Well, an early start was our plan and an early start we had. Somehow we managed to get our boatload of tourists up and ready by 7:00 AM. Wandering the short distance to our first lock of the day, Francine was inexorably drawn to a field full of cows and early morning mist. Our weather luck was continuing and yet another sunny day was in prospect but we are entering the time of year when misty mornings are common.

Photographic urges satisfied, we started off a little after 7:00 AM. Since we thought that the last moving traffic yesterday evening was heading up the locks, we were very surprised and a little upset to find that all five of the locks in the first flight were set against us – empty; Francine and I had to fill them before Capt. Virginia could slip Juniper into them. A flight of locks is where having two lock operators comes in handy: having started one lock, a second operator can go on to the next lock and prepare it before the boat arrives. After four days of practice, by now Francine and I were like a well-oiled machine and we did five locks in under an hour, a truly Olympic performance.

Since we had now used up all the provisions that we brought on board with us, today was always going to have to include a shopping trip. Every day has a water delay, too, and all the water taps we’ve found so far have been slow, taking between 30 and 45 minutes to fill Juniper’s fresh water tank. Added to all this, Banbury is a busy little town jammed with moored boats [no surprise there, then]. With an interesting waterfront anticipated, we decided to increase our time in Banbury even more by trying to find an interesting lunch venue.

Given the sequence of things along the canal, our first stop was our search for lunch. We moored just before the Banbury canal=front itself and sauntered in on foot. What we found was not quite what we expected. The first thing that we noticed was a pleasant enough bridge over the canal, a bridge very colourfully planted with flower baskets. So far so good. The canal-front had clearly been extensively developed with cleanly paved sides. Naturally all moorings here were taken. It was when looking around for the expected plethora of bars, cafes and restaurants that our surprise came. We saw just one cafe, and that with outside tables and chairs largely in the shade of a pedestrian overpass. One bank of the canal was given over to the back of a modern shopping centre, the only thing fronting the canal being the series of service bays for the shops contained therein. On the opposing bank, other than our Hobson’s choice cafe, there seemed to be just a car park and a block of flats. Perfectly pleasant though the flats were, this all felt like a completely wasted opportunity. Barking mad! [Left photo below, courtesy of Ian Rob, right photo below by Paul Gillett.]

The cafe that was present displayed a Greek theme and served Francine and I some very acceptable calamari whilst Capt. and Mrs Virginia chose a burger served with a strangely vivid beetroot mayonnaise [I’m sure it tasted good but it looked odd – this is why I am not a great fan of beetroot]. The waterfront, though, could have been so much more.

Appetite and thirst sated, our next stop was water. We’d hoped Banbury might have decent water pressure. Not so, 35 minutes. A passing narrow boat professional informed me that this was a slow tap. No kidding, aren’t they all?

Eventually we cut loose from the slow tap and went on to our third stop for food and booze. A few bridges further on we’d been told there was a Morrison’s supermarket within spitting distance of some mooring and the bridge. We duly moored, carried all our empty wine bottles (‘cos Morrison’s have recycling bins which is more than I can say for the Canal and River Trust) and went shopping for several days of food and replacement bottles of wine. As a special request from Capt. Virginia, we bought a pound of scallops for scallops with red peppers and rice. We successfully returned to Juniper with three more days-worth of food together with 21 more bottles of wine, too. Well done team!

By now the cruising day was almost over so we left Banbury behind us and found a spot of the canal that maximized our distance from the twin noise generators of a railway line and the constant drone of the M40. We were beside a photographically attractive lift bridge which Francine had her eye on.

In a whole day, we’d managed a staggering 12 miles. Darwin this mode of transport is slow!

Day 5 Map

Having moored overnight in a very rural part of the Grand Union–Oxford link canal, the towpath looked favourable so Francine and I decided on another start on foot. We cast off Capt. Virginia and walked 5½ miles into the Oxford Canal proper and onto a fresh water point. We walked mostly ahead of Juniper which was once again forced to travel slowly passing many moored boats. No locks were involved and walking pace again beat Juniper over our 5½-mile stretch.

In the early morning sun, Francine and I began disturbing a few dragonflies which, still not thoroughly warmed up, seemed keen to settle back on the hedgerow running beside the canal. One Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) perched very prettily on some blackberries, perhaps hoping to snag a fly or two as breakfast. A late season Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) also put in an appearance. Since my GPS was running to track our course, I started making dragonfly records for later submission as we went along.

All the water points on the system appear to be very slow and it took us about 40 minutes to fill our water tank. Dull stuff waiting for a slow hose. Finally filled with fresh water, we were heading straight into a flight of  five locks at Napton, followed by another two slightly further on at Marston Doles.

