookery. Moved on in the afternoon to reach an excellent mooring just below Cropredy lock. Cropredy is a particularly attractive canal village and the mooring was ideal, very peaceful but only a couple of minutes from the Red Lion. Not only did we have our best meal so far in the Red Lion but it was probably the most entertaining evening too. There were lots of boaters in and the talk was lively and general through the bar. Much of the discussion centred on Janus (see last Sat) as her owner & his wife were in. They had taken delivery of Janus six weeks ago and were on the maiden voyage but how had it taken six weeks to get from Hillmorton to Cropredy? Perhaps they had to drop the wheelhouse at every low bridge? The owner estimated that it had cost him £1600/foot to have the boat built. It had every mod con and all the domestic appliances were Bosch. Friday 11 May 2001 Decided to put in a long day and see if we could reach Napton by evening. Weather quite fantastic, warm and sunny with only a little warm breeze. Easy cruising to Fenny Compton marina. It became apparent that we were in a procession of boats. We passed a few oncoming boats but most of the locks were against us. Stopped at the marina for diesel and a pump out. It was our first attempt at a DIY pump out and we changed our opinion from dubious to quite in favour. The ten minute allowance was ample for one tank and with one of us on suction and the other on the fresh water rinse we were able to get the main tank well flushed. Diesel was reasonable at 30p/litre. Worked on to Napton arriving just after 6.00pm. Quick change and into the Bridge for a really good meal. We deliberately went straight in to eat at about 6.30pm as we hadn't booked. Phoning ahead would definitely be a wise precaution on a Friday or Saturday evening because they were deservedly very busy. Saturday 12 May 2001 Although we were only intending to move to Braunston we made a reasonably early start and a very good thing we did. The weather was glorious and it had brought many private boats out for the weekend as well as a number of hire boats. We soon found ourselves in a procession into Braunston moving very slowly because of the general exodus coming towards us. Nevertheless we reached Braunston about 11.00am before the lunch time rush and were able to get a towpath mooring shortly after the junction. This proved to be an excellent spot for watching boats coming and going, mooring and best of all winding. It seems that this year's "in" accessory on your boat is a caged bird, preferably a parrot or Macaw! We spent a lazy afternoon doing a little shopping. It's worth noting that the butcher does lovely pasties, much nicer than the mass produced ones in the general store. We went to the Old Plough early in the evening in case it was very busy but it was actually just pleasant. I think people from the boats were staying by the water at either the Mill House or the Admiral. Extremely pleasant evening. 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. **************************************************** ---