Cabin side painted and a surprise move.

 Well we did it.  Never painted cabin sides outdoors before, but we're happy with the outcome.

Of course it's only the two large dark grey panels on one side of the boat but it's a start.  A bit brush marky, but from experience that tens top flatten back a bit as the paint cures. All did not go smoothly however.  As we were masking over the coachline we ran out of masking tape with more than half of it left to put on.  In a bit of a panic (we had to get the painting done before the day got too hot) I jumped on my bike and pedalled round to the marina's dry dock to beg for some tape.  The nice man there gave me a reel which sort of saved the day.  I say sort of because it wasn't as sharp edged as the better stuff we used the day before and it was a bit too tacky. So when we pulled it off after finishing painting the edges were not as sharp and here and there a bit of the coachline paint came off.  Not a major problem, I think we can fix that later.

The painting of course was a lot less exhausting then the prep.  I rollered the paint on and Kath followed immediately behind laying off with a brush. Anyway, there it is, and there's lots more to do on other days.

Speaking of which, we asked about temporarily using another pontoon in the marina when we come to doing the other side of the boat, which is inaccessible in our current berth.  That was OK they said and pointed to a nearby slot we could 'borrow' when the time came.  Then overnight it occurred to us that this other pontoon was vacant and it was a bit nicer than our current one, so in the mooring I asked if we could transfer there permanently and the answer was yes, but not immediately.  So sometime in the next month or so we'll move about 25 yards to a new somewhat more attractive berth.  I must say, the staff at Cropredy are always very helpful and cheerful and friendly with it.

Speaking of bikes (see tape dash above), we're getting on well with our pair of Bromptons.  I like the way you can fold the back wheel under to stand it up. They do take up a bit of space on the boat but not un-managebly so. I don't think there is any other bike that folds up so small.

 I cycled up to the village the other day, and it's a fairly steep hill but I managed it ok -just.  Someone younger and fitter would have been up there like a rocket.  On the downside, I tried it out on a narrow and very pot-holey bumpy bit of towpath in Banbury last week and it was a bit scary being only a foot from the canal edge.  I'll stick to better towpath in future.

Today we're in Cambridge getting more acquainted with our kitten before we take him/her (we're still not very sure which) home in a couple of weeks.  More on that later.

Some paint goes on at last

Who is that old bugger painting coach lines on Herbie?  Oh, it's me.  Yes after a number of false promises and false starts we've actually got a bit of new paint on.  The coach lines really needed it.  You can see all the miles of masking tape needed.

It's always satisfying when the masking tape comes off and you get nice sharp edges. We decided to do the coach lines first so as to avoid putting masking tape onto the fresh dark grey paint, which is our next job.

I hate masking up, you have to be so careful, and it takes ages and with coach lines you have to do both sides of the line.

Looking at this picture below, you wouldn't think we needed to paint the dark grey panels, but believe me we do.  The paint looks ok for about a day or two after washing or polishing but goes dull and chalky after that.  Well it's been 14 years since we painted it. We need a fresh hard gloss top coat and that hopefully is tomorrow's job. 

 

I only hope we've got all the old wax polish off.  We've washed it with white spirit and with sugar soap, and in the morning we'll lightly sand it and wash it again before the scary business of putting on the paint. I think we have a window of about two hours before the temperature gets too high for the paint to flow properly. We're approaching this job with some trepidation, because if it doesn't go well Herbie will look worse instead of better.

Meanwhile, back at home, another Herbie paint job awaits.  It's the central panel at the front of the cratch.  Rather than the uncomfortable job of trying to paint a complicated pattern in situ.  I decided in 2017 to paint a board at home and then screw the board onto the boat later.  That worked well, but thin plywood doesn't last too long outdoors, so it's time for me to repeat the exercise.  Here's the old one.

Looking pretty much done for as you can see. I'm going to use the same pattern 'cos I like it.  This time I'm putting on more coats of primer and undercoat and I think I'll top off the final paint job with a couple of coats of Craftmaster varnish.  That seems to have protected my decorated Buckby cans really well.

