Fringe Walk around Banbury

We went for a long walk today and are feeling great for it, so we won’t feel guilty about pilling on the calories this evening.

The walk was courtesy of Cherwell District Council, they have a selection of well marked walks that can be found here. We decided on the 10 mile Fringe walk around Banbury.

The walk actually started outside of Lazy Days front door, how cool is that. We walked down the canal towards Oxford and then took a sharp right up Canal lane, as we climbed up the hill we could see a narrow boat coming along out of Banbury.

Looking towards Banbury, from Oxford side

The walk wasn’t particularly attractive but I guess it is that time of the year, mid winter with everything dead brown and wet. We did come across these fungi when we stopped for a refreshing cuppa.

Fungi

we are now back on the boat tired and exhausted and feeling pleased with ourselves for having got out. Now where’s that beer.

403.11 Miles, 298 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 26 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Friday Night

A typical Friday; work, early evening drinks, meal and back to the boat for a read. We had intended to go and watch a movie, Slum dog millionaire. Unfortunately they change the movies around every Friday so it was not on at 17:15 but 20:00; we had stayed up late last night watching a Prime Suspect DVD and couldn’t really face hanging about for 3 hours waiting for the movie to start so we resorted to our normal Friday night routine.

Hey we are now plunging the depths of blog, we are in it to the proverbial hilt. I have nothing to say, but need to upload something to keep the daily output going, so lads and lasses this is it. Tomorrow is another day.

403.11 Miles, 298 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 26 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

GRPS Table

We had a good walk around Banbury today, I didn’t take any photographs as the light was not particularly good and I know that we have a few more days. Besides Ernie has a fine collection on his web site. They have a market today and Saturday and we bought our veggies, we will endeavour to do this whenever we can in future, much better than supermarkets.

I have managed to upload my GRPS table of restaurants and pubs we have visited over the last few months. Of course it is always difficult to set these things down as they are liable to change from week to week. I might change this at a later date to reflect canal/river location.

403.11 Miles, 298 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 26 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Work

With moving down from Aynho yesterday we had more work to do today in order to catch up with our expected quota, so not a lot to report today.

We did meet up with Ernie from “Ten Bob Note” again on his way to Maplin, we were on our way to find a café for a lunch break and a break from work. Mmm now are we reaping the full benefits of travelling the canal system? Or should we be considering a change, it’s a pity about the credit crunch which has hit us all but particularly the retirees with their life savings, diminishing by the minute.

We did go over to Tesco for a shop and that is some walk from where we are and all I can say is I will look at getting a delivery as Sue does from “No Problem”.

So that has been our day work – shop drop. Yes lets find the nearest bridge and have it delivered.

I am still trying to find the correct work-play balance, it seems to escape me maybe it’s an age thing, everything seems to take longer nowadays.

403.11 Miles, 298 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 26 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Banbury

We woke up this morning surrounded by fog, outside not in our heads. We needed to fill up with water and pump out which we did at Aynho Wharf before setting off into the mist towards Banbury.

Fog on the Oxford Canal

The sun was trying to break through and it eventually did by about 1 o’clock. And we had a pleasant trip along particularly as all of the lift bridges were raised along this section. We took turns as usual walking along the towpath which was extremely muddy and difficult under foot. The river Cherwell was not too high considering the rain we have had. We thought that it might be on red but it was amber, even so we just got through the bridge at Nell Bridge Lock with about 4 inches to spare.

Nell Bridge

The bikes were still on the bike rack, which I have to admit is not a very good place but hey we are flexible, if we are squeezed from above we put them on the back if it is too dodgy there they end up inside where my keyboard should be.

Bikes

We spoke briefly with Ernie from Ten Bob Note as we came into Banbury, he was walking along the towpath and recognised the boat from our blog.

Today we did 6.98 miles 5 Locks 11 Lift Bridges

403.11 Miles, 298 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 26 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

A Quiet Day

A very quiet day today, a bit of work and a walk, not much done on either, I think that it was one of those days. Some would call it Monday.

A boat moored up behind us (sorry I forgot the name, something Duck) and then moved to the other side of the bridge, they have been cruising the inland waterways for 10 years including the Severn estuary and the Wash. Some exciting experiences for us to look forward to or not?

396.13 Miles, 293 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 15 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Bike Rack

The River Cherwell is all over the place after last night’s rain. Just below Heyford Common Lock the river was actually above the canal but the towpath prevented a union of the two, having said that there was some small breeches across the towpath which Frances had to negotiate around as she walked along the path.

We still have a slow connection otherwise I would put up a photo of an event which hasn’t happened for some time, in fact I cannot remember the last time we used the …….wait for it,

THE BIKE RACK

We cannot have the bikes on the roof with the low height of the lift bridges and some of the bridges that cross the Oxford canal. Usually we address this problem by keeping the bikes inside the cabin, but I thought it was time to reuse the infamous bike rack that has been trailing behind us like a suspended Jonathan Ross.

We are now moored up at Aynho and you can hear the ugly roar of the motorised traffic using the nearby M40.

Today we did 5.85 miles 3 Locks and 2 Lift Bridges

396.13 Miles, 293 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 15 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Back on the boat

Back on the boat, were we belong. This afternoon we have had tea and cake with Lady Mostyn, a relative of Sam our son in law. It was a very pleasant afternoon talking about family, literature and life.

A meal at the Bell tonight proved a little less than satisfying and scored a GRPS of 1.0. The beer was a little rough and indifferent so the pub did not have a lot going for it.

We will head off tomorrow towards Banbury if the weather is not too bad.

390.28 Miles, 290 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 13 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Last night ashore

Frances is back from Germany tonight and we will be back off to Lower Heyford early in the morning. I have managed to do all of the things I needed to do while back in Croxley, new glasses, haircut, and Costco shop as well as getting the car serviced and repaired.

No boat stuff as we are in Croxley but on a non boat related topic I can recommend ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini it is a very good read. I did try and put up my reading list on the blog but unfortunately Java does not work with wordpress.com

390.28 Miles, 290 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 13 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator

Benifits of Blogging

When I first started doing this blog it was to keep friends, colleagues and family informed about our whereabouts and what we were up to and of course to give insights into the boating life of continuous cruising. I did not expect that we would become involved with a larger community of friendly boaters. We have joined a large network of similarly minded people that are spread throughout the land offering friendship and advice whilst sharing the common interest of the inland waterways.

OK sorry to bring up the topic of Red Diesel Duty (RDD) but I happened to take a look at the IWA web site, they say that the duty was increased by 2p on the 1st December. Did this happen or was it deferred? They also have a downloadable calculator, which includes this new tax rate. For some reason they do not calculate VAT on the extra domestic duty is this correct?

390.28 Miles, 290 Locks, 44 Swing Bridges, 13 Lift Bridge, 4 Tunnels. 3 batteries!! 1 Alternator