Boat Blog – Page 2 – Narrowboat Firecrest

Time to move on from Oxford

We had found ourselves moored below Medley bridge for almost a week, thoroughly enjoying being tucked away peacefully, yet close enough to enjoy the best of Oxford’s lively atmosphere. We had even been lucky enough to realise that a pair of kingfishers had a nest right opposite us.

We suspect the young had hatched, but they stay in the nest for 3 to 4 weeks, it would have been pushing our luck to stay on the off chance of seeing the brood emerge. We were also running low on water so needed to move on. It was only as we were pulling away that we saw the nice post we had tied to actually had a notice on it…. 2 days only

Ah well, we will show them the photo to prove our ignorance if anyone pursues us for a mooring fee. We actually feel quite strongly about respecting mooring restrictions, otherwise it would be hypocritical for us to complain about the continual moorers who belligerently believe it’s their right to moor wherever they want for as long as they want. Being continual cruisers we haven’t set out to do any of the recognised cruising rings promoted by the hire companies, however we set off to do the Oxford ring.

We left the river at Sheepwash channel,

Where the Rewley Road swing bridge is being restored as a scheduled ancient monument. I’m very glad it will remain open, as it takes 2 men to operate it, allowing passage into Oxford,

Through Isis lock

which is effectively the end of navigation on the canal for most boats as the short branch that continues only has a 35 foot winding hole.

Looking down past the residential moorings towards the terminus of the Oxford canal

So we cruised north up the Oxford canal

And returned to the river via Dukes Cut

before continuing our journey downstream past Medley bridge and onward.

Its approximately 8 miles and a 4 hour journey, but the environment agency that looks after the river has some frustrating rules about the water points, only using a rigid 7m hose with no fittings, in theory to prevent contamination and back flow, however as we have a 20m flexible hose with brass fittings we are going to have to make some compromises. And so this time we opted to return to the canal to fill our tank. But it wasn’t just a maintenance cruise, we did also see some lovely canal, and some very nice homes.

We made the mistake of cruising past all the rowing clubs on Saturday morning.

It was very busy, although if the bridge grafiti is to be believed not everyone is taking the strain.

“Perfectly Legal” -someones got a sense of humour,

We’ve enjoyed Oxford far more than we expected. Its been fun to explore and theres still plenty left for the next time.

Oxford part 3, expanding ourselves, museums and markets

As usual when faced with an overflowing abundance of choice, I never know where to start. Oxford is an affluent city centre that attracts the curious, both academic and tourist, and a curious mix of both. Oxford is where Charles Dodgson, aka CS Lewis studied and taught so a lot of the curious tales of Alice in Wonderland were set in and around Oxford and particularly Christ Church college.

So we resorted to simply exploring on foot, searching out independent retailers, and avoiding anything that herded us like sheep. Whilst we were wandering around we discovered the Covered market which first opened in 1774, now it is home to some fabulous little independant retailers and celebrates Alice’s adventures with a collection of paper lantern sculptures hung from the rafters

We also had a very tasty, and affordable Thai meal from Sasi’s and the best icecream from the Wicked Chocolate store.

Not everything in the market was edible, or should I say desirable because the notice claims it is edible, Fellers butcher’s proudly displays the worlds oldest Ham

Following on from our market musings, it was time to take in some museums, and again so many to choose from that we had to prioritise. We chose the History of Science museum which celebrated over 1000 years of beautiful and intricate instruments, some collected by the eminent scholars of Oxford and some celebrating the work of more recent times, in particular the Oxford Astazenica covid vacine

And having done the science, I chose the botanical gardens, the rose garden planted in honour of the researchers who discovered the clinical importance of penicillin

And the alliums because we cant all go to Chelsea

We barely scratched the surface of all the things we could do and see in Oxford, but we have to save some for next time

Oxford part 2 time to play

I’m sure all those new graduates that we saw on Saturday worked hard for their degrees but I suspect they had also played hard during their time in Oxford. Port Meadow appeared to be a favourite place to let off steam.

There were swimmers and frolickers in the water most days regardless of the weather. The temptation to join them proved too much although there was no way I was brave play Tarzan and swing off the tree.

The clear river water was too tempting to ignor

Of course some preferred getting up a bit of speed on the river and most mornings we saw the rowers being put through their paces

But in the evenings it seemed to be the paddle boarders came out to play

Thought we were under attack with this lot headed straight for us

We were very impressed by how clean the water was, very little litter, save for the occassional champagne cork bobbing along.

We didn’t run to champagne, but just across Medley Bridge was a lovely riverside bar that did woodfired pizza with wild garlic which hit the spot on more than one evening, even when it rained.

Oxford, part 1 – all work and no play

Of course I’d like to say I studied here, well no not really, it wouldn’t have been the best or right place for either of us, but oh boy what a lovely place to immerse yourself in academia if you’re so inclined.

And the day we explored was graduation day so plenty of smiling happy family’s milling around the closed gates Sheldonian.

