Slowing down with age - Bridge 100 to Napton

 Gone appear to be the days when we boated for long hours each day. We have made arrangements to pick up our younger grandson, Karol, at Banbury and we are only about 36 lock miles from Banbury. That equates to 12 hours of boating. In years gone by we would have cut that out in a day and a half. Now we have about 15 DAYS to do it in! That is just ridiculous!

After blobbing happily at Bridge 100 for a couple of days, and after I had washed the starboard side of the boat with bucket and cloth, and after we had been for walk to and from Bridge 102, we decided to head towards Napton.

I was delighted that I could see my reflection in the paintwork after I'd washed the side. And I am going to see if I can find a product a guy was using in Braunston as we left the other day - Demon Shine that he told me can be purchased at Halfords.

Before we left Bridge 100, Mel was restored to his proper place on the roof. He was pleased ...

Travelling to Napton did involve a stop at Wigrams Turn for a pump out, emptying the elsan and getting a pack of English Breakfast tea bags. 

I had thought we had another pack of English Breakfast teabags in the cupboard. BUT when I got the box out, I discovered it had already been opened and was being used to store EARL GREY teabags which ACP had decided he no longer wanted to drink, having swapped back to EB from EG. Why oh why would anyone put smelly EG teabags in a pristine EB box? Why would anyone think that was a good idea? Why would anyone be so cavalier about causing their dearly beloved wife such distress? So regardless of the need for toilet emptying, teabags were a must!

David and I have very fond memories of Wigrams Turn Marina - it is one of Black Prince Holidays hireboat bases, one we have hired from several times. It's a good base as there are several route options available: South Oxford, North Oxford, the Grand Union heading either north or south, with a deviation off up the Leicester Arm to Foxton, Market Harborough and/or Leicester and the River Soar.

A special memory for us is that we brought one of their hireboats into the marina when it was first opened back in 2005 - we had hired from the Stoke Prior base and made arrangements to deliver the boat to Wigrams Turn. It was cool to be doing a one way hire (it's always an out and back) and cool to be one of the first boats into the marina. And I remember being chuffed because I got in the entrance without touching its sides and I pulled up alongside the wharf impeccably - it's especially good to do so when there are people watching ...

And we always found the Black Prince staff to be kind and helpful - and that continues to this day, even though the site is now owned by Aquavista. And their limited range of groceries did include English Breakfast teabags, so that was a win! And a stroke of luck for ACP 👏😈😅

And I got into the marina and moored up on the wharf impeccably again, and I got out just as impressively - clearly a fluke as I had to reverse out from the wharf that had three boats abreast just behind us, with the 'seaward' side one at an angle rather than abreast - it was touching its neighbour at the stern but about 10 feet away from it at the bow - which of course was closest to us ... Somehow, I managed to get the nose into the wharf and then reverse quickly and have the bow stay where I needed it to to to travel backwards in an arc out past the angled boat. Very pleased with myself, I was ...

We decided we would go to lunch at the Folly Inn at the bottom of the Napton lock flight, and given:

• we don't have the Waterways Routes maps loaded on to any of our devices (see previous post), and 
• when I asked for the Nicholson's Guide Book 1, I was given not Book 1, so I was unclear how far we were from the bottom of the locks, and
  
• we suddenly hit quite a good wifi signal area, and
• there was armco available ...
  

we moored up at the very end of said armco - leaving, unusually for us, a git gap (i.e. a gap not long enough for another boat) but to be fair, if we'd pulled hard up to the boat in front, there wouldn't be enough armco for any other boat than one that was about 40 feet long. We started getting ready to head away to the pub, and then the 20 something year old crew of a hire boat that had winded (turned around) at the winding hole a few metres up the cut, looked quite disappointed as they approached. So we asked if they had wanted to moor up. Yes they said. So we pulled Waka Huia hard up to the boat in front and left them the small gap behind. We helped them moor up with an overhang, and then we headed away to the pub. A short walk we thought but after about 20 minutes with no measurable progress to the Folly (because we couldn't see it or the locks, only ever more bends in the canal) and given the towpath was overgrown with nettles and prickly things and long grass, and very narrow with drop offs where the edges had crumbled, we decided to turn back and forgo the pub lunch.