Life in a cupboard.

 

Here's Herbie hiding in the undergrowth about a mile from Banbury in readiness for our surprise attack tomorrow morning, determined to find a town mooring spot before the competition gets there. In the foreground you see a clump of butterbur which is endemic along the canal from Banbury going south.

It has fleshy spikes of pink flowers early in the year when no-one's looking but come the summer it sneakily pretends to be rhubarb to my eye and grows really really abundantly.

In the old days people would wrap their butter in the leaves, hence the name.  These days you could use it to cure depression although it is toxic to the liver and may cause cancer, which I fear might lead to depression rather than curing it.

Yesterday was Wet Wet Wet,(or was it West Life, I'm not up on boy bands).  Anyhow we hunkered down above Kings Sutton lock along with quite a number of other boats while the clouds emptied their contents all over us..  Thank goodness we're not in a hurry to get anywhere. We haven't moved very far today but that's partly because I had a job to do this afternoon.  

The pesky Airhead toilet extractor fan stopped working again so this time I decided to take it off its wall mount, strip it down and clean out the long corrugated hose from the toilet itself.  Remembering what a palaver it was when we fitted it originally I wasn't looking forward to it one little bit. Removing the fan housing is a non trivial task, feeling for out of sight screws in the little cupboard under the washbasin whilst sitting or kneeling in painfully awkward positions.  Luckily it came off better than I expected.  It was a bit gunged up after over nine years of continuous use,so I set to with cotton buds and isopropyl alcohol and gave it a good clean.  Similarly I cleared out the hose with an improvised pull through and scraped all the old sealant we used to stop any air leaks.  The really hard bit was reattaching the fan housing to the wall and sealing up to prevent new air leaks.  Next time I'll see if I can find a rubber necked contortionist midget to help.  Anyway it's all working now, fingers crossed.  I expect my back and neck ache will go away in a month or two.

An evening with cider and pigs

 It's raining today but yesterday was warm and sunny as we cruised out of Banbury, heading south.

This part of the Oxford canal where all the little lift bridges seem to multiply, to test the unwary or unskilled helmsman and where the bottom gates of the locks change from two gates to one, negating the need for death defying leaps across the lock to close the far gate.

The first lock you meet is Grants lock where the overspill weir runs right beneath the floor of the lock cottage.  Since we were last here a fire has sadly gutted the cottage which now stands I suppose as a ruin, although a not unattractive one.

It would be a good spot for an overnight stop were it not for the incessant roar of traffic on the M40 not far away.  And so on through Kings Sutton lock and to our planned destination, the appropriately named Pig Place, just before you get to Nell Bridge lock. Over the years the Pig Place has developed into a very attractive, if decidedly quirky stopping place.  These days clusters of comfortable old leather sofas grace the bank overlooking the canal,

each has its own barbecue/fire pit, and if it rains you can always head for the large hut which too has comfy chairs and tables and the by now familiar somewhat bohemian decor.  It's one way to use up old front doors I suppose.

There is something of a sense of humour about the place as you can see

Up next to the little shop where you can by meat and drink to take away, there now stands outdoor " Trough cafe" a typical burger van thingy such as you might find at a festival.  There you can buy and eat as much freshly cooked cholesterol as you like, but it's all good wholesome stuff made from real meat.  There are tables under umbrellas for you to nosh your burgers or doorstop sausage and bacon sandwiches.  Then to quench your thirst there's the little Trotters Bar where we bought rather too much very tasty draught cider in the afternoon and evening.

So we sat on a sofa supping cider and watching the Wimbledon men's final while I cast my eye over Herbie's starboard side which I hadn't looked at properly since last year as in the marina we can only get at the port side.  Herbie's once smart paintwork is now looking very tired and I'm itching to get at it.  The good news is that the big dark grey panels, although dull are very sound except for  a couple of spots around the window frames.  Excuse my knee doing a photo bomb.

