Wednesday 21 June 2017

Still sweltering

We decided on an early start on Tuesday.  We needed water and shade!!

Thrupp has been a very congenial stop, the surroundings are pretty and well kept.  They have a plethora of Dog Bins which is very helpful.  Two pubs and a tea room, Sani station and a book swap...even a small shop withing a 10 min walk, and Kidlington a slightly longer walk.  There are also buses into Oxford or Banbury,  The only sad thing was that the Community Woodland has become very overgrown and one cannot venture too far without long trousers because of nettles.  Very sad as there are some lovely walks.

We knew there was a water point not far beyond Thrupp.  It is in rather an awkward place on a bend just after a long bridge.  It is almost impossible to moor conveniently and not obstruct the canal.   We just hoped no one else was moving yet.

The bigger problem was that the tap had a strange thread on it.  Despite Geoff rifling through his many variations of connector he couldn't find one that would fit.   Still we had to have water so he had to stand there holding it on and getting well sprayed...

Needless to say we just took on a minimum amount or we would have been there all day!
Luckily no one else was around so we were not in the way.   Only about another 1/2 a mile and before the lock we found a nice shady spot.   It is not devoid of sun but a definite improvement.

We decided to stay over for a day as Geoff had spied a barber in Kidlington.

 He went early before the heat set in and we have had another day of just trying to keep cool..
 However I did manage to wash one side of the boat before it became too hot.  I had no intention of doing this, just saw a few dirty marks  and decided to wash them off and before I knew it I was doing the whole side!!!  I waited until Geoff returned before climbing on the bow to wash the front windows.   I thought it might be foolish on my own as it is easy to slip in when wet.

There is vague talk of thunderstorms but we have taken a chance and not closed everything up as it is still so hot.

We have paid for our Gold licence so River Thames here we come




Total distance:1.18 miles 
Elapsed time:1h11m2s 
Locks:0
Bridges:3 
Average speed:1.00 mph (1.00 lock/mph)

1 comment:

BigJohn said...

Have a great time on the Thames, he said longingly.