Still here

The plan was to set off this morning for Braunston to meet friends Andrew & Sheila on NB ‘Uncle Mort’ for New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately the weather has taken control of things. When we awoke it was blowing a gale and raining hard. The forecast for the next few days is pretty dire. A flurry

On our bikes

We have been considering for some time that the boat needs a re-paint. It’s a big decision, and a lot of money, so we didnt want to rush it. Over the summer we had been looking at lots of boats and assessing the colours and style of the paintwork. We had talked to lots of

Above Cropredy Lock

Saturday We are going to cycle, on our new Tern fold-up bikes, to the Banbury Canal day tomorrow. To get there from our mooring in the marina would entail going all round the marina, out onto the road and then into the village to get on the towpath. So instead we came just outside the

Cropredy Marina

After 412 miles, 396 locks and 12 tunnels we have arrived! The morning started out OK, but then we got into a queue at Bourton lock. One boat in the lock and four waiting. In the last 6 weeks or so we have hardly had to queue at all, and here we are only a

Above Nell`s lock

The awful weather predicted didn`t arrive. It has been very windy, but mostly sunny with occasional short showers. The canal has been quite busy, we have seen more boats today than any day in the last week or so. Tomorrow we should be at our new mooring in the marina at Cropredy. A new experience

Kidlington

The weather forecast for today was dire. It spoke of high winds and heavy rain from 11 o’clock onwards. So we decided to make an early start and were on the way by 6:45. The river was cloaked in mist, giving a magical, ethereal quality to everything. It was difficult at times to see where

Clifton cut

In order to get as far up the Thames as we could before the bad weather set in we made another early start. Doing the forst two locks before the lack keepers came on duty. In fact the weather wasnt too bad and we made good progress to stop fro the night just above Clifton

Reading Jail

Autumn is coming. The mornings are cold and misty. The evenings are chilly and it’s dark by eight. Some of the trees are turning colour and the vegetation is looking tired. The waterside hedgerows are laden down with fruit, blackberries, elderberries, hip, haws and crab apples. Thirteen miles and fourteen locks today. We are moored

Above Midgham lock

When I. K. Brunel built the Great Western Railaway line from London to Bristol, for much of the way from Reading onwards, he followed the line of the Kennet & Avon canal. This gave him two advantages. Firstly Rennie had already surveyed a fairly level route and overcome some of the geographic obstacles, and secondly