The Sumpners Afloat

26th August to 1st September – up the Oxford Canal and meeting family

After a very quiet night at the quarry we set off on Monday heading towards Banbury. It was a changeable day – bright sun/grey skies and a chilly breeze. Rain looked imminent but never materialised, thank goodness.

I had forgotten just how much I love the Oxford Canal – the countryside is gorgeous and the route is punctuated by locks and lift bridges. Never a dull moment! It was a pleasant cruise down through Heyford, with its busy rail line and hireboat base and on along towards Somerton.

We went past a field of horses and it was a joy to see a young foal having a whale of a time running up and down. There is something so special about the young of any species of animal. It melts your heart.

One of the members of the Electric Narrowboat Facebook page which we created and with whom Paul has chatted on many occasions, sent me a message via the blog to say that we were welcome to use their home mooring as they were away on their boat. How kind! With water and electric hook-up. It was hard to resist. We probably should have pressed on for a couple of hours but it was such a lovely spot we gladly took him up on his very kind offer.

Paul took the boys for a walk and then we had a lovely siesta. The cottage is lovely looking and we had a bit of house envy – a canalside property with a mooring outside? It’s the stuff that dreams are made of. Curiously, Richard and his wife, Rebecca, have elderly relatives in Fareham – it’s an incredible coincidence, when you think about it. That’s 3 electric narrowboat owners that we know with Fareham connections. It’s hard to estimate exactly how many electric boat owners there are – maybe 100? Quite a few more than when Old Nick was built, for sure, but still not that many.

That early alarm jolted us out of our slumbers and we arose, left our excellent overnight spot as quietly as we could and set off towards the aptly-named Somerton Deep Lock. And there we were halted in our tracks. Quite literally. We could get the nose into the lock but then it felt like we rode up on something and halted. I could not go forward and I could not reverse off. We had to open the paddles, to flush down some water, which eventually allowed me to reverse off.

With the water still flowing I gave it another shot. The same thing happened. The obstruction – it felt soft like a sand bar – threw us over to the the right hand wall and then we got wedged. Paul closed the paddle and we had a conflab. We agreed we’d try again but with Paul at the helm. He had opened the paddle half way but suggested I go “full bore” and open the paddle fully. Still no dice. The CRT helpline does not open until 08:00 so we had a long wait.

Paul started work while we were waiting, as it now seemed inevitable that his day would be disrupted at some point, which is something we try very hard to avoid. We rang and reported on the dot of 08:00 and settled down to wait again.

A boat happened along around 45 minutes later. We explained the situation and they decided to have “2nd breakfast” before trying to get in to the lock. Then another boat arrived. There was also one just at the top and we soon had 4 hefty blokes opening and shutting the lock gate. Each time seemed to dislodge some silt until, finally, the gate was better seated in its recess. WE thought we’d give it another try and bingo – we got in. As we were both on board, I took the opportunity to do a time-lapse video of the lock filling – but stupidly forgot to rotate the camera to landscape. Tsk. Rookie Error#1!

By the time we got through, it was around 09:15 – a total of 3 hours wasted, but it could have been far worse. As we have a schedule to keep to this week, I continued solo to make up for the time lost. I had to call upon Paul’s assistance for the odd lock – but they take no longer than a break from the keyboard to make a coffee would, so it’s all good. And we did let CRT know we were through – although it was still not 100%.

After Aynho (too soon to stop), mooring opportunities on this section of the Oxford are few and far between. I eventually managed to find a spot on Armco, just below Kings Sutton lock – much to my relief. It was a little bit noisy with road-roar from the M40 but would have to do. I was done! But we are now in great shape for getting to Banbury on time, so it was well worth doing.

Just a note about these odd shaped “diamond ” locks – apparently the river locks (Shipton and Aynho) on the Southern Oxford need to pass the same amount of water as the ‘standard’ locks to keep the pounds topped up. As they are shallow, the chamber size was increased rather than the depth. When you think about it, if you are locking down, you essentially use the same one lockful of water at every lock. Makes sense to me. Although how they cope with Somerton Deep Lock which is like two locksful of water is anyone’s guess!

The stretch between Aynho and Twyford Wharf always reminds me of our old boy Archie – it was at King’s Sutton lock that I realised that he was actually old. We had a day boat with friends and he’d always loved being on the canal, but that day, he did not seem to be enjoying it like he used to. It struck a chill in my heart. And a few days later, in a heartbeat, he was gone. I still miss him. Even writing this has brought a tear to my eye.

As we were in such good shape, we decided to stay and do some washing and boat cleaning (well I would – Paul would be hunched over a red hot keyboard!) It was quite warm but doing that funny, sprinkly, occasional rain – like it really wants to rain but it just can’t quite manage it. We ended up putting the washing on the bank with the sunshade over it to keep the drops of rain off. It seemed to work quite well!

We had seen NB Felicity (another Ortomarine boat) moored in Aynho and they came past today, offering a cuppa and a catch-up. Sadly, Paul was up to his ears in work, so we regretfully had to decline. We hope to see them in Banbury later in the week. They too are meeting family there.

The washing dried eventually and we had a lovely quiet night. Although we were fairly close to a stretch of railway where trains are obviously instructed to honk as they proceed. Some were unobtrusive but one particularly loud one woke me up with a start, just as I was dozing off! The rail traffic dies down at night, thankfully.

