We had to start moving the boat early in order to cover the distance required so that by Sunday afternoon we will hopefully reach Banbury where I can moor the boat for the week whilst mainly on my own. R is returning home Monday morning for more lawn mowing and paperwork.
I think I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog about the death of Prince Philip at the age of 99 and three quarters. It’s the kind of detail I probably should record as it’s quite a feat for him to have achieved such a great age and still been seen relatively recently in public. Whatever one may think about the Royal Family, there’s no doubt he and the Queen have been quite a remarkable team for over 70 years.
Back to boating! Our destination was Aynho although I wasn’t too hopeful that we would find a mooring. Passing through on our way to Thrupp, Aynho was fully occupied, hence why I ended up in Lower Heyford with no mobile signal! One detail we nearly always forget before setting off is the chimney, which really needs removing because of the low bridges. A common scenario is R along the outside of the boat racing to remove said chimney before encountering the imminent low bridge!
As we passed ‘Jane’s Enchanting Tea rooms’ I was sad H was still abed as she loves everything pink and I had forgotten just what a pink spectacle they made from the boat so I had to make do with showing her a picture. Quite tricky taking photos whilst on the helm but it’s a skill I am perfecting by regular practice of steering with my back, thus hands free, a bit like riding a bike with no hands on the handlebars! We contacted our local friends, O and S, to see if O wanted to join us as we were passing so close by to their house. He suggested he join the boat at Upper Heyford and travel with us to Aynho. His daughter lives on a narrowboat so he’s familiar with the drill. He took the helm almost immediately, which gave me free time to enjoy the view from the bow, safely taking photos whilst also making lunch and cups of tea. R continued operating the locks although there were only a couple en route. We saw a heron on the towpath but sadly it flew off before I had time to take a picture. The sky has also been full of red kites in the past few days and R was so excited to see two swallows that he remarked upon this to anyone we encountered walking the towpath. It was really noticeable how much greener the trees were in just over a week and the white blossom looked luminous from the hedgerows, peppered with the occasional cherry or apple blossom . Spring is really on it’s way although the temperature was still very nippy. Thank goodness I had resorted to thermals and many more layers of clothing in the morning.
Once we arrived at Aynho, relieved to see a couple of spaces to moor up, we set up the firepit – the towpath was just wide enough for us and the occasional passerby! It meant we could all be outside of the boat as we awaited the arrival of S, to take O back to his car. S feels the cold so I was delighted we could offer her a warm welcome. Sadly she couldn’t find a suitable place to park her car, so she actually didn’t get the full benefit of the firepit but it had served its purpose and R sat next to it as the embers died away, whilst I made full use of the hotwater by running a deep bath for a long soak.
Adventurously, I made a moussaka for supper with a few tweaks. The only mince I had in the freezer was venison and as H can’t have onions I used celery and green peppers instead to make a meat sauce. The topping was a mix of what I found in the fridge – sour cream, mozzarella, a bit of boursin (forgetting it had garlic but H seemed to tolerate the small amount) and an egg! The aubergines were pre-fried on the wood stove. All in all I don’t think it tasted too bad. H was excited we actually had some ice cream but her hopes were dashed when we realised it was cookie dough flavour, which of course meant it contained gluten! To make up for it I offered to make some proper egg custard. H declared her version was far better than mine but acknowledged that might have something to do with the amount of sugar she adds to her custard in comparison to the sprinkling I added! Wanting to watch different things on our screens, H found a corner of the boat to settle with her earphones whilst we enjoyed the final two episodes of ‘Keeping Faith’. I think I found the ending a bit disappointing but it’s always hard for a series that starts unexpectedly well to keep up the pace and get continually better. To counteract the slight disappointment we ended our viewing with an episode of Canal Diaries, which covered a part of the canal we travelled a decade ago. I didn’t remember much it has to be said although I think the flight of locks, Tardebigge, numbered 30 and was quite a marathon to complete in one day so we stopped halfway up outside a pub. Am not sure that was strictly allowed, listening to the guy’s commentary on CD, as he suggested the locks had to be done in a day.
All in all a satisfying day of travelling further than we had anticipated aided by our extra helping hands.
NarrowboatTLC 