Wednesday 21st April

I thought yesterday’s delay of the Napton locks would set me back on my journey north but actually we ended further ahead today than anticipated. The four remaining locks on the Napton flight were speeded up by the help of a delightful Yorkshire man who obviously wanted to get moving and realised if he assisted me, I would travel through the locks more quickly and thus, so would he! I was able to sort the potty, refill the water and rid the boat of rubbish at the bottom of the flight before the arrival of my friends G and S. S has travelled the canals extensively with her parents so was very at home on the boat. So much so that I was quite worried for her safety as she pranced lightly along the spine of the boat, avoiding the clutter of the PVs and ropes, to take a picture of a bridge or something else of interest!

Meanwhile G steered the boat effortlessly which enabled me to relax and do nothing except offer refreshments and talk alot. S also took to the helm with the ease of someone who is used to narrowboating. I suppose it is a bit like riding a bike – a skill never forgotten. We had miles of undulating Oxfordshire countryside with not a lock in sight and many sheep grazing on the green pastures. There were a few other boats to contend with but on the whole it was a very relaxed atmosphere and the hours quickly passed by. I took to the helm as we approached Braunston and turned onto the northern half of the Oxford Canal. This was new territory for me and I felt excited about travelling further up the country away from my comfort blanket of the South. Our destination was the outskirts of Rugby although we ended up as near to the town centre as it is possible to go. There were three double locks at Hillmorton which meant they were single locks side by side. Interestingly when we asked the boat coming towards us which chamber they had used (so that we could use the full lock) they couldn’t remember! We made contact with R who was just arriving in Rugby. It is incredibly difficult (oops thought I had finished the day. More to come – will continue later as steering boat atm!) to marry the ‘Pearson Canal Map’ with Google maps or an old fashioned paper one. I give what I think are perfectly reasonable and understandable directions to the boat and everyone gets lost! R had the added stress of arriving by car and having to find longterm parking near to our mooring once we had decided where to head for. It didn’t help that where he parked there was an old arm of the canal that he started to walk along thinking it was the main canal. He did think one of the remaining bridges was rather low and that the canal was very weedy but sometimes it is like that! Eventually we married up, him on one side of the canal and us on the other. Unusually you could moor on either bank. However it was easiest for us to swop sides as our timing was perfect and no ropes had been secured.

We enjoyed Waitrose ‘best rhubarb and apple crumble’ cake with mugs of tea on the boat bow before G and S returned to their car, at least a dozen miles away!

R and I caught up on the week’s news. Luckily he had fed himself some ‘main course’ ready meal at lunchtime, so we finished up leftovers before joining our midweek church Zoom group.