Wallingford

Abingdon to Wallingford

June 2017

We paid the Abingdon Craft Fair a visit before we set off, perusing the offerings available. I was invited to try a sample of Abingdon Bridge IPA by the Loose Cannon Brewing Company and I was so impressed I asked for four cans / bottles. Irritatingly I was told it was only available as part of two beers and a glass in a presentation pack, unless I went to the brewery itself. This is so frustrating - offering a sample of something they cant sell on the spot!

Abingdon craft market

Then it was off down the river and coping with wind gusting over 35mph. If we are moving the wind isn't too much of a problem but it does make slow moves a tad tricky. 

 Abingdon

Puff the Dragon - a minature Clyde Puffer

And that wasn't the only issue with the wind. Mrs T decided to get out her quilt stuff and rather unwisely left some sewn sections on the table in the cratch. I wondered what I saw floating past, but by the time she had realised they had gone and I had turned they had sunk without trace. I resumed my course only so see yet another square flutter into the water... talk about a slow learner! Once again I turned round and this time managed to rescue it, but then found myself blown onto a lee shore and only escaped after wrenching half of Oxfordshire into the butty.

We plodded on, crabbing along the reaches with the worst cross winds and generally being the slowest boat on the river. Then the time cane to stop and we hoped to moor up in Benson. Sadly there were no bankside moorings at all so we passed through Benson Lock where a kindly lock keeper suggested we stop and harvest her gooseberries. 15 minutes and 2.4 kg of fruit later we set off for Wallingford and a reasonable field mooring on the downstream side of the bridge.

 Thames gun emplacement

Wallingford is a nice and ancient little town with a pretty market place, a Waitrose and a whole host of Indian restaurants. However, we were hungry and settled on fish and chips which were just a 5 minute walk from our mooring.

Wallingford

Abingdon

Abingdon

June 2017

Last night offered two glimpses of all the colours of the spectrum. Firstly the sun peeped out between the rain clouds and delivered a spectacular rainbow, followed by the closing of the polling stations and a night where all parties of all colour managed to lose!

For me the exit poll was enough and the detail could wait till the morning, but that's not the way Helen operates. She sat up with her headphones plugged into the digital radio till sometime after three am I think. I crawled out of bed at about 5.30, looked at my phone and noted that the predicted hung parliament was a reality and fell back asleep for another three hours kip. 

Remains of folly in Abbey Gardens

We therefore made a late start at about 11.00am, dropping through Sandford Lock and engaging with a very bleary eyed lock keeper who, it turned out, had been at the local count which had seen a Lib Dem candidate win by about 900 votes. Then it was on down the river with the weather  being very fickle - one minute blazing hot and the next chucking it down with a 35 mph headwind thrown in for good measure.

We used the facilities above Abingdon Lock and then settled onto a meadow side mooring opposite the Nags Head. 

Abingdon mooring

Abingdon is a nice little town offering a Waitrose for provisions and about a dozen hairdressers in the town centre - why? Abingdon is old, really old. It was originally an iron age settlement and is the countries oldest continuously occupied settlement, which must count for something - maybe the hair grows faster than elsewhere? In more recent times it had the sixth richest abbey built in 676 but little of it remains today save a few scattered stones in the Abbey gardens.

 Abingdon church and alms houses

It also contains a huge church which has been repeatedly extended by adding more naves. It now has four and has the distinction of being wider than it is long. The church is surrounded on three sides by some quite exquisite and very ancient alms houses which are well worth a visit.

County Hall

Then there is the town hall, built in the late 1600's by a student of Christopher Wren. It is absolutely massive and dominates the market place. Originally it was the County Hall built when Abingdon was the county town of Berkshire, but now it has not only lost its county town status but it has been relocated to Oxfordshire.....

Our day in Abingdon was rounded off by a visit by Helen's friend Claire who came to the boat bearing gifts of lovely fresh sour dough bread and left with jam.

Sandford Lock

Godstow to Sandford Lock

June 2017

We spent the night half beached overlooking Port Meadow, a 350 acre flood meadow given to the people of Oxford by King Alfred, still used as an area of common land and recreation to this day.