With a good clean and rub down I reckon they'll take a fresh top coat really well.  I must do that soon.  Just looking for a few days of the right weather when we're back at the marina.  Other bits like the handrails, the cabin roof and the fore and aft deck are going to need some serious prep before they see a paintbrush. I reckon that getting some gloss back on the cabin sides will spur me on to tackling the more difficult and less rewarding work.

And lastly of course we can't leave the Pig Place without seeing the rare breed pigs (who I fear are destined in one form or another to stock the shop's freezer and the Trough van.)  Not really a place for vegans I would think, but the pigs are lovely.

These are Oxford Sandy and Blacks, a breed rescued from virtual extinction in the late 20th century.

and the more familiar Saddlebacks like this one enjoying a leisurely mud bath.

or these approaching me for a friendly scratch on the back.

The Pig Place has free moorings for stop and shop /eat, or you can pay for an overnight stay (£12) and enjoy the sofas, the bar, have a barbecue or sit by the fire pit.  We don't often pay for an overnight mooring but we were happy to here.  If you can face more cholesterol, the Trough will do you as big a breakfast as you can manage. We amazed ourselves by not succumbing.

Cobwebs, WD40, lardy cake and beer. All in a day's work in Banbury

 Phew I'm cream crackered after traipsing round Banbury for a large part of the day,  It's good to be back here though as it's been a long time since our last visit and we do love the streets and alleyways and the little independent shops, even if too many of them are charity shops. Here's a partial view of one of the largest stores in town, it's the Salvation Army shop. If you can't find something to buy in here you must have no imagination.  It's about three times as big as what you see here.

And barbers, don't get me started on barbers.  If long men's hair comes back into fashion, Banbury's economy will collapse. I'm surprised anybody here has any hair left.

When we arrived yesterday there wasn't a single mooring spot anywhere above the lock, not in Spiceball park, not anywhere.  In the end we were forced to drop down the lock and tie up some way past the railway station against a very dodgy bit of canal bank.  Here's where we have to gingerly step on and off the boat.

One thing were pleased to see still in town was the Saturday market and the baker's stall where we succumbed to the temptation of a slab of lardy cake.  Mmmm, fat and sugar. A heart attack on a plate, but to die for ("Well you might", I hear our doctor saying).

As if that wasn't enough to annoy the medical profession, we also stopped in at The Three Pigeons to rest our weary legs and remind ourselves of their rather wonderful Purity Gold ale.  Sadly they weren't doing food so we were forced to drink up and move along to Ye Olde Reine Deer for another pint and some lunch.  It's a tough job but someone has to do it.

Although Herbie has behaved herself perfectly on her first cruise in many months, were perturbed, actually dismayed might be a better word,  late on Thursday night to realise that the extractor fan on the Airhead toilet wasn't working.  This little fan is essential to the functioning of the composting and drying out process.  Then minutes later we switched on the boat's inverter to find that that also wasn't working.  I was not a happy bunny.

Next morning I set out to investigate. As I suspected, the toilet fan which is only really accessible (without serious dismantling inside the cupboard under the sink) from the fan exhaust port outside the boat, was clogged up with cobwebs.  Using a long artist's paintbrush to clean out the hole and to reach the fan I was able to flick the fan blades back into action with the aid of a good squirt of WD40 to lubricate it.  One problem solved, one more to go.

The inverter appeared to be as dead as a dodo.  I think its main fuse is hidden somewhere in the bowels of the engine 'ole, not somewhere where a gentleman of my age and stiffness of joints relishes exploring.  I was somewhat distressed.  Then in the middle of the night I remembered that the inverter supply has it's own master switch above the batteries and that's easy to get to. So after breakfast I went to have a look.  Disappointingly the switch was still in the ON position but clearly corroded presumably from sitting in a damp environment all year.  "Another job for WD40", I cried, and flicking the big switch back and forth a few times and a squirt of said magical spray and the little green light on the inverter sprang back into life.