Whereas the Grand Union is a wide canal with double width locks, the Oxford Canal is a narrow canal with single width locks with just a couple of inches either side of the boat. Having had enough of walking, Francine and Franco leapt aboard and Franco took the tiller to have a go at rattling into the locks at Napton. I think my first approach was my best, what an airline pilot might call a greaser if he made a smooth landing. Beginner’s luck. On subsequent attempts, instead of getting better, boat rattling seemed to be on the increase, culminating in a bang or two in some cases, rather than gliding noiselessly into a lock.

The more experienced Capt. Viriginia and I both agreed that Juniper steers like a pig; she has a predilection to veer to port. Take your eye off the canal for a second and the bow veers left making la rive gauche approach alarmingly quickly. Slam Juniper into reverse and the bow seems to leap left, too. It’s a very peculiar trait and much less than relaxing; tiller work requires extreme concentration. We suspect Juniper’s rudder may be less than perfectly straight.

Following the locks and after about 12 miles of straight cruising, we were approaching another flight of 5 locks at Claydon followed by a short run and a further three locks to descend into Cropredy. We had a decision to make: start the locks or stay uphill of them? Our downhill run could be broken in between the two sections of locks but that was about it for choice. Since we were in a peaceful, rural location at the top of the locks, we decided to stop cruising and start drinking, leaving the locks for an early morning start. The theory of an early morning start (about 7 AM) was designed to enable us to run through the series of locks without hindrance from other boats.

We’ll see if our theory works out.

Day 4 Map

Having pitched up – well, moored up, I suppose, since we’re on a boat – about 5 miles short of Weedon Bec yesterday evening and, there being sunshine and no locks in the offing, this morning Francine and I decided to get some exercise by walking along the towpath to Weedon Bec. Weedon Bec was a suitable stop for two things, our daily water top up and a pharmacy for Mrs Virginia’s sinus problem/cough/cold (whatever it is).

Our morning walk was both very pleasant, being through open countryside in the early sunshine, and very educational. Francine was using her Nordic walking poles and set off a good pace, while I was just plain walking, complete with camera in rucksack, giving me a chance to get a different view of Juniper.

The educational bit was that our walk proved our suspicion to be correct – Francine and I beat Juniper to Weedon Bec by a good five minutes and that’s with no intervening locks to impede the boat’s progress. What does almost constantly slow the boat’s progress is the moored boats scattered liberally along most sections of the canal, so most of the time you’re on tick-over avoiding creating any wake. Once Juniper arrived, we waited between 30 minutes and an hour while our water tank filled painfully slowly.

Weedon Bec is an interesting place. It was apparently chosen as the place to hide King George III when Napoleon was conquering vast swathes of Europe. Fortunately, Napoleon was stopped in his tracks before that became necessary. As well as cough mixture for Mrs Virginia, it also supplied us with a dump for our rubbish.

Back underway, we eventually negotiated the seven locks up towards Braunston. We weren’t yet quite at Braunston, though, that required another 2000-yard tunnel followed by a further six locks down. Braunston Tunnel differs from Blisworth Tunnel in that it doesn’t drip water all over ones head. Navigating Blisworth Tunnel would have best been done in the company of an umbrella.

Braunston Tunnel was no problem and felt considerably shorter than 2/3rds of Blisworth Tunnel yesterday. The same could not be said for the six locks down towards Braunston. Approaching the first lock, we came across a canal-system blockage – workers had drained the top lock and intervening pound in order to perform some maintenance work on the lock gates. An hour delay ensued, assisted by wine, during which time six other boats queued up behind us. Ultimately, the work was finished, the lock and lower pound were refilled, and we continued on our way. At least we’d been at the head of the queue.

Naturally, a few boats had also been held up trying to lock-up so traffic levels were high; our down-bound lock full of two boats threaded its way between an opposing up-bound lock full of two more boats. I was glad I was operating locks as opposed to driving.

We eventually exited the last of the six locks and crawled past the floating city on the canal at Braunston Junction. It was not a pretty sight. We were happy to turn onto the combined Oxford/Grand Union link canal that would eventually lead us to the Oxford Canal proper before finding a calm, rural mooring place for the night.

The unscheduled Canal and River Trust lock maintenance had cost us an hour and a couple of miles; we’d covered about 19 miles in a little over 10 hours.

Tomorrow we’ll enter the Oxford Canal proper and hit a flight of nine locks.

Day 3 Map

Our first night aboard passed very comfortably courtesy of the two fixed-bed “staterooms”. [Boating people, at least American boating people, seem to refer to bedrooms on a boat as staterooms. Who am I to argue?]

Having learned our lesson that the galley [boating speak for kitchen] can really accommodate only one person at a time, we were underway at 8:02 AM, our first goal being to fight our way out of Milton Keynes.

