Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE FELIS CATUS II YEARS

THE LONDON/OXFORD RING, SUMMER 2000

Part 2 : The main Summer cruise

We continue the story with the boat at Cropredy.

This was the start of our main summer cruise. As so often happens, work delayed our getting away from home by a few days. Wendy and myself, plus friend Ian and cat Tilly arrived mid-afternoon by train & taxi to pick up the boat at Cropredy.

We started at 16:21 and stopped almost at once to use the sani station below the lock, then headed south to Banbury, where we arrived at 18:41. We moored by the new Castle Wharf shopping centre by the canal, which was open but not yet fully tenanted. I went exploring the town. It looks the sort of town with a big out-of-town supermarket. But there was to be a farmers' market next day (first Friday of every month). No food shops were open, so we had a take-away Thai meal.

DAY'S RUN : 4.9 miles, 4 locks in 2 hr 17 min

We divided the shopping list between us, but nearly all ended up in M&S or Somerfields in the Castle Wharf shopping centre which latter is better than most of their branches. The farmers' market was OK for meat (several rare breeds of pig products, organic lamb, beef & Barbary duck) but not much use for fruit & veg. It did have some local milk & cheeses.

We set off at 13:19, stopped at Aynho Wharf for water at 17:05, then continued to Somerton bridge, where we moored for the night at 18:37.

DAY'S RUN : 8.8 miles, 5 locks in 4 hr 58 min

A late start (10:19) because Tilly was still out. Very hot and sunny day. We met quite a useful collection of uphill traffic, but progress was slow because of shallows and a lot of moored boats. Our general impression of the Southern Oxford is that it has a lot more moored boats than it did when we were last on it in 1988.

At 15:56 we stopped at Thrupp BW yard to dispose of Elsan & rubbish. Then on to a pleasant overnight mooring immediately above Duke's lock at 18:09 . There were lots of dogs around, which delayed Tilly's going out. We hoped it would encourage her back early in the morning.

DAY'S RUN : 13.7 miles, 9 locks in 7 hr 29 min

No such luck! She stayed out until Sunday evening. We gave her overnight freedom again, but I shut all the doors & windows when she came in at about 4 am, after which she frantically attacked doors & windows for about half-an-hour before settling down.

We reconsidered our plans. It looked as if we'd have very little time on the K&A, partly because of the delays and partly because Wendy had to go on Jury Service in just over a week. (Ian could stay until the Tuesday week). So we decided to cut out the K&A completely and spend some time on the Lee before leaving the boat at Limehouse.

Because of keeping the cat in, the boat was horribly hot during breakfast, before we set off at 09:34. We stopped at Wolvercote water point to take on water and dispose of rubbish, then went on to moor at the top of Louse (or Isis) lock at 10:26 for me to photograph the remains of the main line to Hythe Bridge and the site of where the terminal basin is due one day to be partially restored. We set off again at 12:36, locked down into the Sheepwash Channel, via which we joined the Thames at 12:50.

We saw our friend Richard Packer's boats Robert Child and Sara Child moored in Oxford, but there was no sign of life. Also saw Bob Winter on Louisa and exchanged greetings.

We reached Abingdon bridge at 15:59 and stopped at the boatyard on the island in the hope of finding someone to repair our fridge which has conked out, but they were too busy. While we were there, Wendy went shopping and later joined us at the mooring we'd moved to across the river.

DAY'S RUN 5:03 12.6 miles, 3 locks in 5 hr 3 min

Tilly was out all day again. By mid-morning it was clear she wasn't likely to be back until the night, so I went home to do some odd jobs.

I came back about lunchtime. Tilly was still out until early evening, when Wendy took her home, as we now couldn't afford to lose any more time.

Ian and I set off at 10:33. Wendy planned to re-join us that evening. We stopped at Benson Pleasurecraft at 13:58 for a pump-out and to take on water. They had no-one to look at our fridge, but recommended us to try Bridge Boats in Reading.

Continuing at 14:17, we reached Whitchurch bridge, where we planned to moor. A long stretch of moorings on Pangbourne Meadows (National Trust) were all full., so we ended up at 17:55 moored to a broken sign that we suspect was meant to say "No mooring". Wendy re-joined us, after a bit of difficulty finding her way here from the station.

DAY'S RUN : 23.7 miles, 7 locks in 7 hr 3 min

We set off at 9:46 and at 11:17 put Wendy ashore at Caversham Bridge to go to Tesco while Ian & I took the boat to Bridge Boats in the hope of a fridge repair. They weren't able to help us with the fridge, as they were turning their hire fleet round. So we set off again through Caversham Lock to Tesco, where we found very full moorings, with the wrong-size gaps. We ended up moored outboard of another narrowboat at 12:55, just about as Wendy had completed the shopping.

