We only had three hours of cruising to get to Abingdon but it took us five hours. Some of the locks had elaborate bridges and staircases around them dating back to the 18th century. They don’t build like this anymore, sadly. This particular lock was just chocolate box perfect. The garden around this lock was … More Abingdon Bound – 15th August 2022

Intentions today consisted of being more of a tourist and taking in the sites of this university town. We set off early so as to beat the crowd but in the end we beat no one as nothing opened until 11.00am at the earliest. We decided to utilise the time by Fraser getting a hair … More “Scholastic” Endeavours – 14th August 2022

Our good friends Lynne and John from Wolverhampton drove down to Oxford this morning to spend the day with us. We first met up with John and Lynne when they drove to Scholars Green on the Macclesfield canal back on the 22nd June. Our rendezvous location today was at the Westgate Mall in Oxford. The … More Good Friends Revisited – 13th August 2022

The decision was  made to  get up early and cruise the hour and half into Oxford so as to secure a mooring. Our first lock of the day was Godstow which was fully automated. As we go downstream now, most of the locks will be like this. There was no lock keeper on duty so … More Oxford – 12th August 2022

It was beautifully cool last night under the willow and we awoke to a cool boat. We hung around until 11.00am before we set off. As the day heats up, we get a cool breeze off the water which keeps us cool as we sit up on the back of the boat under the brolly. … More We are Melting Again – 11th August 2022

They have started putting out Amber Heat Alerts starting Thursday and continuing through to Monday when they are predicting 80% chance of rain with thunder storms but still 29c. To us, it just feels hot and the best way to handle it is to get moving as you create a bit of your own breeze. … More Another Amber Heat Alert – 10th August 2022

Di got up early this morning for a drink and came across these beautiful scenes of mist upon the water at Lechlade. It was very quiet and tranquil with not a breath of wind. Almost surreal. Fraser arose to go for a run further up the Thames from where we could not take the boat. … More Downhill We Go – 9th August 2022

A little addition to yesterday evenings blog. Having been moored up for about an hour, a large herd of cattle turned up beside the boat looking at us in a menacing manner. At first we couldn’t work it out until it dawned on us that we had moored up where they access the river for … More End of the Navigatable Thames – 8th August 2022

Before we start on the new adventures on the Thames river north-west of Oxford we will do a quick review of where we have been on the canals. The purple dot is where we left from back at the beginning of June. We headed up to Manchester and then due to water shortages we headed … More New Ground – 7th August 2022

Our last day on the Oxford Canal as well as on the narrow locks. We set off from Thrupp on yet another sunny day with our first task of picking blackberries for the crumble tonight done in five minutes. Next task besides enjoyng the scenery and the beauty that the canals provide, was to fill … More Farewell to the Narrow Canals – 6th August 2022