That is the wood( mit badgers!)

Lovely mooring

I wonder how long this will stay here.

Monday nights morring spot.

Monday we cruised back up the Oxford canal towards Braunston. This canal is quintessentially “England”.

So 9 days left before we start back down the Nene. Do we go to Milton Keynes, and say Hello to Mel and Pete or do we go left and cruise a bit of the Leicester arm.?????

Well ,as we will be going off down The Great Ouse towards Bedford in August( and Mel, if you are still following this, you did say that was an easy place for you to get to !) we have decided to trundle down towards The Welford Arm , and then turn back and explore Crick ( shops n pubs !!!!).

Tuesday we looked at 12v fridges in The Midland Swindlers, I mean Midland Chandlers. We need a new fridge, but do we go 12v @ £600 or 240v @ £100. ( we have an inverter), plus a generator??? Decisions, decisions.

Did the Braunston locks with 3 Ozzies. Greg had said that they were rank amateurs, and boy, was he correct. Anyway, Mick and I imparted some knowledge, but we both got the feeling that they were not enjoying the experience. Hard Work. !!!!

Passed Pete and Carol( forgot the name of their boat), travelling with the folks on NB Sorted. ( they all hang out at Floods Ferry.)

Washing is out on the towpath, but on an airer today.
Finlay has just had a good walk around “Fieldside Covert”( a small wood by the canal).

And Gerry, if you are following, we are moored exactly in the same spot, that we first saw your daughter( she was wearing a pirate hat) on your NB Dash.
As far as I am concerned, this is the most beautiful mooring spot, EVER. ! quiet, views all around, a small wood.etc. I am now trying to talk Mick into venturing in there this evening at dusk, WITHOUT Finlay, as I reckon there are badgers in there.

Thursday we arrived at Aynho. And that was as far as we can go this time. Lovely mooring, wide towpath, so the laundry was done and hung out. The bbq was cleaned down, ready for our 1st bbq of the year. Found our way during the afternoon to the wharf
Andtried a Mint Magnum - 10/10. anyway,. The big news of this day was that I was texting someone from the back of Trundle, and turned to say hello to a passing boater – he was an old boy in a floppy hat. Turned back to my texting and then the light-bulb effect kicked in and I realised that I had just passed a hail fellow well met with none other than Timothy West !!! didn’t see his Mrs – Prunella Scales, though. I immediately texted everyone I know, and had quite a few “ WHO?’s” in reply. PHILISTINES. !!! He had been down to the festival at Braunston and I believe had had a “go” at skippering the Vintage NB President.


Friday was a return to lovely Banbury, and this time it was my turn to wander the streets and charity shops looking for boat treasures. Found a few things!

A local boater had told us about a good Indian rest called Jaipur, so in the evenng, we changed into non-boaty attire and hit the town. The Indian was excellent, with some rather nice touches. E.g with the hot towels came a bowl of quartered oranges to suck on and clean your mouth, plus a complimentary “copita” or very small glass of brandy for mick and baileys for me. Then we went to an old fashioned oak floored pub for 1 drink, and then back to Trundle, no tv signal,so we watched a film. It was 11.30 before we hit the sack. That is very late for us. !!!! and I had a slightly thick head in the morning……. Tch tch.



On Sunday making our way down the Claydon lock flight, we came across Pauline and Gerry on NB Dash, going the opposite way. We had cruised along with them a couple of years ago, and enjoyed their company very much. It was great to see them, albeit sad that we were not all going along in the same direction. Gerry likes wine. ! and I can remember that the last time we saw them we all had an enjoyable time sampling n slurping. The ways these things go, we will see them again at some point and hopefully we will all be facing the same way.

It was busy on the flight, and we passed the time of day with another boater, who had had a bit of a rough time at the hands of a Hire boat from Nr.Rugby. There were 9 or 10 on this boat, and alledgedly they were not very nice, foul language, drunk, rude etc. I think I may have been tempted to speak to the hire company.