If that doesn't deserve a lardy cake, I don't know what does.

Mega Cruise and name-a-cat invitation.

 Never in all the 18 years we've had Herbie has she laid so long unused.  This year, things have conspired against us.  Every time we made a plan, something got in the way. Until now that is. Today we climbed aboard, battled with the cobwebs, started the trusty old BMC engine (fired up first go!) and set off into the wide blue yonder.  We've cruised all the way from Cropredy marina to . . . below Cropredy lock! That must be over a quarter of a mile.  Well it's a start.  We've barely a scrap of food on board and we're only part unpacked.  So Banbury tomorrow and food shopping and sorting out the boat after being laid up so long.

Anyone kind enough to have read my previous post deserves an apology.  I announced then that I was off to Herbie to commence repainting the cabin sides.  Well it turned out that that was about as true as a Boris Johnson Brexit promise.  For one thing I'd forgotten that I'd promised to take Grace and her pals to Thorpe park to celebrate completion of their GCSEs.  Then the temperature rose to 27 degrees - far too hot for painting, then it started raining -again a painting no no.  So that's on hold for the time being.

But there are other exciting developments to announce.  First, our ship's cat (kitten actually) has been selected from the short list.  He or she (we're still not sure!) is currently called Nose and is very sweet natured.  Two of her siblings have gone to Grace.

Nose is just a temporary name while we think up a proper one.  Maybe you can help out here with some ideas.  Suggestions so far include Parker (after Nosey parker), Schrodinger, Bilbo, Barnsley  that's a long story but it's a family joke), Milton (after our favourite Brewery), Guinness, Saka , Tuffers,  Rumpole, Banksy, etc.  Rejected ones include Jacob Rees Moggie.  Any ideas gratefully received. We take possession in about three weeks.

Our other bit of excitement is that we have kitted ourselves out with a pair of Brompton folding bikes to allow us to explore further from the canal when we tie up somewhere.  Bromptons are ferociously expensive new, but you can easily find really good used ones for half the retail price which is what we did.  Herbie is not a big boat, but we've managed to stow away the pair without too much bother.  Our maiden outing might be in a few days time when we can moor up near Twyford wharf and attempt an assault on Kings Sutton and /or cycle from The Pig Place to Adderbury.  We can also make good use of the Bromptons when we visit our Peter in Cambridge which unlike our own home is blissfully bereft of hills for the most part.  I'll be able to have more than one drink at the pub. Woohoo!

Biting the bullet

Hi everyone. Long time no post!  I'm back out to Herbie on Monday to start a big scary job.  A bit at a time I'm going to repaint Herbie's cabin sides.  Same colours as before.  The old paint, now 14 years old, has gone flat and matt and is looking very drab.  When we did the big repaint in 2010 it took a gang of us to do it and we had a nice indoor dock to do it in.  It was hard graft I can tell you. This time I'm doing it outdoors and solo so it'll take some months to get it all done.  Here's a reminder of how it looked when we finished last time.

Blimey, we were so chuffed at the time.  Realistically, I can't imagine getting it so good this time but I'm hopeful it'll look a lot better than it does now.  I'm tackling it one panel at a time starting with the dark grey, port side front.  That panel is currently unblemished apart from a wee bit round the window frame so it's a good place to start. 

So I've amassed a pile of abrasives and paint and wotnot, bought a posh new cordless random orbit sander, and with some trepidation I'm biting the bullet. Wish me luck.  I'll try and remember to do a 'before' photo.  I always seem to forget to do that when doing a job.

In other news, I have a potential new solution to getting out rainwater from the engine 'ole.  As I've said before, the bilge pump does get down to the last inch or so.  After all the rain we've had there'll be plenty to dispose of despite the back deck having a drain channel.

Quite a long time ago I bought from Aldi a water pump that fits onto a power drill.  When I tried it I couldn't get it to work, possibly because my old drill didn't run fast enough.  Anyhow I dug out the pump again and got some hose and had another go at home with my newer drill and to my surprise it works a treat.  See here (click the little box in the right hand corner to get it full screen):

 

It's portable, lightweight, easy to use, self priming and seems to get a really good flow, so I'm hopeful it'll make the task about as simple as it could be.