And without any logical plan of our own we just walked around town enjoying the atmosphere

And soaking up some of the history of the place

There was too much reading up to do

and taking good photos was proving difficult

But Christchurch has to be the most magnificent

Or perhaps not wanting to be left behind Magdalen College

Which sits on the banks of the Cherwell and where we could watch the haphazard tourists trying to outdo the students punting. The queue was long so we didn’t have a go

And we ended our day back at Christchurch for choral evensong

Moving on to Oxford

We waved goodbye to the lovely Buttercup meadows of Eynsham

Past Dukes Cut junction where we joined the Thames a few weeks ago, and into Kings lock. Which although it didn’t have any fancy topiary that we’d seen upstream but was appropriately guarded for a king. Kings lock was the last pound lock built by the Thames Conservancy in 1928 when George V was on the throne so I assume it was named for him.

The next lock, at Godstow was the first stone built lock built in 1790. Godstow had been home to an Abbey and nunnery but Henry VIII put paid to that during the resolution of the monasteries, I wonder if that’s where some of the lock stones came from.

Now Godstow is the first of the electro-hydraulic locks we shall meet on our journey downstream. We shared it with a lovely young couple who showed us which buttons to press.

I still cant convince Eric to let me have a roof garden

We cruised through Port Meadow and caught our first glimpses of Oxford’s dreaming spires, although the skyline was over dominated by cranes taller that the beautiful buildings we strained to see.

Under the Red Bridge or Medley foot bridge to give it s proper name,

And onto a mooring snuggled into the trees

Where the next day we had a spur of the moment meeting when Amanda stopped off for lunch as she just happened to be driving past.

Port Meadow is a pleasant 20 minute walk into the centre of Oxford, so as we couldnt see any mooring restrictions, we settled down to enjoy a bit of a holiday.

Meandering amonst the meadows

We weren’t quite sure what to expect from the Thames. On the Trent, mooring was more or less restricted to the floating pontoons around the locks, and we had to call ahead on our VHS radio to alert lock keepers we were approaching, but not on the Thames.

The Trent’s frequent electric charging posts were a real bonus, just paying for what we needed on our precharged card. But it felt a bit like a motorway, plenty of boats getting from A to B as quickly as possible. The Upper Thames has a very different feel. Its a lot quieter, and people are simply enjoying the river. And the riverside pubs.

We’ve taken to the challenge of wild mooring. Who needs armco or pins when you can tie to a tree.

And poor Eric got stung by the nettles as well

Ok we do, but its been a novelty that we’ve enjoyed. Perhaps its the time of year, mid May, that everything is fresh and green.

So many trees, hard to see where the river flows

Or even yellow

We found ourselves a bit of steep bank that we could get close enough into to be able to get on and off

And a field full of buttercups

We a footpath into the village of Eynsham

Just outside of Eynsham, so whilst I sat in the field with my little electric spinning wheel

Eric sat on the roof of the boat wiring in the last of our solar panals. Needless to say retro fitting panels that require wiring being threaded up, under and behind every conceivable obstruction is not to be recommended and all I can say is no wonder it took him so long to psyche himself up to tackle the job.

Whilst Eric was engrossed in his project, I thought I’d take myself for a walk up that hill, only to discover that its part of the Wytham Woods estate, owned by one of the Oxford Colleges. It is a research site containing ancient woodland that has remained under strict preservation since the 1940s and the general public are not allowed in without special permission. Perhaps next time we are here, I’ll be better prepared and will get that permission in advance.

In the mean time I’ll just happily watch another sunset

Locking down and looking up

One of the many nice things about cruising on rivers is that the locks are often manned

with someone keeping an eye open for those brave enough to pass through

and invariably a doddle compared to canal locks even if the lockie isnt on duty

The Upper Thames lockies use a long pole and hook to open and close the far side. Its very impressive.

But what’s also impressive is that the lock keepers job comes with a cottage,

Which is ok until you remember these guys are also only paid for a working week but are on call 24/7 – Unless its lunch time from 1 till 2 every day. However the river seems quiet with not much traffic which is probably why they have enough time to keep their gardens looking good. We think there must be a degree of rivalry over who can have the best topiary Although it looks like the frog wants to eat the tulips.

Not sure if this is a fancy haircut, or work in progress, either way it made us chuckle

But the winner surely has to be the grafton cat ready to pounce on the swan

Whilst we were cruising back downstream we became very aware of the air traffic. The escorted jet was bringing Boris back from India, or might have been, because moments before we saw an identical entourage, so one of them must have been a decoy. We think the two flying in parallel might have been in training for mid air refuelling because they really stuck close by each other for the best part of a morning. And the jet on its own, was one of many that we saw, including the Awax reconnaissance planes, checking we had paid for a Thames license. Once we looked at the map and realised how close we were to several RAF bases, the quantity of planes made sense.

