The Sumpners Afloat

2nd to 8th Sept – Stooging around Cropredy – with friends

It was very quiet and very dark where we spent Sunday night – just the sort of mooring that we love. But, just as I was dropping off to sleep, I heard some sounds that I couldn’t immediately identify – definitely water based, though. And then the penny dropped! It was the cows paddling again! It made me chuckle.

Monday was misty and moist, which was fine with us, as we had no intention of going anywhere. We watched several boats cruising by with their waterproofs on, and agreed we had made the right decision. It’s different if you have somewhere to get to and I can remember wet holidays on hire boats, but why get wet if you don’t have to? I guess I’ve turned into a fair weather boater, but I can live with that!

I’ve just remembered another thing that happened while i was dozing off. We are moored under a crab apple tree and one dropped off, struck the roof and rolled across it and into the canal with a cute plop. Another smile before sleep!

Monday and Tuesday passed and we watched several boats go aground as it’s so shallow. But late on Tuesday one went super-aground. That’s like aground on steroids! We all helped and pulled and poled and pushed – we even supplied our extra long rope but she was stuck hard on something like a bar of mud. We got them to go up the front, Paul went aboard and poled while we pulled from ashore. That got the stern off but the bow section was still firmly stuck. I suggested we put it in reverse, pull from the shore and rock the boat from side to side. And it finally worked! Up went a cheer!

The hirers were very grateful and we got hugs all round. We stressed to them that we’ve all done it, that it’s pretty much par for the course – especially on this canal – and that boaters will always help in such a situation. We waved them off with a cheery “Stick to the middle!” and off they went. I really hope it didn’t put them off too much. The lady, bless her, said that she rather felt like going home. We told her she’d be fine. I do hope they enjoy the rest of their time aboard. I expect we’ll see them again, coming back to their base.

We moved Old Nick up to Cropredy at lunchtime, with Paul popping out to do the lock in his lunch break. It’s such a pretty village. I feel weirdly “at home” here and I have no idea why. I got chatting to a little girl at the lock – a 3 year old, out for a walk with her Nanny. She helped Paul with the lock gates and her Nanny told me what a funny little soul she was. She’d said, only that morning “Nanny – I really don’t know what I am doing with my life”. How funny! I replied that at my vast age, I still wasn’t sure!

It was pretty chokker, mooring-wise, but we managed to tuck ourselves in just before the narrow ex-bridge and there we settled, all ready to slip into the Marina the next day.

Thursday was a grey old day and, with rain spitting in the wind we set off at lunch time for the short hop to Aquavista’s Cropredy Waterside and Marina. We have stayed here before but it’s over three years ago now. Where does the time go? We are, yet again, taking advantage of our fantastic member benefit – Explore 100 – which means we can stay at any of Aquavista’s 29 marinas for up to 100 nights at no extra cost. We get this benefit because we are an Aquavista annual contract holder.

I couldn’t help but notice all the damage to the brickwork at the entrance. It’s unbelievable! How do people do it so badly? OK – we’ve got a bow thruster, but I actually prefer to use the tiller to access narrow-mouthed entrances. I also do it very slowly and even in reverse at times, so that if anything untoward happens, it’s no biggie! I’ll try and get a pic next time we come in (which will be Sunday – if I remember!), so that you can see the damage done. Would be great to see CCTV footage of it! It’d make a great TikTok. UPDATE – See the foot of this post.

We soon got ourselves on to our berth, settled and hooked up to await our guests, who will be arriving early evening. There ensued (on my behalf) a cleaning session, bed-changing and final tidying, once Paul had finished work.

Our guests were very kindly bringing a meal for that evening’s dinner (Peri Peri Chicken Tray bake) so that made life much easier. They arrived on schedule and we welcomed them aboard, had dinner and spent the evening catching up and playing games. Our frequent flyers were back!

Friday dawned fair and warm and we happily set off, late morning after breakfast and ablutions. The first lock comes almost immediately after the Marina and was the first of 8 that we were to tackle that day. As is often the vase, the CRT Vollies were on duty at the middle lock on the Claydon flight of five. We polished them off smartly and pulled over for lunch.

It was very hot indeed by the afternoon and we resorted to a parasol to shade us from the intense rays. We had a close encounter with fellow Ortomarine boat “Perseverance” during the afternoon Although we’ve chatted with them recently, it was lovely to see them. I think they were Cropredy bound from our recent conversation.

