Saturday, 22nd March 2025

Fortified by a glass of sherry, in honour of my mum,  I feel ready to tackle a long overdue blog post – I was surprised to see my last entry was October 1st 2024! Tied to a tree near Osney bridge in Oxford, for 2 and a half months, due to the Thames being unsafe to navigate,  we managed to move to Thrupp in early November,  where the boat remained for the winter.  It was a hairy moment turning into Sheepwash from the river to reach the canal. We were moored about 50yds upstream of the turn but had to go past the turn and about, to approach the channel  facing upstream.  Just as we started to move  a boat appeared in the opposite direction.  Terrible timing! I very nearly came a cropper and narrowly avoided being swept sideways down the Thames.  The sticky moment was saved by shouted instructions from both R and our friend S. Meanwhile his wife was recording the near fiasco from the safety of the towpath! All was calm once safely back on canal waters. I calculated that in the past 15 months, nearly all on stretches of river,  we have only managed to cruise for under four months! In my nievity of planning,  I had not appreciated quite how important it is to make sure you plan your river boating for the summer months!

Now, a new adventure awaits us, beginning with getting the boat from Thrupp to Banbury,  for a full engine service,  in preparation for travelling towards the north of England.  Family commitments have meant that we couldn’t just move in our own time.  We had to plan mooring near railway stations to return home for a few days. Each time we leave the boat,  we turn off all the batteries, so any fridge and freezer food has to come with us, along with our washing.  We really have turned into bag  people! Finding ourselves without a car when we left Thrupp,  we had to transport our newly aired mattress topper back to the boat via taxi,  train and bus.  Wrapped in black plastic,  it could have been mistaken for a body!

Whilst in London we went to a nearby music venue which does jazz and folk evenings.  It’s very popular so you often share a table.  We got chatting to a French lady whilst her Italian partner was buying drinks.  She said he had a property in Oxford by the canal.  He told us we’d recognise it because he has chickens in the garden.  I realised,  since I’m sure not many properties have chickens, that his flat mate is the girlfriend of R’s nephew.  Small world!

At Lower Heyford,  a great place to stop because the canal runs parallel to the train and station, we met a lovely man called J who had had his boat 5 years but for two of those he nursed his wife so they were unable to use it.  After her death, he decided he would travel alone,  much to the concern of his children,  but he has found it a very healing place to be. 48 years married,  he said, ‘I miss the fact I have no one to do nothing with!’. They met both driving HGVs, when she was 17.   She was dangling by her arms on the door of the lorry because she wasn’t tall enough for her feet to touch the ground.  In the cab itself she had wooden blocks to reach the pedals – not sure health and safety would allow that now!

Our boat service revealed sticky fuel,  noticeable in the fuel filters, so for the third time since owning the boat,   we had to have the fuel ‘polished’. Matt at Tooley Boatyard has a wealth of experience.  Infact, I think he said they were the first boatyard to recognise diesel bug and treat it by ‘polishing’ (the fuel is sieved numerous times through fine filters until all the bug is removed). The rise of sticky fuel is the result of the government decreeing that 12% (not the recommended 5%) of all fuel should have bio diesel added to it.  This shortens the life of the diesel and it can go off in the tank,  leading to a sticky substance adhering to parts of the engine and blocking the fuel injectors.  I now understand the importance of fuel filters which hopefully prevent the sticky fuel getting into the engine.  The dilemma for people who leave their boats unmoved for a few months is how much fuel to leave in the tank.  Owing to the fact steel boats have steel fuel tanks, to prevent condensation forming,  it is preferable to leave the tank full (condensation leads to a layer of water in the bottom of the tank and between the water and the diesel,  diesel bug grows). However,  with a full tank of diesel with bio fuel, you risk sticky fuel, so Matt says current thinking is to leave the tank empty. We’re between a rock and a hard place! There are additives that can help prevent these problems occurring but in our case they haven’t done much good! Regular polishing may be the answer but that’s another expense! Or perhaps we shall just have to keep travelling throughout the winter months as well as the summer,  taking short trips home to offset the cold!

We went past the Blue Lias pub in Long Itchington which brought back many memories as this was the pub that our son left us at with all our belongings, ready to go on the boat that never moved because it’s engine never worked! We would probably never have found Naomhog had it not been for that faulty engine. It all seems a long time ago. Infact we are now into our fourth year of owning Naomhog and having mainly explored the south we are ready to venture further afield!

