Month: April 2025

I haven’t had a lot to say recently as Jeff and I travelled over semi-familiar ground through Fenny Compton and Cropredy (the site of the very last Fairport Convention concert) before picking Mallory up in Banbury on Wednesday.

Before further comment, I want to give a mini shout out to the two restaurants we ate at in Cropredy – on our initial visit, we had lunch at the charming Magnolia Cafe where ‘everyone is welcome’, and dinner this past week was at the low-beamed Red Lion, a beautiful 15th c thatched-roof pub. Jeff may or may not have entertained the locals bumping his head > once.

The three of us spent Wednesday night in the country south of Banbury. Thursday we meandered down the Oxford Canal. Although the early morning was overcast, the clouds soon gave way to sunshine, and I was reminded yet again how lucky we have been to have had such spectacular weather.

By Thursday afternoon, we had made our way to the charming Aynho Wharf, home of the beautiful sheep that were the subject of my first blog about the trip.

Along the way we stoppped near Bridge 177 to have lunch aboard the boat. After lunch, Mallory and I attempted to walk to Kings Sutton, a nearby village. I say attempted because the walk was extremely difficult on a busy road with no shoulder, We (I) gave up very quickly,; I was somewhat concerned about our safety given my limitations and risk of falls. It was this failure to visit Kings Sutton that led us to walk from the wharf to the town of Aynho. It was tough, a mix of walking on the (scary) street and on a “path” that was quite filled with brambles and overgrown. We made it, though, only to find the village was bereft of any rests or cafes. We admired some lovely properties including the “big house” before making the trek back to the wharf.

On Friday, we returned to Heyford. Saturday morning we left early on a train heading for Heathrow and home. It’s been an amazing adventure. Hope you have enjoyed the stories and the photos. The following are some of my favourite photos from the last days of the trip.

We’re back at Heyford Wharf getting packed up.  We travel back to Toronto tomorrow. Susan is still a post or two behind, so there will be more pictures.

Mallory joined us a couple of days ago, and we’ve had a relaxed last few days.  Weather has been fabulous, though I’ve had more sun than I like this week.

Some summary numbers:

• 27 days gone.  We moved every day.
• 245 miles traveled
• 200 locks
• Fuel (propulsion & heat) 280 l / 75 gal

I feel fortunate to have done this, and am happy that Suey came along.  We both really enjoyed the experience.

Here’s the one picture I took recently showing the running gear on one of these boats.

We completed the Warwickshire loop on the Grand Union Canal before re-connecting with the Oxford Canal on Sunday.

It was interesting to rejoin the Oxford after three weeks because of the dramatic change in scenery. There’s been virtually no rain during the day with most days filled with cloudless sunshine. The resulting growth and changing colour is quite incredible. I particularly noticed that hedges have grown in to obscure my view and that everything just seems incredibly lush and green.

 I’m going to go back and look at some earlier photos cause I want to make sure that I’m not imagining how different it seems, it definitely seems like spring is here! 

I also want to mention lunch Sunday at the Folly in Napton.  Despite a very limited menu and we were told on arrival that the kitchen was closing in 10 minutes, Jeff managed to snaffle a roast beef dinner while I had a roast chestnut dinner, which was quite amazing. Took a picture for you, Beth! For dessert, Jeff had really good strawberry cheesecake and I had an amazing sticky toffee pudding with Custard sauce. it was really really good. 

Monday we returned to Fenny Compton, and today we travelled back to Cropredy. Both places I really enjoyed visiting and I’m happy to be back with a little bit more time to explore. Tomorrow we meet Mallory in Banbury. Hopefully Jeff will get a new cell phone there to replace the one that went overboard a couple of days ago.

Some pictures from Sunday.

And Monday

My blog posts often tell a vignette or (try to) convey a simple message but not today.

Today was another day like most on this trip – filled with early morning exploring followed by 6+ hours of canal boating. It was a day full of sunshine, birds, wind, beautiful vistas, and of course, locks!

The only drama came when Jeff left the handle on a lock. I offered to go back thinking that the locks were fairly close together. My mistake. To retrieve the handle, I had to cross the lock by walking along the top of the gates – twice. I was due to take my medicine, so was quite “Parky” eg. unsteady and lurching. It was a bit scary. I did it though.

