NB Triskaideka: Oxford Canal

Saturday 1 September 2012

Oxford Canal

A quick catch up. On Monday we cruised to Cropredy to meet Sue & Baz. We had a couple of boats in front of us and a couple behind, this is probably the busiest we have seen any canal since setting out in March. Sue and Baz duly arrived in the afternoon, a bit early, I hadn’t finished cleaning up! We had a walk to the Brasenose for tea and had a lovely evening. On Tuesday morning we all set off in lovely sunshine and it remained pretty good all day. We stopped in Banbury and did a quick shop at M&S food hall so had a ‘posh lunch’ . It wasn’t as busy although all the moorings were full in the centre of Banbury. Tuesday evening saw us at Aynho Wharf we managed to moor opposite the Wharf so quite close to the Great Western. Jane and Paul came to see us all so we had a lovely evening, catching up and some lovely food.

Wednesday, weatherwise was awful, started off with drizzle which got heavier, a couple of times it did stop, but briefly, not a great day to have Sue & Baz with us. We cruised to Thrupp and once through the lift bridge hoped to moor, but it was well and truly full, as it was still throwing it down we didn’t really want to go much further but as we went around the corner there was one mooring right outside the Jolly Boatman, Baz was impressed as we couldn’t have got any closer. We had a lovely meal in the Jolly Boatman and on Thursday morning whilst Sue & Ali returned to Cropredy to get Sue’s car, John & Baz had the boatmans breakfast, which they did say was really good. On our return we went into Oxford for the rest of the day and Sue and Baz left us in the evening. We went for a wander and came across NB Caxton and arranged to meet them later in the pub. We had a lovely evening with Elaine & Paul, we weren’t quite asked to leave the pub but …. we were the last in and they had locked up and we had to leave via the fire exit, we then retired onto Triskaideka for coffee (well for Elaine & Ali) whilst Paul and John finished off the evening with a glass of red (or two), with them leaving us about 1am!

We had decided that we wouldn’t go any further down the Oxford and as we had not been able to moor close to the lift bridge John had a bit of a reversing challenge, about half a mile including a corner, he made it look very easy and at least one comment as I passed, ‘ I wish I could reverse like that’. John puts it down to having bow thrusters although I didn’t hear them being used much. Once through the bridge, after a quick’ Morning’ to Elaine and Paul (and Maffi) we used the services and started heading back up the Oxford Canal. Typical, the weather was sunny & cloudy so we had a really pleasant cruise back, mooring up in the afternoon above Upper Heyford. John did some fishing and I did a bit of paint touching up.

Today again was sunny and a bit overcast at times, we have cruised up to Twyford Wharf where John has done some more fishing and I have managed to touch the paint up on the other side as the tow path has changed sides. This afternoon we have had a visit from Sue, Meg & Penny, from NB No Problem who we had passed a bit further down the cut, but we thought they were not on board but they had been. It was lovely to meet you Sue, see you on the Thames next year!

Ali showing Sue how to work the locks