Before we left our mooring on Sunday morning, I had heard a noise on the top of the boat, Mick was at the front somewhere, so I enquired “ was that you on the top of the boat?” When I saw this, I guess it may have been a goose or large duck. !!!!

what is Finlay staring at ?????

Voila !

mick loses a penny!
don't think it's in there .

7.15 am !!!!! Pleeeese get that cat out of my chair....pleeeeese I smell dog.

Monday we left a great mooring-Again- and moved up to Cropredy for water, even though there was loads of it falling from the sky. Cold and wet, so like everyone else we moored up and called it a day. 30 mins later, after hot shower, warm soc ks on, and a nice cup of tea, we felt a bit more human. It’s still part of narrowboating and good fun, though.

Inbetween showers we took Finlay for a walk…………………OFF THE LEAD> ! it was fine going up the canal, but when we turned around, he had spied a little snicket into a cow field with …..RABBITS. Gone in 30 seconds. Mick was annoyed and upset, saying he won’t be able to find his way back to us, will get lost, etc. I pointed out the dogs have terrific noses and that Finlay would be able to smell us, I mean he would be able to smell Mic k and therefore he would come back. Buy the time I had finished this diatribe( is that the correct word ?), Finlay, was behind Mick. Tongue lolling( that could be smiling, I guess), and smelling a bit suspicious ( cow dung). Seeing as he is having such a miserable time, we let him enjoy being whiffy.

Tuesday onto Banbury. Met up with Rick and Val, which was lovely. They are a bit naughty, ‘cos they always take us out for lunch, and they always turn up with a pressy for me and a bottle of red for Mick. Naughty but very nice. Had a good natter and catch up with them, and we will be meeting up again, when we go through Weedon.and hopefully,( its here in print,Rick and Val), we will be visiting each others’gaffs over the winter.

( We bought 2 water pistols for 2 young lads that live on the south coast,I think we had better by a few more to even things up a bit, as we will be visiting in July .!!!!!!.... another good reason to stop in Banbury)

Cousin John and Wife Sue, and their chums, will be starting their NB holiday on Saturday---- looks like they have made the weather turn good for them, anyway. They hire a …………69footer !!!!! and they will be cruising the lovely 4 counties ring. Lucky beggars.
Have a good one, but I will give you a call sat or Sunday anyway. Hope you don’t suffer with The Wind.!


We have now moved down to Aynho. Met a very nice couple called Chris and Joy on NB Wrens Nest and their puss, Jade.( a stylish british smooth hair). She certainly has chutzpah, as she helped herself to Finlay's chair.! Finlay scuttled off into the boat. Cor, and I remember the days when he would have given chase.

Today ,Thursday, will be staying put,as the weather is hot, hot , hot. And its washing day, boat cleaning day, bbq day etc. then we will turn back and have a day and night in Banbury again. Fancy another lunch out, R and V ????? The town is lovely and Mick and I really enjoyed staying there. And now that we have done all the sight-seeing, I am going off on my own to “do” the Charity shops…..looking for boat treasures, antique velvet etc. There is also Debenhams, Monsoon( my very fave shop),H&M etc., but can’t really justify any more clothes. Don’t wear some that I have. However some of the boaty clothes are now resembling rags and cleaning cloths so maybe……….

farmers' preferred choice of holiday ???

Virgin stuck on bridge. Just as we went beneath, it moved off. Poor Finlay.

Some days since I blogged, so Thursday night we had a nice mooring after we had shopped at Rugby. However, that night we seemed to have a lot of nightlife………………………….on top of Trundle, even some tapping on the door in the early hours, and even though it made me jump, I knew it would be a bird, and yes it was, left its calling card all over our back deck. Tch tch !!!!

This is what freaks Finlay out. Trains. See pic. A virgin stuck on a bridge( there must be a joke there somewhere ).