Meanwhile for those interested in the Herbie ship's kitten selection  process, here's the latest photo of the candidates, now 5 weeks old. We don't have a particular front runner at this stage.  They're all really cute and all on the short list.

Herbie Apprentice Selection

Rishi Sunak reckons we ought to have more apprenticeships and for once I agree with him. In fact we already agreed with him before he said it.  Of course Rishi is unlikely to have the opportunity to put his idea into practice after July 4 so we'll have to go ahead on our own.

So for our Herbie crew apprenticeship we have identified a short list of four young candidates.  Each has been given a temporary code name (or in one case, three alternative ones). Let me introduce you to them.

First is Nose (on account of his -or her white nose)

Next we have Smokey aka Grey

Then we have Collar on account of his/ her white collar (I hesitate to use the term Dog Collar for what I hope are obvious reasons)

and last but not least Chalky, Snowy or Snowdrop on account of being all black

Like all good interview candidates they are fighting for attention and showing some competitive spirit.

You can also see that we are doing our bit to help the poor and disadvantaged in that all four are currently living in a cardboard box in our Peter's flat in Cambridge. And like so many youngsters these days they are still living with their mother.

The selection process will take a few weeks, during which we will assess their physical health, their intelligence and personality and of course willingness to learn.  After all once trained and qualified the lucky winner will officially become Ships Cat - a responsible position.

Now observant readers will recall that we were supposed to have been cruising last weekend.  Well a tiny weeny thing stopped us.  Microscopic in fact. I'm not sure what it was but a good guess might be ecoli or something similar. Kath and I were laid low with,  - well I'll spare you the gory details.  Suffice it to say that we weren't up to running around locks and standing out for hours in the rain.  Having now recovered we hope to snatch a few days aboard in the coming days, before returning to Cambridge for a further check up on the apprentice candidates.

I hear the Crick show was somewhat muddy by the end.  We actually won two free tickets in an Aquavista moorers draw, but not being able to attend, we passed them back to be reallocated to some other lucky couple.  I hope they didn't get too wet.

Ship's cat in the offing??

 Next weekend, (not the coming one) if all goes to plan we'll actually take Herbie out on the canal.  In all the 18 years we've had the boat this is the longest time we've not cruised (except perhaps during the first Covid year).  This time our main excuse has been rain, floods and mud although I suspect inertia has something to do with it.  The other day with fingers crossed I thought I'd better check that the engine still starts.  Based on previous experience of starting up after months of standing unused, I remembered to manually work the fuel lift pump a couple of dozen times before turning the key, and the old BMC burst into life at the first attempt.

Next week we'll have Rosie and Ronnie, our Claire's dogs, as crew.

Being now well approaching middle age they're as good as gold and no trouble.  However, we might be getting a ship's mascot  of our own before too long.  It's a long story, but our son Peter adopted Grace's cat Belle as companion to his other cat Charlie and unexpectedly it turns out Belle was pregnant, so when he came home last Thursday night, instead of having two cats he found he now had six!!

Right there on the carpet! Belle hadn't even been nesting although she had been ravenously hungry for some days.  Kath had got very fond of Belle and Charlie so she's thinking of having one of the kittens.  Apparently everyone wants the grey one.  Peter has read that ideally cats should go in pairs.  Oh dear!  Mother and kittens are doing well and the youngsters have already almost doubled in weight.

Meanwhile we've just spent a few days around waterways where most of the boats are plastic.

Yes it's the good old Norfolk broads and a weekend with old friends.  Kath and I didn't join the others sailing this time but chose instead to seek the wildlife.  Hickling Broad Nature Reserve is I think the best inland reserve we've visited.  We saw common cranes, marsh harriers, and a purple heron as well as lots of more normal waterfowl and we heard, but sadly didn't see, numerous bitternes booming.  Just before we arrived people saw a white tailed eagle there.  Brilliant place and highly recommended. 

