The Sumpners Afloat

23 to 30 Sep – continuing along the Oxford and exciting news

Well didn’t it rain? We planned to move on on Monday but the weather was pretty grim. No point in getting soaked. The only boats on the move that day were hire boats and – I assume – people who really needed to get somewhere. We had to slacken our lines a couple of times as the water levels just kept rising.

Luckily – we are on the summit of the Oxford canal, which is 11 miles long. If that starts overflowing, we really are in trouble. The summit runs from Claydon Top Lock to Marston Doles Top Lock and is very serpentine, as you can see in the map below. It’s also very lovely and I never tire of it.

Tuesday looked a much better prospect, weather-wise, and so I set off – in sunshine!. But it didn’t last – those clouds came bubbling up and it turned grey. But it was mostly sunny all the time I was cruising. I even hit Nirvana at one point, which is where we are cruising along purely on solar and not depleting the batteries.

We had a spot marked in our What 3 Words Moorings database that we wanted to get to. It’s labelled “Views to die for. Armco”. Perfect. Sounds like our sort of mooring. And it was – big skies and wide open spaces. We lost no time in mooring – alone initially but eventually joined by others eager to take in the view.

Rain was promised for Wednesday, but not until later in the day – and then it was going to be raining all day and then, when we woke up that morning, it was not going to rain until the afternoon. All of which tells me that they haven’t a Scooby about what the heck is going on! We decided we’d go with our own judgement and, as it was sunny with not much in the way of cloud, I decided to set off.

It wasn’t long before I was in the thick of the abominable HS2. They’ve done quite a lot since we were last through, including building a new bridge, which rather overshadows the delightful little bridge that has been there over 200 years. As I often do when solo helming, I mused about many things, not least of which was where all the wildlife whose habitat has been destroyed goes. Poor things. Must be terrifying.

I let a couple of boats past and poddled on until we got to Bridge 124 – Spurfoot Bridge. We moored here 3 years ago with my sister in law Mel and niece Evie. It’s a nice quiet spot. I noticed that there were plenty of blackberries growing right by us and picked a few to give to the boys, who love them.

It rained almost on cue at about 3 pm and continued until after 7pm. the poor boys were taken out for a quick pee but no more until it had finally stopped. We had a lovely quiet night there and I set off at around 10am to get to Marston Dole Top Lock ready fir our descent on Friday.

It was a lovely cruise – one of those precious ealy autumn mornings where it’s sunny and warm. I noticed that the hedgerows are fairly groaning under the weight of their bounty. Blackberries, hips and haws, sloes and crab apples. Plenty to go round for all the critters that rely on them to get them through harsher times.

We found a nice spot at the end of the VMs, which was a bonus as it is where we will stay until Friday morning. The reason? Well – locks for one. Whilst I can cruise solo, I really need Paul for locks. Yes – I know there are lots of single handed boaters and I have worked single in the past but now I prefer assistance, thank you!

The other reason is weather. Once again, we have an Amber rain warning, with flooding predicted, from 18:00 tonight until 06:00 on Friday. And we are right slap bang in the middle of that one! It’s scheduled to start at lunchtime and get increasingly nasty. Thus, we’ll be battening down the hatches again.and leaving the locks for Friday.

Well – it probably goes without saying that we should have taken that forecast with a pinch of salt! It did rain most of the afternoon and evening, but had stopped by the time we went to bed. But it very kindly started again, just before our planned getting up time. We had planned to make an early start on the locks and then stop for breakfast when they were done. As it was hammering down, we decided to breakfast first, instead, which was the right decision.

By the time we had finished brekker and cleared away, the rain was easing off and the skies were lightening (no – not lightning!). We set off in light rain, hopeful that the improving trend would continue. And it did. But gosh it was chilly. It felt like winter had arrived! But it was definitely improving rainwise.

We had the Marston Doles pair, the 6 locks at Napton (all narrow), plus the 3 broad Calcutt locks to do when, we turned eventually onto the Grand Union. Our destination for the night was Aquavista’s Ventnor Waterside and Marina, where we plan to slurp up some leccy and replenish the ship’s stores. The hardtack is getting a bit monotonous! And those weevils? Yuk.

Napton is famous for several things – not least its windmill, but also for its herd of Water Buffalos, a Cidery and its Village Stores, who sell Buffalo products and Cider!

We finally arrived at Ventnor at about 1 pm – by which time I was really quite chilly. I made some lunch while Paul got us hooked up. Our groceries arrived and we happily settled down for the evening. It’s a beautiful spot with some lovely views. very quiet and very few people are in evidence. It’s a non-residential Marina but allows Winter Moorings.

Saturday was a beautiful day – sunny and bright – a really welcome change after all this rain! We were looking forward to cruising in the sun amd then we got a message from Rob and Caroline (Ortomarine) to say they were in the area that afternoon. As we had our hearts set on a lovely rural mooring, we decided to ask if we could stay for another night, so that it would be easier to meet up.

They were happy for us to stay on, so we spent the morning doing some boring but necessary cleaning jobs – things like cleaning skirting boards and removing the cobwebs from less obvious places. I always feel slightly virtuous when we do such jobs – not that we live like pigs, you understand!

Rob and Caroline arrived late afternoon and we yakked our way through a cuppa, catching up and talking about Electrika 2025 – for yes! It’s going ahead. In July next year, at Brinklow again. We are very happy to be putting on a second year and making it – hopefully – bigger and better! Eventually, we decided we’d extend their visit and go to a pub for dinner, as they had their van. We had a lovely meal and talked ourselves to a standstill! They dropped us back to Ventnor after dinner, and and we spent the remainder of the evening box-watching.

After poached eggs for Sunday brekkie, we left Ventnor and went back up the 3 locks, handily with another boat, before turning left at the junction, by Wigrams Marina, where we’d stayed at the beginning of summer – some 20 weeks ago.

We made our way along the familiar stretch of canal that leads to Braunston – one of our favourite and probably most travelled lengths, I think? It was like the M25 today – boat after boat coming from Braunston. I wonder where they are all going? We found a lovely spot and moored up early afternoon. Rain is promised for the early evening and all day tomorrow. But we’ve had a little top-up of sunshine, so can’t complain. Much…..

We are pretty close to home now, so we’re not sure what our movements next week will look like. I guess we’ll find out soon enough?

And finally – the exciting news! We have been selected to receive the Sustainable Boating Group’s non-Commercial Award 2024, for our work in making Electrika 2024 happen. The awards are new this year and were the brainchild of Towpath Talk and the Inland Waterways Association’s Sustainable Boating Group. We are absolutely delighted and very proud indeed to be the first recipients. And we got the news 48 hours after we had committed to Electrika 2025!

Period	Miles	Locks
23rd to 29th Sept	12	15
		
Cumulative	395	315