The swan by the way is sitting on 8 eggs, and the cat is actually hoping for some tuna to swim past.

Kelmscott Manor

We didn’t linger in Lechlade, it was cold and despite it being a pretty little place we decided to save our explorations for another time. We meandered back along the twists and turns of the river enjoying the countryside until we found a bank to moor against where I could get of the boat with my dignity intact and Eric could climb onto the roof to do some more solar panel wiring.

Although I thought we were in the middle of nowhere, it turns out to have been a favourite place of the Victorian textile designer William Morris. He rented the 16th century manor house at Kelmscott to help him escape the paparazzi of his day.

I wonder what he would have made of the likes of me wandering around his garden, marvelling in the beauty of the place

I would have loved to go inside the manor, as it has been conserved and is open to the public but only on certain days.

However as the gates were open and it isn’t anyone’s home I had a sneaky walk around outside.

One of Morris’ ideals and concerns was the damage done by architectural restoration. No wonder he loved this village, I felt like I had stepped back in time a few centuries.

I think it would be quite an enjoyable challenge to walk the entire Thames Path

Lechlade at Last

By mid morning our batteries were fully charged, (we don’t charge overnight) After a chat with Matt the lockie, to pay our dues, we were escorted by a swan towards Lechlade. It wouldn’t be a long trip, we could see the spire of St Lawrence church under a mile away.

Leaving St John’s for the final leg into Lechlade

Although we were a bit worried as we approached Lechlade, the swans were getting dangerously large.

Lechlade is known to boaters for its offside mooring, which is shared by a herd of cattle. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a steak dinner, but I don’t particularly fancy becoming the steak’s dinner. And there’s many tales of the cows chewing ropes and licking paintwork and occasionally even stepping onto the deck. This herd isn’t aggressive, just inquisitive, but the canny boaters come armed with an electric fence to give a bit of space. However we saw a space at the bottom of The New Inn’s pub garden, and preferring a pint of beer to a pint of milk, we opted to moor as patrons, and enjoy the antics of the cows from a safe distance.

Perhaps its not just the cows we need to watch out for

We were well rewarded with antics when one of the cows got too close to the edge and had fallen in. The combination of the current and the steep bank meant that the cow was struggling to climb out. Some well meaning walkers called the firebrigade who dutifully turned up to assess the situation only to discover that she had climbed out unaided further downstream. They didn’t seem to mind, there wasn’t a lot else going on on a chilly grey bank holiday.

We left them to it and went to explore the village, stopping at the Fish and Chip shop

The fish and chips were worth stopping for

It had been a goal to reach Lechlade for some years now, as it holds fond childhood memories. I think I was about 7 when I helped my dad build a Canadian canoe. We then drove from our home in Liverpool to Trewsbury Mead, near Cirencester to see the spring which is hailed to be the source of this great River, in those days Old Father Thame’s statue still marked the spot until he was moved to St Johns lock in 1974. Its actually one of several springs in the area, but its unusual to see water flowing from it.

We continued our homage in our VW combi, following the growing river for about 15 miles through pretty Cotswold villages until we reached Lechlade, the first navigable section, where we set off as a family of four, mum, dad me and my younger brother paddling our way down to Windsor, pitching our tent to camp along the way. (We’d actually launched, ie tested it was water tight, the canoe in the Leeds and Liverpool canal at Lydiate.) Such a pity I don’t have any photos of this transformative holiday. However I do have some lovely memories. Eric and I walked up to the Round House which marks the joining point of the Thames and Severn canal with the river, which is probably the spot where we launched our canoe.

The roundhouse (former lock keepers cottage) at Lechlade

Sadly the weather, and being on patrons only mooring didn’t motivate us to stay more than one night in Lechlade, and depending upon how our Thames adventure pans out we might well come back to explore this pretty place.

Looking down from the bridge to us moored at the New Inn

Stats for April 2022

In March 2022 I finally wired the new solar panels on our electic narrowboat, increasing the capacity of our solar panel array from 1KW to 1.5KW.

I also improved the electronics that monitors the power we get from our solar panels and the power in and out of our battery.

I was interested to see how much of the electricity we use for propulsion came from our solar panels. It is nice to see that even in April we got 2.5 times the power we used for propulsion, and 56% of our total electricity from our solar panels.

Electricity usage
• Propulsion – 47 KWhrs (22.5%)
• Domestic – 162 KWhrs (77.5%)
• Total – 209 KWhrs

Sources of electricity
• Solar panels – 117.5 KWhrs (56%)
• Genset – 63 KWhrs (30%) (2 hrs per week)
• Battery – 28.5 KWhrs (14%)

Cruising Stats
67miles traveled ^#
40:40 hours crusing time ^#
0.71 KWhrs per mile cruised
1.17 KWhrs per hour cruised
# Note: this includes cruising upstream on the Thames for 24 miles.

I try to collate these figures every month but as experience proved from last year sharing them is not my forte.

July 2022
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