We had not yet achieved our first goal when we came across a water point at Gifford Park. The water point in question was a very slow water point, we were told, and was already being used by the person who told us, so we were delayed waiting before we could even start to fill up our own fresh water tank. Taking on water is a daily requirement, especially with four folks using showers. After about 15 minutes, we got connected to the water ourselves and were filled up in about another 20 minutes.

With almost constant moored boats along the length of the canal, leaving MK had to be done at tick-over speed, which is about 2 mph. As we did achieve our first goal, we were overtaken by a Mallard swimming serenely along. 😀

Our main goal for the day was to get through the 3000+ yards of Blisworth Tunnel, which lies just a spit above Stoke Bruerne (home of the canal museum) and most particularly after the 7 locks that raise boats up to Stoke Bruerne. We joined up with one of Juniper’s sister vessels to go through the locks two by two. The extra pair of hands was welcome and our new friend seemed to appreciate the help and guidance, too.

At the Stoke Bruerne top lock, our activities generated lots of interest amongst the swarms of day-trippers; a lock gate competition developed between a group of girls on one gate and a group of boys on the other. The girls, however, did seem to recruit a little male support. Children, yikes, not Franco’s natural habitat at all.

After a brief pause in Stoke Bruerne to purchase a River Thames guide book, Captain Virginia negotiated Blisworth Tunnel very well, the darkness lasting about 35 minutes. An oncoming boat entertained us with some moderately loud music from Gladiator as it passed, which is an interesting experience in a 3000-yard, pitch black tunnel. It felt good eventually to break out into sunlight again after more than half an hour of disorientating darkness. Prior to internal combustion engines, I believe bargees used to traverse the tunnel by “walking” along the tunnel walls whilst lying on planks protruding from the sides of the boats. Just how ridiculously difficult and tiring that was, I can’t imagine.

Main goal achieved, we moored for our second night after 10 hours and 21 miles, about 5 miles short of Weedon Bec, for some well deserved pre-prandial drinks.

Day 2 Map

Provisioning Part 2 was done by yours truly and Francine in a dawn raid on our local Waitrose supermarket. Thank Darwin for civilized shopping. Realizing that our boat’s refrigerator would have a limited capacity, we bought food for two days … and another 6-bottle case of wine, just in case 20 bottles was not enough. 😯

As midday approached, the time at which we could take possession of/board our boat, “Juniper”, we swiftly spotted that we were not going to get 4 fully grown adults, their luggage, food and most particularly 26 bottles of wine into our car all in one go. Two trips would be required. How fortunate that we live just a mile or so from the Wyvern Shipping boat yard. We loaded the car with four adults, together with the food and booze and headed boatwards for the first time. Leaving two adults to pack the food and booze, the remaining two adults returned for the luggage and trip two.

Once fully loaded, a little instruction on the daily boat maintenance routine saw us cut loose onto the water, Captain Virginia manning the helm, and heading north towards Milton Keynes. Ah, so that’s the way we’re going round then, anticlockwise. This seems to me to be the sensible option, going downstream with the flow of the River Thames rather than upstream against it.

Dealing with a few single locks warmed us up, us being the lock team of Francine and Franco. dealing with the linked set of three locks at The Three Locks pub just north of Leighton Buzzard cause a little head-scratching but we got it figured out thanks to some on-board instructions: as you drain one lock you have to open the top gate paddles into the next lock down to stop the relatively small intervening pound overflowing. Tricksy!

The starter’s pistol had gone off at 1:30 PM. With our locking skills from 15 years ago being refreshed – that was the last time we did this narrow boat caper – in 5½ hours we’d negotiated 7 locks to race 10½ miles north up the Grand Union and to moor for night #1 in a strangely quiet part of Milton Keynes (it’s very difficult to get away from the drone of traffic anywhere in MK). What progress! A shopping trip in the car to Central Milton Keynes takes about 15 minutes. Had we been walking along the canal towpath, we’d have been about 4 miles further on. One begins to see why this mode of transport became outmoded.

I’m pretty sure this constitutes noticeably slower progress than our merry crew made 15 years ago. The main reason, I think, is that there now seem to be many more residential boats moored at irregular intervals along the canal causing a slowing of progress, from almost 4 mph to about 2 mph, as one passes moored craft.

I’m not sure that the published typical timings for cruising between certain points are actually any longer typical. We’ll have to keep our eye on them and see.

Day 1 map

Do you remember galoshes? No, neither, it seems, does anyone else – except Capt. and Mrs Virginia who were in search of a pair of waterproof overshoes for the Captain on his boating activities. We spent a good portion of Friday scouring various country supply stores, huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ stores, and the like. Some came close but had nothing large enough whilst others simply raised a questioning eyebrow. Wellington boots are apparently a bad idea because, if one does have the misfortune to fall in, they tend to fill with water and drag one under. This is not a particular issue where a 3-feet deep canal is concerned but it can be a very dangerous solution on the River Thames, which is where we are hoping to head. Capt. Virginia finished up with some (supposedly waterproof) Gortex walking boots.

