After such a busy weekend in London I spent Monday and Tuesday catching up with friends and doing the housekeeping. On Wednesday I was back in London where I visited the Quentin Blake exhibition at the new House of Illustration on Granary Square in the newly developed Kings Cross area. They are making a good job of the development and it has a cultural vibe (much needed, I must say). I met Caroline for lunch at the Royal Academy where we went around the Dennis Hopper exhibition. He only used his camera from 1961 to 1967 and he captured the era perfectly, especially as he only used black and white film. I would have loved to have stayed to watch his two movies, Easy Rider and The Last Movie but time waits for no man(or even for me)so I jumped on the tube to South Kensington where I was meeting up with Rose before she went to the Proms.

I was soon back on board Olivia and through the Claydon locks after which I enjoyed the rural lock free pound to Marston Doles. One thing that I have noticed more and more is that boaters don't seem to do any preparation before they cast off. Today I had a couple who were reversing back from a lock to the winding (turning) point. As they were all over the canal (as I would be if I were trying to reverse) we struck up a conversation and it transpired that they had decided to turn at this point as "it might be a while before we find another one". I was asked by another boat whether there was "a water point in the vicinity" and another was surprised when advised that there was not a shop for another two hours. Is it just me but I find that a lot of the pleasure is in the planning of the journey? Having said that I had a choice of either walking nine miles or taking two bus journeys. I decided on the latter which took three and a half hours!! Two of these hours were spent waiting for a connecting bus because the existing timetable means that one bus misses the other by about two minutes and both buses run every two hours.

My first cruise on the tidal Thames

I have been lucky enough to have a fantastic weekend. On Friday I was treated to tea at the Ritz! It was last year's Christmas present from my son's partner and included myself, my sister, my daughter and son's partner. We started with a glass of champagne moved on through the finger sandwiches and some fancy cakes and tarts, then onto scones and finished up with a choice of either Bakewell tart or lemon drizzle cake! All washed down by copious amounts of very tasty tea.

After we went our separate ways I jumped on the DLR to Limehouse where I met up with Heather who had invited me to accompany her on a trip on the Thames the next morning. There was a briefing in the evening after which we moseyed on down to Island Gardens where we had a brilliant viewpoint for the firework display which was part of the Totally Thames festival. The added bonus was that after the display a lot of the tall ships started moving to their positions for the next day.

On Saturday we were up early ready to cast off at 07.30. Sixteen narrowboats and one cruiser were to make the journey in a convoy. We took off along Limehouse Cut and down Bow Creek coming out onto the Thames opposite the O2 dome.

The river seemed very calm and just right for a newbie like me. We cruised past Greenwich and across the river to the south side behind a massive cruise liner, Europa, where we found the entrance to Deptford Creek. This is not a pretty creek but it was interesting to see it and we attracted several bystanders who enjoyed seeing all seventeen boats cruising up and back. One little girl had a horn which she "parped" so we really did have to return the compliment :-).

When we got back out onto the Thames, once again crossing the river to the north shore, the water seemed to be quite lumpy and we had several of the jet experience boats zipping around near us adding to the waves. I found this a bit of a white knuckle ride and was happy to hand the helm back to Heather who took it all in her stride and got us back into Limehouse lock. All in all a very enjoyable morning. After lunch we went into Greenwich by DLR but it was absolutely rammed with people visiting the Tall Ships festival events. I gave up and went to stay at Tom's house.

On Sunday we went to the Angel Canal Festival. Luke had a stall there which attracted good interest. There was plenty to amuse a two year old including donkey rides, funfair, creepy crawlies and hawks and owls, boating activities and much more.

Enjoying late summer days

This week I travelled from Banbury down to Little Heyford. The weather was fantastic: warm and calm. Apart from the hire boats the canal was quiet and I was able to find some wonderful rural moorings. One evening, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bird land on the bow. When I moved to get a better view I saw, for just a fleeting moment, a kingfisher. Magic. At Heyford there is a station which runs about four trains a day to Oxford and, with my railcard, the fare was only £3.05p! I took advantage of this and had a lovely day in Oxford. I visited the Ashmolean, the Modern Art museum, the unique shops in the covered market and had a good old mooch.

The lift bridge at Little Heyford is really heavy and I couldn't fathom a way to tether it up (You need a crew member to sit on the beam). Luckily I commandeered some cheerful and helpful dog walkers on both the outward and return journeys. I wonder if the Canal and River Trust will ever acknowledge single handed boaters (there are more and more of us) and plan to alter how such bridges work. At one of the locks I found a small queue caused by the gate not closing fully. CRT came out and poked about with their rake which located the problem. Apparently it was a bag full of tools and components. I wonder if it was dumped there or whether it fell off someone's boat.

I am heading northwards again now, making my way to my home patch.

