A very, very good weekend!

We enjoyed a lovely weekend in Lechlade with a lovely mooring, a beautiful view, a fascinating little Cotswold town and VISITORS!

On looking at our map Jenny noticed that there was a place called Somerford Keynes not very far away.  It rung a bell and on looking at our address list sure enough it was the address of some friends that Jenny had kept in touch with from her antenatal classes with Janice in Langley.  When Janice and Richard were a whole lot younger we had some lovely times together with Nobby, Sue, Emma and Ben.  Life moved on and and our only contact was through yearly Christmas letters.  So, Jenny made the phone call and from there we ended up sitting on Hunters Moon having coffee and chatting on Sunday morning.  I think it was our first meeting for over thirty years and Sid had the opportunity to meet two of the people from Jenny's past.  So, when people decry round robins at Christmas think on.  When the time is right paths do cross again and think twice about deleting old friends from your Christmas card list!

Our other visitors were Jenny's brother, Chris and his wife, Pauline.  It was lovely to see them and share lunch together.

We are now heading downstream back towards Oxford and planning a short trip home later this week.

Strange sightings on the Thames!

Emergency chimney!

Can you guess what it is yet?

Made it to Lechlade

26 April 2013

Well, we have made it to the highest navigable point on the Thames.  We can now say we have done the entire 215 miles.  We hope to get up to the source but it is another 25 miles so may not be walking it and hope we can get a bus from here.

Since our last post we have had a mixed journey.  We lost our chimney whilst getting blown across the Thames and getting caught in a tree.  We did go back to the spot and tried a bit of fishing but the Thames was rather deep and our fishing net did not reach the bottom.  We are at present trying to source a replacement but without a car it might prove problematic.  It looks like Midland Chandlery at Braunston might be our nearest option. Sid is looking into buses and trains as I type!

We then had a problem finding a mooring and spent the night on a mooring reserved for lock users.  Since the Lockkeeper had finished for the day and we had only seen two other boats for a couple of days we took a chance!!  We were like a couple of naughty children and after a sleepless night we were up and through the lock by 07.30 and on our way again!  We both decided it was a lovely time to travel with the mist over the fields and no wind and the birds singing and did say to each other that we ought to do this more often.  However, we are not very good in the early morning so watch this space for a change in our boating habits.

Our mooring at Radcott was beautiful and there was a very nice looking pub by the bridge.  We packed our laptop and tablet in the backpack and off we went.  We were both looking forward to a beer since earlier in the day we had taken on water and found it to be ghastly so had not had our normal quota of tea.  Disaster!!  Can our imagine our dismay when we found it closed.  We trundled back to the boat and just had to have an evening of beer and wine on board since the water was unusable.  Fortunately we did have a 2ltr bottle of water which we decided to use for our morning cuppa.

We did manage to get moving this morning at 08.30 and our first chore was to empty our water tank and fill it with something a bit better.  We did taste it first before proceeding!  Just in case!

Lechlade is a very quaint Cotswold town. with lots of antique shops, a lovely butchers, greengrocers and deli, lots of pubs and beautiful church and a Londis.  What more do we need.  The mooring is lovely and we intend to spend  few days here before turning round and heading down river.

We were both a bit emotional when we arrived because this had been our goal last year before our world got turned upside down.

The view from our mooring at Lechlade.

We will be looking for a suitable place to leave the boat next week so we can get home for a short while before continuing our 2013 adventures.

In the meantime we came across this shop in Lechlade which seemed most inappropriate in April!!  Not even had summer yet!

On the Thames

Tuesday 23rd April - Hooray for St George, Happy birthday Shakespeare and David!

Having had a few days in Thrupp when we enjoyed Ruth and David's company and a visit to the magnificent Blenheim Palace where we experienced a bit of culture we are now on the Thames heading for Lechlade.

Dog walking with David and Ruth on the Oxford Canal near Thrupp

Jenny at Blenheim Palace

It was an odd thing moving from canals to a river.  Not only was the size and twists and turns something to cope with but also the change in colour of the water and the clarity of it.

We are moored at Eynsham Lock and enjoying a beer at the Talbot having topped up with provsions to keep us going until we hit Lechlade.  Apparently the pubs are plentiful but the shops are not for a while.

Whilst we were with Ruth and David they kindly took us back up to Fenny and our motorhome is now parked on their drive.  Thanks to them both.

We are looking forward to this next stage of our journey.

Some images of boats left high and dry and rather worse for wear after the floods!

                                               

Sunday 21 April 2013

Hooray!  Yesterday the sun shone, the wind had gone and we had a lovely boating day heading for Thrupp where we were due to be picked up by David W to go to dinner with him and Ruth and Carol and Mick.  A perfect mooring to leave Hunters Moon for the night.

We had a most enjoyable evening but as usual with the Wilbrahams got to bed far too late!

After all that awful windy weather it was good to be able to enjoy boating again and some of the countryside we have been travelling through has been glorious.

We are still 'learning' with this blog and will try and master putting in some photos over a beer in the local pub tonight.  We are taking advantage of Ruth and David's broadband to update this morning.

We really do find it such a pain to have to go to the pub to get a WiFi signal but it just has to be done!

Be in touch again later, hopefully!

Thursday 18th April

We have been buffeted about by strong winds for a couple of days now and decided we had had enough of being blown on banks and into narrow bridges so stopped had lunch and went for a walk to find the church which belonged to the lovely steeple we had spied from the M40 every time we went to and from Fenny.  The church was beautiful and guess what? Just across the road there was a pub, which is where we are 'getting connected'.

All is well with us. The weather is warmer, we have April showers but it is rather blowy.  Still heading south - maybe the Thames early next week!

Aynho Lock

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Kings Sutton

Monday 15 April
Arrived at Fenny Compton this afternoon.  The sun was shining but it was very windy.  Loaded up and after taking on water and fueling up in the morning we will bid farewell to Fenny Marina.

It will be good to be travelling again!

15 April  2013 we will travel to the boat and start a new adventure. Watch this blog for updates on our progress.