The Sumpners Afloat

23rd June – the final leg for this half of the summer

Well – I swept the bow deck before leaving this Monday morning. A dustpan and a half of grass cuttings. I also had to sweep along the side of the boat, as ir was all over that too. Angry face. I mean I know they have to do it, but thought they were supposed to avoid moored boats? Ah well. No real harm done.

Rain was blowing in the wind as I cast off but it came to nothing, so I had a warm and sunny, but rather gusty cruise. And accompanied most of the way by the very noisy M6. Considering we used to live with a motorway, more or less at the bottom of our garden (see below), and never really bothered about it, I find that I really cannot stand the noise these days.

Moorings at this end of the Oxford are few and far between and I’d been cruising for about an hour and a half when i spotted a bit of Armco – there was another boat on it but room enough for two so I made for it. Just by chance, the gent already moored there was just leaving (at least I think it was by chance!) and so we now have it all to ourselves – for now at least. And just at a spot where the cut has veered away from the blessed Motorway so pretty quiet. A nice little mooring.

Later in the day we became the centre of a narrowboat sandwich – literally nose to tail. We only knew about the 2nd boat to join us, because they bounced off our bow fender, causing the wardrobe door and the 2 drawers beneath it to fly open. I wanted to shout “Welcome aboard!” but Paul wouldn’t let me!

I had one of my occasional “see every single hour of the night and morning” nights, so when Paul got up he left me snoozing – at last. And it must have worked because when our friends Nigel & Sue Fenwick came past and stopped for a chat, I was completely oblivious!

We only had a short cruise planned – down to Ansty, on the VMs. I timed it so that those leaving would have already gone and those planning to arrive would not have done so yet. As it was, there were already 5 boats there – but they all looked like they’d been there for a while. I quickly nabbed the one available space and that was the Tuesday cruise done.

We had another drive past by Nigel and Sue on NB Tethys that evening. They’d been cruising all day – since the drive past in the other direction. They must be mad! Or on a mission?

I set off on Wednesday morning along a particularly boring, straight route (remember they ironed out the kinks in the North Oxford back in the 1830s?), accompanied most of the way by the West Coast main railway line (previously known as the LNWR) pretty much all of the way. I listened to a couple of podcasts to relieve the monotony and the sight of some poppies on the towpath really cheered me up.

We passed the spot where we had first met Rob and Caroline from Ortomarine aboard Eau Rouge and then I spotted some Armco. We had veered away from the railway a bit and it looked pretty much ideal – although the solar wouldn’t be brilliant. But as we’d soon be on shore line it wasn’t an issue.

There was a glorious sunset that night – we kept taking pictures and it kept getting better so we had to take more pics. Of course it’s never the same as with your own two eyes. I always feel there is something a little miraculous about sunset and sunrise.

As we were having our breakfast on Thursday, there was a succession of historic boats. They were all bound for the historic boat rally being held in Braunston this weekend.

After brekker, I polished off a few ticket orders for Electrika (only 2 weeks away now!) before setting off on the last leg of our trip back to Brinklow. I always get a little fizz of excitement at the thought of being back home.

We passed through the dreaded Easenhall Cutting – the final frontier! – and pulled over to allow another behemoth of a traddy boat to pass us and then cruised on. It was pretty breezy but I thoroughly enjoyed the countryside, all decked out in its summer best and the peace and the birdsong.

We made the turn into Brinklow just before 1 pm – and I thought we’d be popular, turning up wanting diesel! We don’t actually really need any, but we’re doing a bit of low key panic buying, after hearing murmurings about the Strait of Hormuz and potential closure, which is bound to interrupt the supply of oil if it happens. Just precautionary.

Shaim soon had our tank topped up and gave us a warm welcome home, which was lovely. We picked up a big parcel from the store – we had a few others, too, but my friend Karen (NB Coffin Dodger) had picked them up for safekeeping. Very kind. And then we were off – down to our berth.

It was incredibly blustery and we approached our berth with a little caution. Luckily Paul made a great job of the turn and I hopped nimbly (!) off with the bow rope. We got a good score from the judging panel! And here we will stay, probably until the last week in July when we have friends joining us for a weekend.

We spent the weekend trying to keep cool, tidying up and cleaning. We also popped out in the car – which started first time after being left since mid-April – to do some shopping and fill up with diesel .

I made one of our favourites – known in Spain as “Flan” it’s pretty much like a French “Crème Caramel”. A melange of eggs, milks (3 types!) and the all-important vanilla (I use Vanilla Bean Paste instead of extract), with a caramel sauce. It’s very easy – you mix it all together and make a caramel (with which you line the base of the tin/dish you cooking it in) and then bake it in the oven in a bain marie for just under an hour, It’s a wonderful dessert. I think we would eat it every day if we could! Message me if you’d like to have a go yourself.

We spent both Saturday and Sunday evening with our friends Nigel and Sue Fenwick. Cribbage was the game of the day on Saturday. Nigel had never played before and Sue had played in College days, so needed a refresher. We had a great evening with a bit of partner swapping thrown in – for card-playing purposes! Nigel and I won the day!

On Sunday evening we played Exploding Kittens – new to both Paul and I and slightly bewildering to start with. But great fun! And there goes another week. As I write this, Electrika 2025 will be history twoo weeks today!

Period	Miles	Locks
23rd Jun to	9	0
Cumulative 2025	254	120