It was down to me to move the boat down to Banbury, so I set off about 10:30. It would be an entirely delightful cruise, were it not for the noise from the M40 and the pretty dire state of the offside vegetation. A canal should have plenty of room for two boats to pass without having to stop and come into the bank or risk collision. The canal’s width on this stretch is mostly reduced by at least 1/3rd, and in some places, it’s actually not much more than a a boat’s width wide so you have to be more than usually alert. Many of the boats on this stretch are hirers and it must be a nightmare for them. And some of the structures are in a pretty pickle, too. It’s quite sad.

As I cruised along, I was musing about how amazing this stretch must have been before the advent of the M40. It would be wonderful to take a step back in time to see what it was like. We passed Felicity again near Twyford Wharf, from whom we have hired a couple of times, in the past.

We stopped at Banbury Services to do domestics and then came up through the town lock, where there are always plenty of gongoozlers. It amused me that there were quite a few boats tied up on the electricity points, running their engines, clearly cocking a snook at the idea of paying to charge their batteries. We did manage to find one – almost under Tom Rolt Bridge and opposite the hotel where the fam are staying. At a whopping 95p per KWh it’s not cheap, so I guess I understand why people balk at paying. But it is a bit irksome that they are sewing up a spot where a power-hungry electric boat might wish to sip some sweet e-juice!

Later in the afternoon a couple of people moved off so we found a space where we would also get some solar. – although probably a bit late for much, that particular day.

There was a band playing that evening and we really enjoyed them. They hail from Banbury and were called Neon Nights. Worth a listen on Spotify. The gig finished promptly at 10pm – a reasonable time that no one could really complain about – although I bet some do!

We were up and doing last minute jobs early on Friday morning, in anticipation of our impending guests. We put some bunting up, but I definitely chose the wrong set – it’s a very tasteful set that I bought in a sale from the White Company. They didn’t really cut it as outdoor bunting , which needs to be bright and flappy. These were pale and limp and would be much better indoors. As you can see. But we tried!

They arrived late morning and it was a joy to see them all – but especially little Chester. He seemed happy to see us and we soon got under way. We were facing the opposite direction to which we wanted to go, so set off to the winding hole at Grimsbury Wharf and came back down through Banbury, down the lock and on towards Twyford Wharf, where we would wind and head back into town.

It was a beautiful day – actually a shade too hot, to be honest. Chester took everything in his stride – quite literally as he is now walking with confidence. The boys were very good with him and he was soon trying to climb the steep steps up to the stern deck. He is a bit of a climber! But through careful supervision, no mishaps.

George swung into action for the locks and we had a lovey cruise, returning late afternoon, in good time for them all to check in at the hotel, a Premier Inn, outside of which which we had now moored on our return. They popped in and did what they needed to do before we headed over to Pinto Lounge for our dinner. It’s a sister restaurant to our Vito Lounge in Fareham and also the Rocco Lounge in Rugby, so we knew it would be a good choice, with something for everyone.

It was quite a long wait for our food and Chester was very restrained, bless him. Others got a bit restive and started making paper hats out of the menus (don’t worry – they actually give instructions for you to do it!). We all enjoyed our food and them it was time to say goodnight to all our guests. What a lovely day we’d had.

It was another quiet night – indeed, for an urban mooring, the town seems unusually quiet. George & Beth’s room overlooked the boat – 5 floors up – and Uncled D was on the 4th floor. I think this was the first, if not one of the first, nights that Chester has spent away from home and they had a pretty good night considering. They all enjoyed their full English and arrived with us at around 9am.

We havered for a while about what to do and eventually, as we would need to turn round to use the services at some point, decided to go up and wind. George took the helm – I guess it’s something that, once mastered, you never forget. His boating life started very early, too. In the pic on the right below, he was a similar in age to Chester now. We have earlier shots too.

We had lunch when we got back from winding and afterwards, Paul and the kids went to look round the shopping centre while I played Uno with Uncle D. And then it was time for them to leave us. It felt very empty without them. But we were so happy that Chester had finally seen the boat.

We had a snooze after they had gone – guest fatigue, I’m going to call it! We spent the evening watching a movie and then nodded off – our last night in Banbury.

Our first task on Sunday was to lock down one lock, to the services and then cruise to the nearby winding hole, before heading back up the way we had come and on to new ground for this trip. We had a mooring spot in mind – but I’d had an email to say that a tree was down near the first bridge out of Banbury. The navigation was apparently closed, so what would we find? Luckily, boaters on the long term moorings nearby had been working their special boater magic and had virtually cleared the obstruction, so that we could creep by.

We saw NB Felicity again, as we left Banbury, but the boat was all shut up, so we assumed they must be with family. It seems we are truly doomed not to meet up!

It became very hot as we worked our way up the three locks to our planned stopping point. The pounds were down and progress was slow. Any deviation from the centre channel meant a grounding, so passing oncoming boats was a bit of a faff. We had one incident where a boater lost all steerage because of the shallow water and was on a collision course with us. Thank goodness for bow thrusters! We managed to avoid a collision by deploying ours. And they call it cheating! Huh!

To our pleasure, there was a spot just waiting for us and we gladly pulled over and came in out of the sun. We watched some cows walk past us in the cut! That’s how shallow! I rather fear more closures/restrictions because of lack of water may be incipient. Watch this space.

Next week, it’s time to welcome the Robertsons, for their first visit of the year! Something we said? We plan to meet them at Cropredy Waterside and Marina so will have some time to kill, again, this week. But it’s a nice quiet spot where we are, so we may end up just staying put for a few days. Who knows? And that’s the beauty of our life aboard – we make it up as we go along! And that’s just how we like it.

Period	Miles	Locks
26th Aug – 1st Sep	25	16
Cumulative	364	275