Homeward Bound

And so ends another season on Petroc...our 12th year.   Its been a good year, slightly too hot at times(dare I say that?) and with very few rainy days....UNTIL TODAY.

We crept back onto the yard at Clifton early this morning in the pouring rain......finished our clearing and loaded the car in the pouring rain!!

However there were better moments to the day.  We had an excellent Sunday Lunch in Bridge 66, the cafe in the yard.  In addition we had the company of Paul and Helen and had a good catch up.

So tomorrow morning it is farewell Petroc for the winter....be back in April 2019

Back to Petrocs winter home but not finally yet

And so back to Braunston for the weekend as usual at the end of our season.   Saturday cooked breakfast in the Gongoozlers Rest boat and lunch for Sunday in the Admiral Nelson

Saturday we had one of the wettest days this year.but we cant complain as there have been very few days like that all summer.

Most of the weekend went to plan but not all.   We duly fronted up for church at the new time of 11.15, having carefully checked the notice boards both outside the church and in the porch.  However when we arrived at about 11am the church was like the Marie Celeste...........we should have checked the website as well!!!   Belatedly checking we discovered that as it was Harvest Festival the service had been mover to a farm some way up the canal.   Not a single notice in the church!!

If we had checked earlier we could have walked as the trusty Google told us it was just over half an hour,  ah well....we live and learn.

The sun was shining by Sunday and we were able to sit outside at the Admiral Nelson
 before our lunch and watch the world and boats go by.

Despite being almost autumn there are quite a lots of boats still travelling.    

Monday we decided to go most of the way to Clifton as we had arranged to go in so our broken toilet could be removed ready for Geoff to drive down to Lee Sanitation at Fenny Compton.

The locks at Hillmorton are still on restricted opening times so we went through on Monday and positioned ourselves just before Clifton ready to go in early Tuesday.  We were just short of where major road works are taking place and a new bridge is being built over the canal.   We understand it is for a new road which starts at Daventry and is to do with a new huge housing estate, although we cant work out where.

The offending toilet was duly removed and Geoff took it down to Fenny.   He also had to make a trip to Roadpro in Daventry as he had somehow messed up our satellite receiver.   He had done the same thing once before and they had managed to re tune it.  However he was not so lucky this time and it looks like we shall have to purchase a new one for next year.

We are not due to leave until next Monday so have left the yard and come down towards Rugby as it is much quieter and also better for Barney.

The yard is much busier than when we first moored there as there are now over 50 permanent moorers.

So a final few days pottering and not going very far and beginning to sort the boat out.   Geoff has already started and thrown a big bag of clothes away.   

Getting closer to Petroc`s winter home

Thanks to several comments I now understand the logic of shutting the locks overnight to save water.......allows the water to gather itself for the next day.   Also now having done the Claydon flight with lots of boats going both ways it does save a lot of unnecessary emptying or filling.

There were so many boats coming in the other direction that we thought Fenny Compton would be empty.   Not so!!  We were lucky to get the last space before the pub so where all the other boats had come from, I know not.   

Mike from LeeSan came down to discuss what needed to be done to our toilet housing over the winter to make it more accessible.   He is confident he can fix ours which is good news.

Wednesday we travelled on a rather grey (but dry) day to just beyond Marsdon Doles and down the first of the Napton flight.  We wondered if the notices would ask us not to moor in the flight overnight as they had done at the Claydon flight but luckily not so.  

This looked like up market camping.  Behind the fence was a bath! 
 I wasn`t quite quick enough with the camera to catch a glimpse of it.

The horses all have their winter coats on

Today we set off at a very leisurely hour at 9.15....wonderful lie in.

Past the Buffalo.

Opposite here used to be a farm shop and cafe selling Buffalo ice cream but that disappeared a few years ago.

The cloud broke up by the time we moored and wonder of wonders I was able to take my chair out and sit in the sun, even had to strip off several layers of clothing.   We are promised more of the same tomorrow BUT Saturday is a different story if the weather people are to be believed.  We are moored in one of our preferred spots just after bridge 101.   Not far to Braunston tomorrow.

Total distance:6.35 miles Elapsed time:3h5m21s Locks:6Bridges:16 
Average speed:2.06 mph (4.00 lock/mph) 

Very slowly up the Oxford Canal

I blame our slow progress on this little cherub.   Our weeks are interspersed by my weekly visits down to see her.

Sadly we are wending our way slow;y back to Petroc`s winter home at Clifton.

However the Oxford is one of our favourite canals and so far we have had some nice late summer/autumn days.

Lower Heyford was one of our very convenient station stops...the station couldn`t have been any closer!

A bit nippy some mornings as the morning frost shows

Lots of fields with grazing cows

The old man of the sea has been shorn after this picture and looks vaguely respectable for a while!

A working barge towing another working barge

This was an interesting meeting as we tried to be so obliging and give them room that we ended up stuck on the bank.......eventually wriggled free....

Through Banbury with its convenient moorings in the centre

We actually moored just downstream on the 14 day moorings as I was away from Wednesday to Sunday.  The rest of the moorings are 2 days only until the end of October.

Some sad sights along the way....a boarded up lock keepers cottage

CRT are still coping with a water shortage on the Oxford and the locks are only open from about 10 until 4.   I must confess I can`t work out how this saves water.  If the same number of boats are travelling they will just do it in a concentrated space of time......must use the same water.    Perhaps some wiser person can enlighten me.

Total distance:6.03 miles Elapsed time:4h13m18s Locks:8 Bridges:23 
Average speed:1.43 mph (3.32 lock/mph) 

We would normally have at least an overnight at Cropredy but decided to do the next 3 locks so we could have a lie in tomorrow and be ready to do the Claydon flight tomorrow.   I did jump off briefly to nip into the shop to buy a loaf of bread but we had watered etc at Banbury ( with yet another slow tap!) so didn`t need to pause here.