Illegally moored on a lock bollard and along walks a young CRT man, who couldn’t have been nicer! Turns out he is on the same team as C who we met on the Northampton Arm so we had a long chat. He was telling us how much debris quickly builds up in the canals and that, in normal circumstances, it is removed by willing CRT volunteers. He and C have been having to try and keep on top of the debris which is a losing battle. We thanked him for all his hard work and he beamed from ear to ear. He is more used to complaints from boaters. Such a small gesture of goodwill made a big difference to his day. Made me think we should thank people more often.
Along the towpath we met a lovely old man who told us that the phrase ‘on the wagon’ referred to people being taken to the gallows on a wagon and being offered alcohol all the way. So our use of ‘on the wagon’ meaning alcohol free is back to front! The Canal Shop in Braunston, right on the side of a lock chamber, is full of all things canal related, such as souvenirs, as well as food essentials. As it was open I popped in for some postcards. Noticing a sign for ‘freshly made bread’ I enquired if they had any. ‘Come back in half an hour’ I was told, which gave us enough time to arrive by boat and pick the bread up whilst waiting in the lock. I think it must have been part baked to be ready so fast, but it was warm, crusty, organic and delicious!
We moored further along, towards the turning into the Oxford canal and took ourselves off for a walk around the picturesque village. A lady, noticing me photographing the church excitedly told me of the two peregrine falcons, perched on the upper part of the church spire, visible from the other side. I thanked her and went to take a look. There has been much excitement over recent weeks in our home town because there is one peregrine falcon that has taken up residence on the church tower of our church. Doubly exciting to have two with the possibility of baby PF’s coming into being!
There’s an amazing butchur in the centre of the village that we had been advised to visit but I couldn’t summon up any enthusiasm for buying meat, especially as it’s Friday so my thoughts were on fish! A sign in the local pub window said they were doing takeaway fish and chips, which I was sorely tempted to opt for. However back at the boat, I never got a reply from the pub so we made do with some fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli and a homemade sauce. Simple, delicious and hot! Not sure what state the fish’n chips would be in by the time we returned them to the boat, in the event of the pub miraculously being open! Talking of miracles, after numerous attempts to book a covid vaccine at Banbury and repeatedly being told there were none available at that venue, suddenly appointments appeared on the screen and I was able to book in for next Thursday. So that means another flight of locks and a few hours motoring but all being well we should get to Banbury in plenty of time.
Our evening consisted of the regular monthly Filling Station meeting we help to organise and our speaker this month was a local vicar, newly appointed at the beginning of the first Covid lockdown. She spoke of a year spent ‘walking on jelly’. Apparently that is possible – you only sink when you stop walking. But jelly is very wobbly and I am sure most of us can relate to that feeling at some time over the past twelve months. Another episode of Endeavour finished the evening well.
NarrowboatTLC 