And Then There Were Five

As mentioned in an earlier post John and Karen, our very close friends of some 35 years, joined us at Thrupp having recently returned from a year long round the world trip.  They crewed with us for ten days during which time we did a lot of catching up and drank a little wine.  Like us, they have loved the canals and narrowboats since we all used to take our kids on canal holidays together many years ago.

Taking on water at Thrupp

After a restful night at Thrupp we moved on to Aynho via The Heyfords.  We enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Great Western Arms, Aynho.  From canal side the pub does not look much but when we entered we were impressed by the welcome and surroundings.  The food was extremely good, too.  So if you find yourself at Aynho do pay a visit to the Great Western Arms.


After Aynho our next stop was Banbury - we rather like Banbury. There was a Town Cryer convention going on at the time and the Charter Market was also open, so there was lots to see in this lovely Oxfordshire town.  We all enjoyed some retail therapy, even John, and I finally collected my new specs.  I took John to Tooley's Boatyard where we had a good time reminiscing over some of the tools, which we recognised from both our fathers' tool boxes, as well as admiring the Bolinder they have on display.  As per last visit I had to purchase a couple of items from the chandlery.  For our evening meal John and I barbecued some local sausages.

Town Cryer in full, well, cry I suppose

The ladies wore period dress

BBQ in middle of Banbury

After Banbury we moved on to Cropredy where enjoyed a fab Sunday lunch at the Red Lion.  The Summit then beckoned after we negotiated the restrictions at Claydon Locks.  It was great having the extra hands to work locks and help handle Adagio.  Once on the Summit John took Duffy for a walk cross country in search of blackberries.  The Oxford Canal takes the 'long way' round on the Summit as it follows the contours.  So in the time it took us to cruise from Bridge 133 to Bridge 125 John had completed his walk, tired out Duffy, made a fine collection of blackberries and was waiting patiently for us to arrive!

Duffy discovers the comfort of the duvet!

Duffy relaxes with her other man!

Now this relationship is getting a bit serious.

Humans make great beds, says Duffy.

Napton next after getting wet passing through Marston Doles and the Napton Flight.  So it was lunch at the Folly Inn.  Again we highly recommend this pub for its food, beer and welcome.  The pub also has some slightly quirky decor involving hats.  We would also recommend the village store in Napton as a useful place to take on provisions.  From Napton we moved on to Braunston.  John and Karen wanted to view a few boats at the brokerage just to see what was on offer.  While at Braunston Marina we bumped into Angela - our new friend whom we met on the K&A.  She had completed her trip down the Thames and up the GUC and was heading back down to the K&A.  Her current boat was much better behaved than Lizzie had been!

A new playmate

Leaving Braunston we headed North up the Oxford to Rugby via Hillmorton Locks that were also subject to a restriction.  John and Karen needed to catch a train from Rugby to South Wales but the vagaries of canal travel intervened forcing them to catch a later train than planned.  And what were those vagaries?  Apart from the restriction on the locks we did get stuck behind a very nervous hire boater who stopped or even reversed almost every time another boat approached him from ahead.  He then became stuck on mud while moving too far to the offside when passing another boat.  We stopped to try to pull him off but, as we were reversing we became in danger of going aground ourselves.  When we did get him free he immediately drove his boat back onto the mud!  Luckily another boat was passing in the opposite direction and took up the mantle of rescuer to pull him off the mud.  All's well and all that.

And so we made Rugby and all too soon it was time to say a rushed farewell to John and Karen at Bridge 59 where they disembarked for the short walk to the train station. The plan is we shall see them again in November when they come to boat and dog sit for us while we visit our son and daughter at opposite ends of the country!