Hmmm.... We wondered of we had done the right thing yesterday afternoon by stopping on the 24 hour mooring, because a park, which happened to have children's playground on the other side of the hedge, began filling up with kids yelling and screaming and generally having loads of fun. From 3pm onwards the noise was ear piercing until that is, about 5pm when it seemed like a switch had been thrown and it all went suddenly very quiet. We presumed it was because it was the kids tea time, then homework before going to bed! From then onwards we had a wonderfully peaceful night.
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| 24 hour moorings by the park |
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| Moon rise |
It was strange then, and one I still cant fathom out, was why did both of us wake at 5.45am? As going back to sleep was impossible the kettle went on for the first drink of the day. Cup of tea drunk, breakfast eaten and then bucket filled to wash the roof and side of the boat. There was no point in setting off until 8am because the lock keeper at Osney lock on the Thames didn't start until 8.30am and we had still to purchase our license. So imagine our surprise once we had set of to find a space 2 boat lengths from Isis lock big enough for us to fit in to. After a quick consult together we had a change of plan. Lets stay in Oxford on the canal for the day instead. That would save wasting one day of our precious 7 day license on the Thames just so we could have a sightseeing tour round the city. We had only planned on a weeks licence because our aim was to cruise the River Wey and do the Basingstoke canal ( only possible if there is enough water to get us through the locks.) So stay we did and had a fabulous, although very hot, day in Oxford.
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| Extremely tight squeeze getting past College cruiser boatyard |
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| Lucky with this mooring. Downside....... a bit smelly when the hire boats were being pumped out! |
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| Looking from Isis lock (R) onto the Thames. Bit of a turn to get into the correct channel.(L) |
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| View from Isis lock onto the Thames |
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| Left is mainly residential moorings. There are some short stay places at the end of the arm. No winding hole though. so would have to reverse out. |
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| Captston at the end of navigation. Again we were very surprised to see empty mooring spaces. |
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| Oxford. A city of bikes! |
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| Carfax tower clock |
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| Having sat on the terrace at the Head of the River pub enjoying a pint but not the Cajun chicken burger they presented to us for a staggering price of £9.99, it was great fun watching the punters. This one knew what he was doing. |
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| This one didn't. Had the camera ready in case he fell in. |
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And finally:-
Why was the Cob chasing the duck?
Obviously to protect his family. The duck had ducklings and she was trying to protect them from the Cob by making him chase her!
4 comments:
Have you read in the latest CART Boater's Udate that the infamous Camouflage Boat has had its license revoked and has been removed from the waterways. CART got a court order to enable this!
Further ino at
http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/features/boaters-update?utm_source=Boaters%27+Update&utm_campaign=3c8d490c41-Boaters_Update_July_20137_19_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_482c157644-3c8d490c41-22008945
Mike
Nb Duxllandyn
Hello Mike,
We had been told by friends living on the Erewash canal that the boat had been removed. Thank goodness this boat has now been taken out of the water. The rubbish left on the towpath where ever they moored was beyond believe and you never saw the owner without a can of beer in his hand, regardless of what time of day it was. Good on C&RT for finally doing something about it although it has taken nearly 6 years!
Irene
Lovely photos as usual Irene. Hope you get a better nights sleep there than we did, they were shunting trains all night long!
This is cool!
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