Thames tribulations

Phew! We're not used to all this rivering lark.

Last night whilst still on the Hythe bridge canal arm in Oxford we went out for a pub meal with Bones, Maffi and Susan starting at the Royal Oak (nice pub) and ending at the ice cream emporium down the road (also recommended). I mention that I was having concerns about getting under Osney bridge (now I know it's pronounced Oasney). Maffi, ever helpful, said " never mind Osney, the bridge in the Sheepwash channel, (under which we would need to pass), is the really low one. "

That did my confidence no good at all and I confess to losing a bit of sleep that night worrying about what we would do if we couldn't get under due to our stuck fast chimney.

This morning we prepped the boat, readying the anchor etc, and set off up the arm towards Isis lock. That bit was easy as we had backed into the arm so we could come out forwards. Then of course we had to go through the lock backwards which was fine although because of the wind direction I had to do a 450 degree turn to face us up the Sheepwash channel. The boat following us was very bemused they told us later. Anyway, halfway through that turn, I glanced down the channel to see the bridge, which only looked to be about five feet over the water. Well it was, but that was not the bit we had to get under. In the event we had about a foot to spare, and under Osney bridge more like fifteen inches. Yippee!

Osney lock next where we splashed out £109 for a two week Thames licence and then on down through Folly bridge where you feel a bit special


and then on to Iffley.

Well that was nice. Then we learned that Iffley lock was out of commission because of a split hydraulic hose. You don't get them on the canals, nineteenth century engineering has it's benefits you see. The lady lock keeper was very nice but told us that she was trying without success to contact the contractor who fixes these things.
The lockies so far have all been very friendly and it seems that some of the have a good sense of humour, as shown by this sign at Abingdon lock.



We settled in and had lunch, realising that this was a nice spot and if we were stranded overnight it would be no bad thing.



Although I looked up the advice we had had from Still Rockin' Carol giving a thumbs down on the nearby pub :(

The boat tied up behind us was full of eight people from Oz who seemed cool about the delay. One of them was waxing lyrical about English ale, having sampled an alarming amount in the two and a half days since their plane landed. He was keen to learn more so I recommended a few to him. Kath wandered over complaining that the wind was getting chilly. I said, think of these poor souls from Oz, they had just told me it was usually 50 degrees back home. "That's only in the bloody shade", said the man.

Eventually a man with spanners appeared and isolated the split hose, thus allowing
the lock to operate on one sluice. To loud cheers the lock once again fulfilled its purpose and we set of in search of Abingdon, some three and a half hours behind schedule.

I'm not a fan of long wide Thames reaches where all there is to see is willow trees and water and we were very glad when we we sighted Abingdon lock just a couple of minutes after the lockie had clocked off for the night. Many thanks the the German? lady who knew how to do the lock on self service and saw us through to the excellent free moorings below the lock where we are now.



A partially stressful day, but now I've had one of Kath's G&Ts it all seems fine.