Back at the Cropredy, we've been getting used once again to the lovely sunsets we get there.

and at last I got round to fitting the new button fender although I've now bought some new chain to better secure it next week. I need to reach those side eyelets to give in some lateral stability.

Tune in next week for more kitten updates and hopefully some actual boating.

Interior boat decor a la Kath

Kath is a clever old stick.  Time was when she would complain that she couldn't draw or paint or indeed have any artistic talent. Well over the years she's proved herself wrong and the evidence can be seen aboard Herbie.

Take these storage boxes for example - I use them to store small hand tools, screws and wotnot.  Kath covers old fairy washing powder boxes and the like with a collage of bits of paper she has painted on then seals the surface with a hard wearing acrylic wax.

In the galley we have tea towels printed with her canal based artwork

and of course her patchwork curtains in the saloon and lately a matching backing for my chair.

But the most recent idea is a decorative panel to cover up a water stain below the side hatch.  The hatch no longer leaks since we made a canvas cover on its outside, cunningly attached by magnets for easy removal, but previous leaks had done this to the woodwork 

So when I saw Kath painting a long wildflower watercolour panel I suggested we use it to cover up the stain.  Eventually I'll get round to putting a new bit of wood panel in but in the meantime here's our arty solution.

Here's a closer look at the painting itself, or some of it.

We're aboard Herbie for the weekend, doing odd jobs.  One I'm not looking forward to is fitting our new stern button fender, which will require me bending or lying down struggling with rusty old  shackles to get the old button off whilst hoping my glasses don't fall off into the water.  At least the sun is shining today, a rare occurrence lately.

Work and play at Cropredy

 I'm glad to report that Herbie is still afloat - well you never know these days with all the weather we're having; there's a 40-odd mph wind outside as I write.  Anyhow we spend a jolly couple of days on Herbie at the weekend and actually got some jobs done.  We didn't go anywhere of course, but we didn't need to because lots of things were happening at Cropredy marina, it being their (our?) Open Day.  There was Hook Norton beer from the Village Butty and pizzas and a few traders too as well of course lots of other moorers to chat to and make friends with.  

We splashed out on a new button fender for Herbie's rear end - I haven't fitted it yet, first I've got to deal with the rusted upon shackles holding the old fender on, then I've got to lie flat on the rear deck to reach down to the welded chain fixings and peer over the stern hoping my specs don't fall off.  The fender itself is ever so heavy, I hope I don't drop it in the drink before I get the chains secure 'cos it sure won't float.

Jobs I did manage to get done were a) polishing the one side of the boat I can get at from our pontoon and b) fitting a new radio aerial.  Actually the aerial itself we fitted last time out, but this time it was routing the cable through the roof lining and down a covered wooden channel to the radio.  I found myself unscrewing all sorts of bits of boat, then deciding I didn't need to and screwing them all back again, then cutting the cable to length whilst worrying I might have cut it too short, then finally tucking it all away out of sight.  A proper DiYer would scoff at how easy a job it is, but for a dyspraxic old git like me who gets giddy looking overhead through my varifocals it becomes a non trivial exercise.  

One job I won't be handling myself is the fixing of Herbie's MORCO gas water heater which has decided not to keep the pilot light going.  Luckily I know a man who knows all about Morcos and he was at the Open Day - the redoubtable Clive Mantt who for years was the go to mechanic and Mr Fixit at Cropredy.  Now he has officially retired but he still will do the odd bit of gas work.  Other stuff like crawling around in engine 'oles and suchlike he now leaves to the younger generation.  I know how he feels.  Anyhow he's going to fix our Morco on Thursday - good old Clive.

