Braunston

Much colder today than yesterday. There was a cold wind blowing along tne Oxford summit. It was slow progress down the Napton flight. We were following a couple on a hire boat who insisted on using a rope in each lock. We told tnem it wasn’t necessary, but he said that it gives him ‘more

Fenny Compton

We have left Cropredy for the last time and are on our way up to Oakwood marina in Cheshire. This will be our mooring for the next couple of years. The day started off with Mark Paris coming to do our BSC test. All was ok except tne back plate on tne stove wasn’t fitting

New Holding Tank

Narrowboat toilets fall into two main types – pumpout and cassette. With a pumpout type the output from the toilet goes into a large tank onboard,  known as a holding tank. It’s stored there until you visit services at e.g. a marina where it’s connected to a pumpout machine which transfers the contents of the

Fenny Compton

Our guests arrived yesterday and we had a pleasant evening on board eating, drinking and nattering. The decision was made for another early start because of the forecast hot weather, and we we away by 6:20. Progress was slow as far as Napton junction as we were following two hire boats, but we lost them

Braunston

Yet another  early start, this  time 6:30.  As we approached the bottom lock of the Buckby flight we could see a couple on a boat about to set off. We shared all tne locks in the flight with them. It was quiet at first, but we met several descending boats towards tne top. As we

Weedon Bec

Another early start, though it was just after 6:30 this time. The sky was overcast and it was a bit chilly, but we expected it to warm up later. After a couple of hours we reached the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne flight. Rather oddly some of them were empty and some full, but we

Cosgrove

15 miles, 3 locks. Another early start because of the hot weather. We knew that we wouldn’t need to do many locks today, but we wanted to get a few miles ‘under our belt’. The second lock  of the day was unusual for two reasons. It only has a rise of 1 foot and 1

Stoke Hammond

Both us and the Uncle Mort team wanted an early start because of the forecast hot weather to come. So last night we agreed on 6:00am. Just before six Andrew was about and moving fenders etc. We said our goodbyes and they chugged off. We pulled over to the water point to top up. It

Marsworth via Aylesbury

For the last few days we have been meeting up with boating friends old and new in Aylesbury. On Friday we started down the Aylesbury arm and at Wilstone we picked up Simon and Karen who had driven up from home in Gloucestershire. They helped crew us and Uncle Mort down the flight along with