Christmas Letter 2011

Wednesday, 14 December 2011 13:09

                                  A very Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year to you all!  

We are not sending Christmas cards - as usual, but this letter and an e-card. In lieu of cards and postage we have bought a herd of goats. Not for us - a bit difficult on a narrowboat, but for farmers in Burundi. Find out more here.

Strangely, I write this from the same place as I wrote last year's letter - the same canal, the same location and the same mooring - only this time, the South Oxford Canal at Thrupp is not iced over and we hope to move up to Cropredy to spend Christmas with our good friends John and Carolyn.

After pootling around on the Oxford Canal at the beginning of 2011, we finally made it to the River Thames in March. However, first we went to the Winter Folk Festival near Napton and then came back down to Banbury for John's 60th birthday. I had planned a couple of small surprises - a visit from Craig and tickets for a concert by one of our favourite folk rock bands, Ahab. The biggest surprise of all was a party with relatives and friends, It was great to see John's face and to be able to catch up with those we hadn't seen for ages.

John's 60th bash

First on the Thames was a trip upstream to Lechlade, a place we have driven through many times. Here we caught up with Richard Clarke, one of the Bath Narrowboats Directors who had been involved in our Epiphany build. After exploring the top end of the Thames we travelled downstream enjoying the peace and tranquility of the Upper Thames. We learnt to "rough moor", i.e. to clamber off Epiphany, moor using stakes and then use the gangplank to get on and off. As a result of this technique, we only paid to moor about 3 or 4 times the whole summer and only then in the most popular places. 

I had been apprehensive about being on the Thames but as we continued I began to really enjoy the experience. We were very fortunate that we had good weather and the lack of rain meant that there was no likelihood of a fast stream or flooding. We visited all the well known spots - at times I felt very like a tourist, even when we reached London, my place of birth and childhood. 

   Windsor Castle from River

We took a couple of detours on the way downstream. At Reading we turned onto the Kennet and Avon Canal, for old times sake really. On the way down to Pewsey and Devizes we had a fabulous weekend with friends from Cornwall, Angela and Chris. It was good to see some of the old haunts and some of the people we knew from our time on the K and A, but I was glad to get back onto the river, as we had encountered problems due to lack of water - at times the bottom was too near the top for Epiphany and we did a good job of dredging! On the canal, we were able to leave Epiphany for a couple of trips, one to Lewes to stay with Phil, Mol and great nephew Nathaniel and another for a trip to Birmingham for Lois' 70th birthday, with David and Ruth. Afterwards I went up to Lancaster to stay with Craig and John went to help on the NABO stand at the Crick Boat Show.  

Our second detour was onto the River Wey Navigations down to Guildford and Godalming - the furthest South East the interconnected inland waterways system goes. We also went a little way up the Basingstoke Canal to Woking. This was quite an experience, as we had to be seen through the locks by the Rangers, who then caulked up the top gates with bark to prevent water loss. It was also very shallow and I had fun going aground countless times whilst John waited for me at the locks. We had Dom, another of our great nephews, on board as crew and visited Brooklands race track with him - ahh, nostalgia! 

    River Wey

We had a weekend trip back to Oxfordshire for the Fairport Convention Folk Festival in August - a wonderful musical event in Cropredy where we spent time with John and Carolyn and caught up with some boating friends. This year it stayed almost dry! John was able to help at the Sunday service at the church in Cropredy too.

Back on the River Thames, we spent some time with friends: Gill and Geoff on narrowboat Petroc at Goring and one of my girlhood friends, Maggie, taking her from Kingston to Teddington. Then we went down to Brentford on the tidal Thames and onto the Grand Union Canal. We continued around to Paddington where we stayed for a week and then on to Limehouse in east London, near Docklands. Next we explored North East London and its outskirts on the Lee and Stort Navigations. The Lee goes up to Hertford, past the Olympic Park, through Tottenham and Enfield. The River Stort was lovely, very pretty and secluded until Bishops Stortford, where the navigation ends. 

   Olympic Stadium from the Lee Navigations

Returning to Limehouse Basin, we enjoyed exploring the Docklands and anticipating our escape back onto the tidal River Thames via a tidal lock and up past all the iconic London riverside sights. What an experience - John wanted to go back and do it all again! We had Lois aboard, so us two Londoners enjoyed the view from the bow whilst John navigated Epiphany with great skill. Unsurprisingly Tower Bridge stayed stubbornly shut, then up past the Tower of London, Parliament, the Eye, under all those familiar bridges which were not so familiar after all from the water, Kew, Richmond and all the way back to Teddington.

    Tower Bridge ahead

It was time for a leisurely trip back upstream, stopping at all our favourite places again - Windsor, Hampton Court, Henley, Marlow, and Goring. Arriving back in Reading, we stayed for a while,went up to see Craig again and had some work done on Epiphany. We left Reading with a serviced engine, resplendent with new solar panels on the roof!

    A new look Epiphany approaching Abingdon

All too soon we were back in Oxford. We love Oxford and had really enjoyed our time there on the way down. The Literary Festival had been on then at Christ Church and we soaked up some culture! By now it was well on into the autumn and the river banks looked very different. The colours had been glorious but the leaves were falling and it was time to think about winter. The Upper Thames was very quiet - no large gin palaces to avoid - and we had all the locks to ourselves. After a couple of weeks we returned to the South Oxford Canal (reluctantly on my part!) and began to move towards Banbury and Christmas. 

    Autumn on the Upper Thames at Kings Lock

What a year - it has been really wonderful! My health improved a little and four monthly trips to Harefield were not too onerous. John had been able to get to his various meetings for and on behalf on NABO. We had also seen friends and relatives that we hadn't seen for a while, including John's cousins - Wilf Slee and his wife Sue, and Simon Hones. 

So what of next year? We have tentative plans but one definite is a couple of months up on the Lancaster Canal to spend some time with Craig and his girlfriend Lucie - I can't wait! Who knows what else will befall us - follow our blog on http://nbepiphany.co.uk and see, or come back next year when another epistle will be scribed for your winter pleasure (or not!).

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