We set off again at 13:29, passed Kennet mouth without turning off. We locked through Temple lock a little before 18:30. The lock-keeper told us about an excellent mooring immediately below the lock, which we shared with a couple of Joshers from Warwickshire Fly Boat Co.

DAY'S RUN : 22.4 miles, 8 locks in 8 hr 7 min

We were away at 08:38, and I spent some time on the mobile 'phone trying to find someone who would be able to look at our fridge problem. The solution was Bray Marina, where we arrived at 12:3. Their fitter cleared the spark-gap, but wasn't happy with the size of the flame, which he attributed to a problem with the jet, but as he didn't have any spares for this model he couldn't sort it. He was pessimistic about how cold the fridge would get with so small a flame, but his pessimism turned out to be unfounded as it has worked perfectly well for the rest of the summer.

We set off again at 13:31, failed to find a mooring for some shopping in Windsor (getting some more perishables, now the fridge is working again) The only sensible-looking mooring on the useful side of the river turned out to be a private one for the trip-boats.

At 17:37 we found a good mooring just above Staines bridge at what looks like an abandoned boat-yard. Jerry & Maureen Barks in Maelstrom (whom we seem to meet all over the place) were moored round the corner of an island, but we didn't get a chance to chat with them.

DAY'S RUN : 22.6 miles, 8 locks in 8 hr 5 min

An 08:24 start brought us above Teddington lock by 13:21, where we stopped here to wait for the tide. The lock-keeper recommended us to lock through at 14:30, so we had some lunch while we were waiting. Several other boats were heading for Brentford.

We set off towards the lock at 14:23 and not far down the tideway we crossed paths with old friends Alec & Betty Gosling on Betty G from the River Wey.

By Richmond half-tide barrier the tide was ebbing and speeding us along. We reached the mouth of Brentford Creek at 15:39 and joined the Grand Junction. We shared Thames Lock with Prudence, bound for Iver. We stopped above the lock for a cuppa with my fellow London IWA Plan/Nav Committee member Sarah and her partner John on John's barge, with Sarah's Edinburgh Castle moored outboard of it. John gave Wendy a lift to the station to go home for next day's Jury Service.

Ian & I set off at 17:02, and had to wait behind a broad-beam Adelaide Dock hire-boat at Clitheroe's lock. At 18:58 we stopped for the night at some pleasant moorings below Hanwell bottom lock, where BW have done a number of improvements. We were later joined by Prudence who had stopped earlier to cure some engine problem.

DAY'S RUN : 24.7 miles, 10 locks in 8 hr 22 min

We made a start at 08:44, and as we were now 2-handed were glad to share the work of the locks with Prudence (also 2-handed). We passed through Bull's Bridge Junction at 10:58 and joined the Paddington Branch.

We stopped at Willow Tree Marina at 11:30 for water, pump-out, diesel & gas. We were served by Graeme Heap, an old friend who is working here again with his Dutch barge Azolla up on the stocks for a lot of work (possibly including re-bottoming). The next stop was for provisions at Sainsbury's, Kensal Rise. Later we disposed of rubbish en passant at Little Venice. Stokie was on the visitor moorings, advertising diesel at a better price than we'd just paid at Willowtree. Isn't it always like that?

We passed Audrey & David Smith (Audrey is a former IWA national Chairman) on Muffin No.3 at St Pancras. Cruising Club, where they were moored overnight. We went on to Islington visitor moorings (my favourite ones in central London), which we reached at 19:29.

DAY'S RUN : 20.2 miles, 12 locks in 7 hr 57 min

Before we started, Audrey & David came past and moored at the IWAAC offices above City Road Lock. We set off at 10:23. We crossed paths with two trip boats, Pride of Lee at Old Ford Lock and Jenny Wren at Johnson's. Toby (steerer of Jenny and London IWA Region Secretary) told me there are proposals for development at Kingsland Basin.

We reached Limehouse Basin at 12:51 and shoe-horned ourselves into a gap on the overnight mooring while I went to the Cruising Association office to book the boat into the marina for 3 nights. The fee as now £12 per night + VAT. Disposed of elsan & rubbish before making our separate ways home, after I'd spent some time up-dating my photos of the Basin, which is changing every time I go there, with lots of new development.

DAY'S RUN : 2:28 4.2 miles, 8 locks in 2 hr 28 min
CRUISE TOTALS (10 days' boating) : 157.8 miles, 78 locks in 61 hr 51 min