Shh – it is so quiet my ears are hurting!

Friday, 16 December 2011 21:32

So it was goodbye Thrupp, good friends and unexpected visitors and hello to the rest of the South Oxford Canal. Some of it anyway, as we moved on up towards Northbrook Lock. We hoped that the stoppage had been finished early so we could get through and beyond Lower Heyford, and so well on our way to Aynho where we hope to fill up with diesel.

Tonight we have a very slow internet and so sadly, no photos to show you. Those of you who know the South Oxford will know where we are because of that last sentence! .....

So a short blog for you this evening and hopefully I will be able to give you a good account of our cruise, with photos, tomorrow. Here to whet your appetite is a short summary.

We left the mooring to a flurry of light sleet, but left Thrupp Wide in the sunshine. It was 2.7 degrees out so we were well wrapped up! In fact it did not rise above that all day, despite the sun.

The short section of the River Cherwell was flowing a bit, but it was green on the level indicator. Northbrook was well and truly open and we met two narrowboats who had come down it. That made three on the move today, excluding us.

We had fun avoiding the moored hire boats and narrowboats at Oxfordshire Cruisers. We had hoped Dusty might be there filling up ready for his trip down to Oxford beginning on Sunday, but he had already loaded. We were sad to miss him and not to fill up with his diesel, so it will definitely have to be Aynho tomorrow.

So now we are moored above Lower Heyford, in a lovely quiet remote spot – hence my painful ears! We have TV satellite signal, no Orange phone signal to speak of, absolutely no 3 data and a very slow Orange data signal. However Heyford is notorious for this lack of C21^st convenience. Were you right, fellow South Oxford officianados?

Come back tomorow for some lovely photos and more detail about Northbrook Lock and our cruise.