10th June '15

Hooray! I've got my Google accounts sorted out and ( for today at least) I'm able to get onto the blog!
Well those who follow me on Facebook will know that we are currently on the South Oxford and hope to be in Oxford tomorrow.
We've had a great trip so far....précis as follows.
2nd June. Set out on a cold and windy day and braved the river section at Wychnor and moored at Alrewas. We had a beautiful Indian take away that night to celebrate the start of the trip.
3rd June.  Had a relatively easy trip through Fradley ( I managed not to fall in) and the only tricky bit was a boat coming out of the Coventry going south and so I had to do a bit of a wriggle to get around and through the little swing bridge. We moored at Hopwas that night.
4th June. Shortly after leaving we were flagged down by a young girl who asked if we could tow them as their gear box had packed up. We'd never towed and they'd only just bought the boat so it was a new experience! We got them to a wide section just before Fazeley where they were collected by someone from Streethay Wharf where they were towed back to for repairs. When we were making our farewells they explained that they did pet portraits and wanted to paint Paddy as a thank you. How lovely was that! After leaving them we moored at Fazeley opposite Peels Wharf, that place has changed beyond recognition. It's really lovely now.
5th June. Our Roberts birthday! Glascote locks were fine, extremely slow to fill as usual. John disappeared with the guy who lives in the cottage there to see his brick collection. How come I miss all the fun? We went on to get up the Atherstone locks as well and moored at the top. Amazingly most of them were set for us, very unusual. That night I took Paddy out for a late walk and found two youth Aussie guys coming up the top lock. They'd left Birmingham that morning, and were on a mission to get to London as one of them was going to live on the boat with his wife. They didn't seem to know much (anything) about boats but they were lovely!
6th June. The weather had been improving every day, and it was lovely again. We got through Nuneaton and around Hawkesbury Junction, which was the first time we'd really seen many other boats, but Hawkesbury was busy. We moored out in the middle of nowhere that night and thought about a bbq. Then it clouded over so we didn't. Naturally it brightened up after we'd eaten. During the afternoon we had a bit of an incident when a golf ball came flying across and hit the roof of the boat. A few more feet and it could have been one of us. Very shaken by it. We saw a lovely mooring for sale, but when we rang about it they wanted £96,000 for it so maybe not! Moored by bridge 79!
7th June. We stopped at Braunston for water, and a duck decided to jump on board. She stayed all the time we were waiting and negotiating the junction. Eventually she jumped off and a boater told us she does that all day! Paddy was not impressed.We went past Barby Wharf and saw a lovely mooring for sale. We rang and went off the idea when they said they wanted £96,000 for it! That is not a typo.....