Our intended destination that evening was The Wharf at Fenny Compton, where we’d have dinner. We made our way through the narrow cutting that is also known as the Fenny Compton Tunnel – mainly because it used to be a tunnel!

It was originally 1,138 yards (1040 m) long and single bore which, immediately it opened, constituted a bottle neck. More land was bought and in an effort to speed up traffic, it was split into two shorter tunnels with a passing place in between them. This helped, but not enough and eventually, it was decided to remove the top of the entire tunnel. The southern tunnel was opened out in 1868 and the northern tunnel followed in 1870. All that now remains is an awkward, narrow and pretty much dead straight cutting. Luckily we did not meet another boat, although we did have a couple of canoeists to work round.

We arrived at Fenny Compton and winded. It was late afternoon by then, and the only mooring left was half on the waterpoint mooring. We had seen very few boats all day and judged it acceptable and agreed that – in the event anyone did come in to water, we’d assist them. We’d also be off early in the morning, so it seemed a reasonable judgement. And we were right – not one boat turned up wishing to take on water.

The menu at the pub looked quite inviting and we all selected our meals, got drinks and settled down to wait for our grub to materialise. It was a longish wait but a busy Friday evening so it didn’t seem too unreasonable. And if the food was freshly cooked, so much the better, we thought. Mine and Paul’s meal turned up after about 40 minutes. But no sign of Anne and Gray’s.

Paul and I dithered over whether to go ahead and eat ours while it was still hot or wait for the remainder of the food. We eventually all agreed that we’d crack on. It turned out to be a good decision as our meals were but a memory by the time Anne and Gray’s arrived.

Our enquiries as to the food’s whereabouts were met with angst and a story about a machine that hadn’t done its job, meaning that the kitchen had only received half the order. Other folk in the pub were also starting to get antsy about their lack of food and it seemed they were dealing with a full scale cock-up! We felt very sorry for the waiting staff, who were having to bear the brunt of customers’ displeasure.

We enquired about the likelihood of dessert making an appearance but the server could give no guarantees, so we called it quits. We had our drinks removed from the bill in recompense for the debacle, which we were happy with – sh** happens! And the food was quite tasty – quite the best we’ve had for a while, we thought. We retreated to the boat, where we had chocolate and games for the rest of the evening.

We seemed to spend the whole weekend being threatened with rain of epic proportions – indeed the Midland Storm Chasers forecast a quite unprecedented storm with much thunder and lightning. This never materialised. In fact – although the threat of rain very much dictated how we spent the weekend, there was no rain to speak of until after we had arrived back at the Marina on Sunday pm. And even that might best be described as a cloudburst.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. As agreed, we cast off early on Saturday morning – but only cruised for two boat lengths, as a boat had already left. We stayed there for breakfast and then set off on the return leg. Mindful of the rain, we set to with a will at the Claydon flight – the Vollie told us we were only the 2nd boat down that day.

When we arrived at our lovely, favourite spot near Clattercote Bridge, our guests also took a shine to it and – even though it was only mid afternoon – we all decided to moor there for the night. It’s such a wonderful quiet spot. We played Cribbage up on deck and chatted with passing walkers and boaters as we played. We may have been only the 2nd boat through Claydon but we were by no means the last! There was a steady stream of boats coming from that direction – we couldn’t quite believe how many, as we’d barely seen anyone on our cruise.

After dinner, it was more gaming and then bed – still awaiting the threatened rain. It did come but was not noteworthy. Weather forecasting is an exacting science – ask Michael Fish!

Still conscious of the impending deluge, we set off without breakfast – still full from last night’s choccy binge! We had just three locks before arriving back at the Marina, which we did in fine style. Another big storm was forecast for 1pm-ish and we wanted Anne & Gray to be able to pack their car in the dry, so we went in to the Marina at around 11:30, where I made lunch.

After lunch, our guests left and we had a little snooze! It seems to be becoming a post-guest habit! We shall be here at Cropredy for a week and a half, as Paul has to work at the Southampton Boat Show this year. We’ll be collecting our car from Rugby and going home to Fareham for the duration. More Chester time! Hurrah!

Damage – Needless to say, I forgot to take a pic of the brickwork damage when we returned to the Marina on Sunday, but we went in through a different entrance anyway, so that’s my excuse!. In the pic below, taken from dry land, even the boys can’t quite believe the damage!

Period	Miles	Locks
2nd to 9th Sept	11	17
Cumulative	375	292