The rest of the day was spent buying wine, food, gin, food, wine, food and wine. We wandered out of a well known local supermarket with a shopping cart rattling about 20 bottles of wine against each other and muttering, “that should get us through the first few locks”. 🙂

“Doing the Thames Ring”, a circular route involving the Grand Union Canal, Oxford Canal and River Thames, is less than straightforward. The canal sections should be simple enough, apart from trying to find a mooring in the crowded stretches of Oxford and London, but the Thames is tidal at London which makes re-entering/leaving (depending upon direction) the Grand Union Canal time dependent. Since there is no quick way back once aboard a canal boat, timing is critical – one needs to get through the lock on a specific day or risk delivering the boat back late. How to win friends and influence people! One is advised to contact the Thames lock lock-keeper at Brentford 24 hours beforehand.

Our Captain found the tide tables and some lock times but not all was clear so he tried calling the lock-keeper’s number. A maintenance man answered claiming ignorance. We double checked the number, found it to be correct and were left hoping that the lack of enlightenment was due to our being a little late in the day and that the man in the know had left.

I hope someone is in the know. We’ll try again tomorrow.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, that is.

Getting on the road at 5:30 AM is not a new experience, though the older I get the less appealing such starts seem to get. Meeting a ship in port instead of an aircraft arrival at an airport would, however, be a new experience.

Given the the early hour, we plumped for the M25/M3 route down to Southampton. All went well, apart from a particularly odd Garmin routing decision which took us off a perfectly fine M3 onto the Winchester bypass (also fine), only to dump us back on the M3 at the junction with the A34. Odd. Also, for some weird reason, Sally Satnav chose to completely ignore the motorway which heads for the Southampton docks and pile us straight through the built up area. Odd again. Nonetheless, we arrived on the road beside Dock Gates 4 and 5 at about 8:00 AM.

Driving into the port was much calmer than arriving at a busy airport. There were several security guards directing us to the correct area and the short term car park where we could stare up at the Queen Mary 2 in all her regal glory.

Nothing felt busy, nothing felt rushed; all was very calm and peaceful. The curved roof in between the ship and the cars (above) is the terminal. We paid for our parking (£3 for up to 2 hours) and wandered in.

There’s not much to the inside of the terminal, really. The most critical piece of equipment was a Douwe Egberts coffee machine which produced a decent and very necessary espresso. Passengers, all 2650 of ‘em, seem to sort of drift off the ship at irregular intervals and at their leisure, as opposed to the frenetic, massed rush for the door, luggage conveyor belts and arrivals exit adopted by airline travellers. Much more civilized!

Having taken 8 days to cross the northern Atlantic, with a brief stop in Nova Scotia en route, our two passengers sort of drifted off at about 8:30 AM looking very calm and fresh and showing no signs of fatigue or ship lag. We sauntered back the short distance to our waiting car, loaded both our passengers and their luggage, and were back on the road just before 9:00 AM for our return journey.

Just before 9:00 AM constitutes rush hour. Once again, the blasted Garmin logic chose to ignore the purpose built motorway (wherever it is – I’ve never been to Southampton before) and stuffed us back on the very congested commuter roads of Southampton. Odd once again. These stupid devices are supposed to pick up traffic jam details but not for all traffic jams, it seems.

All was well and, following our new experience, we were back just before midday. This ship lark looks like a very pleasant way to travel – if you got the time and the money. 😉

On Saturday we begin a journey on the canals together with two American friends, let’s call them Captain and Mrs Virginia. Since connectivity on a canal boat is most likely to be sporadic, to say the least, I thought I’d try posting using email. So, here goes …

15 years ago, the four of us did a 1-week “there and back” canal trip – up the Grand Union Canal from Leighton Buzzard to Braunston Junction and back. Capt. Virginia heard about the possibility of doing “The Thames Ring”, a circular route consisting of the Grand Union Canal, the Oxford Canal and the River Thames. The trip is supposedly possible in two weeks but the Wyvern Shipping Company Ltd in Leighton Buzzard recommended a 2½-week rental to allow for more than just travelling full time. 15 years on, his trip has become reality.

Our first challenge begins tomorrow (Thursday) morning when we attempt to meet our fellow travellers disembarking the Queen Mary 2 at Ocean Terminal in the port of Southampton after their 8-day North Atlantic crossing – posh gits! Apparently, there is a short term car park near the terminal, all we have to do is find it.

Well, not quite all, perhaps. Assuming that goes well, the next thing we have to do is find two particular Americans amidst the other 3,000 folks also spilling off the renowned ship.

Oh, and we need to leave by about 5:30 AM to be there ready and waiting. 🙂