Monday 27th
May; Flecknoe to below Hillmorton locks
It was chilly in spite of the sun this morning, though after
a while it warmed up. By the time we set
off around 9.30 the moorings along to bridge 102 were almost empty, though they
had been packed last night. There were good sunny spells as we trundled along,
listening to the birds. There are plenty
of reed buntings along here.
It’s not a brilliant photo. But the one without the bit of
tree in the way was just a bit too blurry to use!
We were behind a boat all the way to the winding hole (turning point) at
Wolfhampcote, where we had a few minutes’ wait while a hire-boat winded.
Of course then we were following him to Braunston, but he cruised
straight through. We needed water and an
Elsan point, and luckily for us there was room to pull in at the services by Midland Chandlers. We didn’t have long to wait for a tap to be free, but chose
the slow one – apparently, as we learnt from the boat that arrived next, the
one on the left is much faster! Oh well,
you learn something every day, so that info was filed away in the memory
bank. We got fed up waiting for the tank
to fill - but we disposed of rubbish and emptied a cassette, and with at least
a half-full water tank we were good to go.
The lovely moorings further out along the North
Oxford had plenty of space, but were not for us today. There were a lot of beef cattle in the
pastures today. In one, the not quite
independent calves decided to have a running game and set off their mums too –
there didn’t seem to have been any external fright to set them off.
Other creatures were busy working
or just enjoying the sun
Clouds soon loomed and we were lucky to have tied up for
lunch at Onley before the rain started.
It had cleared away by the time we had finished lunch; as I opened the
hatch, and turned away to pick up the coffee-pot to tip the grounds over the
side, I was startled by a loud rap on the side of the boat. Greedy swan family! But they went away disappointed.
We pottered on towards Hillmorton as the clouds gathered
over Barby Straight, though we didn’t get wet this time. The sky wasn't as blue as the photo implies - much darker!
There are some interesting gardens along the moorings. I’m not sure this little summerhouse/pod
construction would be comfortable on a hot summers’ day, though probably
delightful if a chilly wind is blowing.
The start of the enormous housing development was a bit of a
surprise, as practically nothing had been done last time we came this way. Luckily, as it is Bank Holiday, the diggers
were sleeping.
The locks at Hillmorton were a doddle. The first needed a few inches of water
adding, the second was half full. Its pair (the Hillmorton locks are all paired) was empty, and a puzzled hirer was standing there, wondering if she
should wait for us and use our lock. A
first timer, she had thought a taped-off paddle meant the whole lock was out
of action. By the time I had explained,
and we had opened the gates, her husband was on the wrong bank and had waved a
single-hander into the lock. The
single-hander kindly continued the locking lesson for her, while we went on
down to go straight into the waiting bottom lock with lockie waiting. That gave me time to drop off some books to
the book swap on the towpath. There was
plenty of space round the bend past the official moorings, so we tied up for
the rest of the day.
By the time we went up to look at the books, the lockie had
finished and all was closed up. We
really fancied an ice-cream, but the canalside bistro/café has closed
down. Never mind, we had plenty of jobs tooccupy our time. My little task for the
day was cleaning the flue. We don’t have
a flue-brush the right size, so I use the old-fashioned method of pulling holly branches through
on the end of a cord. Not exactly
branches though, as they had to be brought in the car! Here is the kit, along with the product of my
exertions.
We were joined by one other boat, but this popular spot was
surprisingly empty and quiet.
3 locks, 9 miles
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