When Aquavista swallowed up Castle Marinas, we moorers were naturally nervous about what it might mean, but so far the changes have all been good.  Cropredy has got posh new showers and toilets, better wifi, a new moorer's gazebo 

and a marked increase in social activities, so it'll be good to come for weekends or short breaks at the marina even if time or the weather precludes opportunities to go out cruising.  But when we do go cruising there's another benefit brought by Aquavista.  Last year they allowed their paid up moorers to visit any of their 29 marinas free of charge for up to 34 days a year.  Now they've put that up to 100 days!  That opens up some good opportunities for taking on a long cruise in bits and pieces, breaking off here and there to get back home for a while before continuing.

How about a trip to Nottingham? Aquavista have 4 marinas en route ( actually one on a short detour) from Cropredy and one in Nottingham itself.  I'm tempted. We could spread the return trip over two or three months.

Drought memories as Oxford is cut off by high waters

I think we're in the longest wet weather spell I can remember.  The table at the end of this post illustrates it well.  But first, the longest dry spell I can remember was 48 years ago and I have good reason to remember.

Kath and I got married in the September of 1976 after months of the longest drought in living memory.  Down in Devon and Cornwall water was being rationed and there were standpipes in the streets in some towns.  

We were pretty skint at the time, we organised our wedding reception with the help of friends - we made all the food and  made our own wine using free ingredients kindly donated by local home brew shop, a friend made a barrel of beer, our musical friends made up the band for the ceilidh.  A neighbour got us free hire of  The Old Gospel Hall in town which by then was occupied by the local drama group so it had a stage and theatrical props draped around the walls.  Kennet Morris dancers (of which I was one at the time) processed us from the registry office to the reception.  Someone remarked that it was all like something out of Thomas Hardy.  

Next day we set off on honeymoon in our beloved Citroen Diane.  Having little money we took our small tent and headed for Dartmoor stopping off at Cheddar on the way for cheese and cider.  I recall it was the weekend before the government introduced the alcohol tax on cider so we got it really cheap from a farm shop.  5 gallons of it!  Wizened old locals sat on a bench at the farm drinking free tasting samples.  One old fella got up to go for a pee and Kath asked "Have you been drinking free samples all day?" "Yas misssus," he replied, "I shall be glad when I've 'ad enough!"

Dartmoor was lovely. Kath fed the campsite chickens from the door of our little tent and we lived mostly on cheese and cider.

Then on the Wednesday, four days into our honeymoon, the months of drought broke with a vengeance and it poured and thundered and poured and poured.  We headed home to complain to our friends who worked at the Met Office.  People were rejoicing at the return of the rain, but another few days of drought would have been better for two honeymooners!

My next drought memories are of the extraordinary dry winter of 2011/12 when the canal reservoirs were drying up.  Here's a picture I took then of the Welford reservoir  that feeds the Leicester arm of the Grand Union canal.  I suspect you may have been able to wade across the middle and keep your shoulders dry.

Over at Marsworth reservoirs which feed the GU main line it was the same story.

So here we are in 2024 and it couldn't be more different. Reservoirs are full.  I suppose we're lucky on the canals because they don't flood anything like as much as rivers do. But down on the Oxford we have the problem of the Cherwell river which in two places joins the canal.  Like a lot of boaters we get the updates from CRT telling us when these places are not safe to navigate.  This week I noticed that these emails contain not only the latest information but also all those events since it was last safe.  So for fun I made the following table.  It reminds us strongly of how long this wet spell has continued.

It shows conditions at Nell Bridge, where the canal joins the river for the short stretch to Aynho lock and at Bakers lock where the canal drops down to the Cherwell just south of Enslow.  If these bits are unsafe, then you can't boat down to Oxford where the canal ends.  Nor can Oxford be accessed by the Thames at these times because the great river is always in flood if the Cherwell is.  

Anyway here's the table Red means not safe to navigate.  Orange means stream increasing  so be very careful and Yellow means stream decreasing from red but still requires great care.

So it looks like it has now been more than 5 months since the All Clear at Bakers lock.  As I write this, it's raining heavily outside so we can't see an end to it yet. Oxford cut off from the known world!