Still on the South Oxford

Geographically I haven't travelled very far but I am enjoying just cruising for a couple of hours every now and then. This part of the canal is so rural and, therefore, very beautiful. My plan is to carry on southwards for a few days and then start back towards my "home" territory. I may not be able to travel as far south as I'd originally hoped as I have just heard that one of the lift bridges (# 215) has collapsed into the canal. This year I have to book into a boatyard to have a few maintenance jobs done so that will take care of October.

As I was in the area I went to visit Compton Verney which has (until the end of August) an exhibition of work by Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin. The highlight for me was The Burghers of Calais which is normally to be found outside the Houses of Parliament but at Compton the sculpture is viewed at ground level where the fine detail can be seen and appreciated.

Monday's dreadful weather drove me home where I was able to get on with the decorating that I started in the Spring! I got on quite well so I should be able to finish the room after a couple more days. Professional decorators quoted £600 and £900 and I will have done the work for about £60 and a week of my time. Anyway the weather is looking good so I'm off to do some cruising.

Where I have been hiding for four weeks

I arrived at Cropredy on 19th July and was lucky to squeeze in on the 14 day moorings. Boats were already there saving places for themselves and their friends for the forthcoming festival. As this was my fifth attendance at Cropredy in the last six years I spent some time reacquainting myself with old friends. The weather was fantastic and there was a good pre-festival vibe. Boaters were using the time (and the weather) to fix and/or paint their boats. I had the opportunity to accompany friends on a sailing holiday in the Greek Islands so for a week I said bye bye to Cropredy and hello to 30 degrees plus temperatures in Kefalonia, Ithaca, Kalamos, Levkada and back to Kefalonia. What a great time we had.

I had a couple more days back in festival fervour before enjoying a day in London where 20 of us from the Northants Adventure Club did the "Over the Top" experience at the O2 in Greenwich. My little munchkin (grandaughter, Hollie) came to visit me there and she is so funny.

Back in Cropredy for the run up to the festival, I was accompanied by my grandson, Paris. We went to meet Luke who was cruising up from Oxford with The Record Deck UK, so we were able to help him through some of the locks. When he arrived at Cropredy, he took my space (a very good trading spot, with many other traders close by) and I found a spot through the next bridge. The weather held out and was even hot and sunny for most of the festival, raining overnight on Friday and again on Sunday. Lots of our friends turned up including my daughter, Kate, and son, Tom with Gemma and Hollie (so all my family were present :-)). Luke had his boat signwritten by Ali Hutchinson and most of the traders had a successful weekend. Even Paris made some Loom band bracelets which he was able to sell to customers browsing the albums (entrepreneur or child labour?). As usual the festival was over all too soon. I moved Olivia a little way but with ten boats queuing for the lock and heavy winds I decided to moor up and wait for a few days before heading South for a while.

Beautiful cruising weather

What a lovely few days I have had. It certainly makes a difference when the sun puts its hat on. Everyone that you meet seems to be in a good mood. Since my last blog post I moved up a little way to Nether Heyford to visit a friend who then made dinner for us. After dieseling up I had an evening cruise up towards Whilton ready for the Buckby locks next morning. I rarely cruise in the evening because I am always wondering whether there will be a mooring spot left but it was so nice that I will definitely be doing it again. On the subject of mooring spots I am amazed at how many more boats are now mooring in my favourite places. In another year or so I reckon the canals will be FULL. Weekends in particular are busy with hire boats and marina boats out on the cut.

Whenever I have done the Buckby locks I have had problems: too shallow to moor on the lock landings; too deep so water had to be let out in order to level the top gates; gates that could not be moved so that help had to called out; fender caught on gates when the flow was too strong for reverse; etc. However, this time the passage was as good as it has ever been. I shared with nb Hannah Ruth who were very efficient and friendly and we also had a pair of lockies - the first time I have ever seen any on this flight. Once at the top I moored and went to the New Inn for lunch, a fairly standard baguette. Onward to Welton and a good trip through the tunnel. It was mainly dry and I only met a boat right at the very end. I decided to moor at the top of Braunston locks which was a really quiet spot. I moored next to Steam barge Hasty that I had met earlier this year on the way to London. Unfortunately there was no one on board. I wandered down to the shop for some supplies and just had to treat myself to an icecream.

Next day I had another smooth journey down the Braunston flight which was busy with boats coming up so all locks were ready for me. I had to wait outside the bottom lock chandlery which was not open. After ten minutes or so a girl came cycling up at great speed and full of apologies but she had fallen off her bike into the cut! They didn't have what I wanted but no worries. Braunston was as busy as it always is so I carried on as far as Napton. On the journey I passed nb Pipe Dreams who shouted "Do you remember us? We met you years ago on the Leicester Ring". Wow, what a memory! Now I'm worried that I must have done something memorable on the Leicester journey! Now I need to prepare for the Napton flight of locks although they are usually okay as long as they are filled slowly. (In the early days I was the victim of its rather strong undertow on a couple of occasions). At the moment there is a restriction on the locks with last boat needing to enter by 4pm.

Back on the Water Road

Just a very short post today. I've got my boat back. Yay, new water pump. Had a little cruise and everything seems to be okay. Let the cruising recommence.