Interesting enough, another boater approached me while I was walking between the locks. I was pleasantly surprised to realize he was someone Jeff and I met early on. It was nice to see he and his partner again, however briefly.

Last night we moored in the Grand Union Canal close to the Hatton top lock. As usual, I got up early to walk around and look at the birds, sheep, and cattle. I was particularly hesitant to wake Jeff up as I knew that our day would begin with a flight of 21 locks.

We had a lovely breakfast at the Hatton Café – there is a picture of my veggie breakfast below for Beth. Jeff had hoped to see volunteers when we started through the first lock, but no luck. Fortunately near the fourth lock, I met a volunteer when I was returning to the boat. I took the opportunity to tell them that I wasn’t helping Jeff at all. I wondered what they would make of that comment. It turns out that the other volunteer asked Jeff whether I just didn’t like working the locks. Jeff explained that I have Parkinson’s and am not particularly comfortable driving (yet, says Jeff to me). The two volunteers gave up assisting a boat going up the locks so that they could help us go down the locks. It is incredibly efficient and fast because they leapfrog between managing the current lock and preparing the next lock (and means Jeff is not doing hard physical labour for hours!). They operated about 15 or so locks before they had to leave to deal with a flooded lock above us.

I may not have been physically helpful today, but I did manage to score us freshly made scones with clotted cream and jam at the cafe. They were a delicious treat when Jeff was done. 

It was another unbelievably gorgeous sunny day. Definitely the warmest day we’ve had. We are now moored in Warwick near a pub called the Cape of Good Hope. We continue to make our way to the Oxford Canal to meet Mallory Wednesday next week.

Some of my photos from today. Please note that the last 3 photos are in the Saltisford Canal Centre, a permanent narrow boat community.

That was a stark contrast.  Two days ago we were in probably the roughest area of our trip.  Since then we’ve left the gritty cityscape behind and entered the countryside.  The weather continues to be brilliant, sunny and comfortable.  I wore shorts today.

The canal has gotten straighter and wider as well.  The controlling width is now 14 ft.  Easy peasy, but a little dull.  Fortunately there’s always something of interest while burbling along.  Lots of birds, and a few more boats and people along the canal.

We’re now here at the top of a flight of 21 locks going down into Warwick.  If we’re lucky there will be volunteers to help tomorrow.  We had a team take us down a short flight of 5 locks earlier today.

Photos from yesterday coming out of Birmingham

And today

We’ve done the BCN loop.  From Gas St to the Dudley Canal No.2,  then around the Wyrley and Essington Canal to the Rushall Canal, then the Tame Valley down to where we entered Birmingham.  We’re now on the Grand Union heading back towards the Oxford Canal.

These are not heavily traveled waterways.  We haven’t seen another boat underway in 4 days.  And some of them aren’t in the best shape, with lots of shallow areas, debris and leaky locks.  We ran out of water in the canal yesterday coming down the Rushall Canal, but two Canal and River Trust (CRT) staff came by this morning and filled it up for us.

Today was another long day, with 23 locks.  I’m tired. 

The weather has been relentlessly pleasant.  The forecast is for sun and mid-teens through the week. 

Some pictures from Monday

Our favourite pictures from Tuesday

We left Wolverhampton around 0930. The departure from our mooring required skilled maneuvers from Jeff, including steering the boat in reverse. We enjoyed yet another sunny day on the canals, albeit with a chilly wind. I was a bit cold, so was reminded of a comment made by a canal man met earlier in the trip, “there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. Too true.

We passed a busy canal-side pub around lunchtime but decided to press on to the town of Walsall. I wanted to visit a pub near town reputed to be the second oldest in the country, the Manor Arms built ca 1104.

The boating was moderately slow going, as we were on less-travelled canals that are not particularly well maintained. In some areas, Jeff had to be careful not to run aground or uselessly churn up the mud beneath us; in spots, there was some significant challenges within the canal itself (such as when we hit what seems to have been a submerged shopping cart ) but we escaped unscathed.

Because of a mixture of anticipation and concern that the kitchen might close early on a Sunday night, i convinced Jeff to go straight to the Arms on arrival. We were very disappointed when we were told that the only food being served was a cob (corned. beef or turkey We left, ended up docking at a local boat club and ate supper on the boat.