One of the fun parts of joining the Canal Ministeries team is that we now have friends all over the network,  although you are never quite sure where anyone is! The BCF (Boaters Christian Fellowship) offers the same opportunity of connection.  So when we arrived at The Folly pub in Napton (a favourite mooring of ours.  In lockdown the pub was tents and a large shed in the garden – this was the first time we made it into the actual pub, which was cosy and welcoming,  with great food) it was lovely to moor up unexpectedly next to a BCF member we knew. The following night we moored next to the friends who helped get us safely off the Thames at Oxford and travelled with us to Thrupp.  As well as being part of CM they are also Waterways Chaplains.  A sense of community enhances our travels.  I even posted a request for help up the Hatton flight on the BCF Facebook page and two angels appeared! They even took a bag of washing home for us!

The Hatton flight seems to be like marmite.  Boaters either love it or hate it.    21 locks in quick succession, with stiff paddles to turn and heavy gates to push open and shut.  They accommodate two boats and we were thankful to find another boat ready to go up early in the morning with us.  As the locks seemed set in our favour (they were empty) we wanted to be the first to use them, so an 8am start was proposed. Typically, the one morning my alarm needed to wake me it didn’t,  but the sunlight thankfully did and we were sitting in the tearoom at the top of the flight by 11am. I worked the first 10 locks as R steered the boat in tandem with the other narrowboat and C’s wife.  C was super fit and fast and would run up to the next lock to get it ready, once he’d opened the gate to let a boat out. Meanwhile, I would close my gate,  let down both paddles and walk as fast as able to the next lock.   My energy depleted,   I was relieved to swop roles with R. It was a great feeling of accomplishment once we reached the top and moored up for the rest of the day. 

A little later in the afternoon we walked to ‘Hatton Country World’, a mixture of small shops and family activities.  There was even a swimming pool,  open to the public,  but not on a day that suited us.  A shame because I would have liked a decent sized shower and hair wash! Walking back to the boat we passed a narrowboat selling his homemade fenders, so we treated ourselves to two as ours were totally caked in mud and lock sludge. 

Then we passed a boat called Olive, which was just mooring up.  We got chatting to the middle aged lady and her son, who I thought looked vaguely familiar. It didn’t take long to realise he was the vlogger who had been on the Bridgewater canal when the breach occurred on 1st January 2025. I, along with 1.2million other viewers, watched the drama unfolding as he recorded what was happening for all to see! It was a miserable start to their new year, especially as they thought they might be stranded there for months.  But every cloud has a silver lining and his vlog, on You tube, (Taylorsaboardanarrowboat)  now has many more viewers. As this is how he makes a living,  that is a good thing!

Moored next to Hatton station, we were able to take a train into Warwick. I would like to say we saw the castle,  but we never found it! However we did meet up with friends we have known for 50 years.  F and I lived in the same village, went to grammar school together and then coincidentally, trained to nurse at the same hospital! The last time we met was over 25 years ago,  bumping into one another in a restaurant in Bishops Stortford. We’d just come off a plane with our kids and they all chose a different place to eat,  so it was totally random that we ended up at the same pizza place. My dad blessed the marriage of this couple.  Funnily enough I then saw today on FB a couple my dad married 50 years ago in the same church, a strange coincidence. The FB picture showed the couple in the porch of the church,  which is also where we got married. Happy memories!

It’s great being on the boat again.  I wasn’t sure how I’d feel as we’d got so used to being in London and loving it.  I thought I might have lost my love of the water.  Happily that is not the case. Once in the boat, London recedes to the background and we can appreciate all the countryside and wildlife that is now right outside our door.  R also gets to chop and split wood,  which he no longer needs to do when ashore. This used to be his favourite destressing occupation. Our current TV series is The Chosen, which I would really recommend.  You can download an app with all the series ready to watch.   It’s about the life of Jesus seen through the eyes of his followers and is very appropriate in this lenten season. It’s really well produced.  Originally Series 1 was financed through crowd funding but due to it’s popularity they have now released Series 5. We are barely into Series 3 but hope to complete the marathon by Easter.

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