So back we trekked, passing the hirers on their way to the pub - complete with their dehydrated dog who was salivating and dribbling like mad looking very distressed (they'd had him lying in a dogbed filled with water on the boat's stern but were unaware [I asked] that dogs have no sweat glands and they can only cool down through their mouths). 

And while I made lunch David attempted for about the 900th time to download the Waterways Routes maps. Still no luck, dammit, even though we had 3 bars of 4G and direct line of sight to an internet tower... I was all for getting a refund (still, as I had been on previous days of this attempt) but OCD people and boffins don't give up; oh no, they keep going, getting frustrated and complaining and cursing - and getting grumpy with a long suffering wife who just wants to forget it because it's all too much faff and hassle ...

Anyway, once again (4th or 5th time perhaps), ACP determined he wouldn't bother with it, and we headed on the boat to Napton, to fill with water and possibly head up a few of the locks. The tap was very slow, of course, and we were still filling when two boats in convoy arrived to go up the locks. It was blisteringly hot and we were both losing the will to live.

We looked at whether we could pull back past the waterpoint and moor up, but the straight wasn't long enough and our stern would have been sticking out on quite a tricky bend for boaters approaching. So off up the locks we went - surprisingly, our moods both improved with being on the move. And as we ascended the locks the views improved, there were people to chat to - one group of four (Leo, Lesley, Sue and Trevor) were most interested and I invited Leo to get onboard as we headed out of a lock and into another a few yards further on. Then Sue and Lesley came on board for the last lock. I tried very hard to sell them on the idea of hiring a boat from Black Prince and having a holiday on board themselves - not sure if I succeeded.

We moored up after Lock 11 - exactly where we moored up with Ginny and Graham a few years back when they were over for their daughter Sarah's wedding.

Towpath is wide enough for a chair and sitting out reading.

The view back to the village on the hill.

And the view across the canal - lots of sheep over here, but not seen in this photo. There are a couple of them (mother and child, we think) who were calling each other constantly at first ...

Graham also recognised the fence apparently when I sent the photo to Ginny ...

 

And here we have been since! With

• yesterday
  
• a walk up to the Napton store for a few groceries and treats



I saw this plant on our way back - a pelargonium or geranium? I don't know, but I like it!







• lunch at the Folly Inn on the way back



Raspberry and soda - not a very good choice as it transpired, but thirst quenching anyway


• a blobby afternoon
• today I have
• made two loaves of sourdough (did the leaven last night and left it outside on the back deck, brought it in at 6am today and got the process started)
• made a veg chilli
• refitted the centre stay for the starboard side bottom curtain rail
• refitted the bottom curtain rail on the port side
• refitted the curtain rail and the curtains for the forward doors
• blobbed this afternoon and I know I slept because I heard myself snoring in a sleep apnoea sort of way...😴😴
• and this morning,
  
• there was an email from the Waterways Routes man saying that from the screenshot David had sent him he could see that David is using Memory Map for All, when he needs to be using the older version
• David tried with the older version, and did it download? No it bloody well didn't...

The chilli before the kidney beans, green beans and capsicum went in - already more than enough for two people! And that is only one kumara, by the way!

The sourdough (note to self: lower the gasmark to 7 instead of 8) and the chilli with its full complement of veg

The curtains over the front doors are back up

The lower curtain rod is back - not sure it's the original but it is doing the job, nonetheless.

The centre rod stay on the portside window back in place instead of sliding about between the ends.

Tomorrow we are heading towards Banbury and we will make haste not so slowly - we are going to moor in Banbury and hire a car for a few days and do some exploring of our former haunts - we lived in Church Enstone for 2 years back in 2006 and 2007. It's a very lovely area so there is lots to see and do.