Friday we had a lovely rural mooring north of Braunston, nice enough for some washing to be put out to dry…..Scooby Alert. !

Reading the Towpath Talk( free paper for boaters). The NB we had a holiday on, and had wanted to buy-Driftweed is up for sale at Cowroast Marina. We ended up with Ragweed, now Trundle, and would not swap her for anything.

Now we are on the really lovely Oxford Canal, and going as far as we can befor we have to turn around. We might just make it to Isis Lock, then return. Who knows. IF, IF the weather becomes really warm, we will haul up for a few days perhaps.

Loads of help at Napton Locks. This is Daniel, Sean, Paul and Catherine. Thanks a lot.

The moorings along here are wonderful.Rural with sheep and cows etc. and some idiots want to put another High Speed Train through it all./ ! Just what is not wanted. Can’t folk get to places quick enough as it is???? Anyway there is a petition to sign if anyone cares to. HSP2. co uk. Or something like that.

We also saw a boatname that always makes us smile. called Pooh Sticks. !!!!

Thursday.

Fueled up at Ashby Boats marina ( 83p per litre), and while Mick did that, I went of to the farm-shop for some bbq meat …….. yeah. Yeah, but on Sunday afternoon, come hell or high water we are going to have a Barbie. So some red dexter beef, and some gloster old spot pork sausages. Went into the bag, with some large free range heggs, and some new tates picked that morning.

It was a showery trip towards Rugby, so after getting soaked, we moored up at a lovely mooring nr easenhall bridge.


So a Big shop-up, and then to go an explore a bit of the Oxford Canal, down towards Banbury. Not sure how far we will get, as we have to be off the canal around 15th June.

ooooohhhhh Ying tong, ying tong ying tong piddle I Po......


I am turning japanese if you please

I don't like you anymore, let me off !!!!!

aaaahhhh Freedom. yippeeeee

Finlay get back here !!!! Finlay? Is that you ?

Drunk? or effects of the wind?

So down to the Ashby canal, very rural no locks and a pump-out for £13. ! we will also top up the fuel for 83p per litre, last year we were paying 68p !!!!.

Anyway, after pumping out, we went and had a pint and a personal pump-out in the pub.
We eventually moored up in amongst some hippy types, and as it was very, very windy a beardy type came out of his boat and helped and then scuttled back again. Their boats may be as scruffy as them, but sometimes they are the nicest folk you could wish to meet.

Next day moved on to Battlefield Moorings, and walked to the site of the Battle Of Bosworth Field for a bit of history. A great walk and looking around the fields and hills,one could imagine Ricky 3 and the big H, having a dust up.

Spoke to my mate, Sue ( in spain), and that reminds me, Susie. We have seen quite a few LABRADOODLES , and we have seen a COCKAPOO. Now you know you said you would like a Bernese Mountain dog crossed with a poodle and you said it would be a doodleberne, well, in fact, it would actually be a Bernypoo, wouldn’t it ????????

Took this photo of a depressed looking sheep on a bridge and wondered if this could be a……………………………………………………………WOOLLY JUMPER, bum!bum!

So, it would seem that it’s a time for falling in the cut. Mick slid in at Hawkesbury Junction, Scooby fell in at Oxford( again keeping his mythical wallet dry) and………………………………………….I fell in, today, at BARTON ON THE BEAN. ! (this is the closes village to our mooring, what a lovely name ). I was moving our wrought iron snail( from Yorkshire), from the hatch cover to the middle of the boat,stepped onto Trundle and she weren’t there !!!!! and down, down( deeper n down) I went. Twixt side of canal and Trundle. How embarrassing, I couldn’t get my feet onto anything to help me get out, and it took Mick and another bloke from his boat, and tween them they heaved me out( with much giggling ). Hm, Hm. .Yet another colourful bruise to add to my collection. We have a wedding to attend in July, I reckon I might wear a burka. !

Thank you Sharon and Sue, for registering as followers.