The Perch, Binsey

The expanse has seen many activities over the years, including an encampment for Charles the 1st army, horse racing, skating and even as a temporary recovery site after Dunkirk. But perhaps it is best remembered for its role in the meeting of Fair Rosamund and Henry the Second with whom he fell in love, much to the displeasure of the queen. Rosamund was given an option of poison or the nunnery and wisely chose the holy orders at Godstow.

Binsey Church

But the area continued to cast its romantic spell and the stretch of the Thames from Folly Bridge to Godstow was regularly rowed by Charles Dodgson, taking with him Alice, the daughter of the Dean and her two sisters. It was at Godstow Lock that he first told them his story about Alice Underground, a tale later published as Alice Through the Looking Glass.

The treacle well

Binsey cottages

We actually moored near The Perch public house and decided to take a walk into Binsey, which is a tiny hamlet including a handful of cottages, The Perch thatched pub and its little Norman church. The church is notable on two levels: 1. Its grounds contain a well which were long held to have healing properties but became known as the Treacle Well in Carroll's writings and 2. its first incumbent was Nicholas Breakespeare who went on to become the first and only English pope. Not a lot of people know that...

 The illuminated walk to The Perch

The Thames Jarome style

Then it was off down the blustery Thames and through Oxford. All went well till we reached Folly Bridge, a bridge in two halves which both land on the central island which used to contain a mill. I have usually taken the right hand channel but on this occasion found three large red barrels moored in the stream - but no notice or warning signs. I edged into the cut on the Oxford side of the Head of the River and lined up with the navigation arch. Immediately beyond. A Salters steamer was moored stretching nearly all the way across and then, just at the worst possible time, a plastic Bermuda cam barreling into view. I hit reverse and fortunately there was a gap in the steamer moorings into which the oncoming boat dived.

  Folly Bridge

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The Heads of the River

Then it was on down the river, with the wind howling in my face and rain beating a steady drum beat on the butty sheeting. As we approached Sandford Lock both the wind and rain increased in intensity so by 3.00pm I gave up and moored. Instead we fired up the gennie and printed off the labels for the 250 jars of preserve we had made over the last few days.

As I sit here typing the wind has died, the sun has emerged and the forecast looks good for our trip into Abingdon.

Going round in circles

Going around in circles

June 2017

We left you in Thrupp as we sought to replenish our much depleted jam stocks.

An early morning trip to Kidlington market yielded 8kg of jamming strawberries, which were mixed with locally picked Elderflower to make our popular Strawberry and Elderflower Jam. 

After a visit by our  friends Dave and Pat it was back to Birmingham for a hospital appointment, but with the weather looking grim and our kitchen at home being so much more efficient we decided to return on Sunday and give ourselves a whole day for making. More strawberries were bought from a local farm and the surplus rhubarb from friends gardens collected. In the end we made nearly 150 jars including Summer Pudding Jam, Raspberry and Strawberry with Raspberry Gin and Raspberry and Rhubarb. At times it felt like tag preserving as Helen and I took turns actually making the goods.

All the time we were home the heavens opened and the wind howled round the house, but somehow it didnt feel quite like home - maybe we have been afloat too long! That said, we caught up on our washing, raided the store room for more jam and said hello to friends and neighbours. 

One negative was the trip back. We had very kindly been lent a van for the journey and all went well till we got to Kidlington and suddenly I struggled to find first gear, and then all the rest seemed to have gone on holiday and the clutch plated made a very ominous sound. By some fluke I found second gear and managed to get back to Thrupp without stopping or causing too much congestion on the main road. By the time I parked up the clutch was non existent and I had to make a grovelling call to the owner to explain the predicament. It was something of a miracle that it got us back at all and the owner was graciousness itself and in no small measure relieved that it hadn't failed when she was driving.

Come Wednesday and the worst of the gale has blown over so from 6.00 am we heard a steady procession of boats heading south. We dawdled, filling the water tank and didnt leave till 11.30 - but much to our surprise we caught them all up just before Dukes Lock where a fallen tree blocked the canal. Another wait which we spent preparing a batch of Blow Your Head Off Chilli Jam, and selling more preserves to the boat in front! 

Dukes Lock

We joined the Thames about three hours later than planned and moved south through Godstow Lock where the lock keeper examined the butty license and observed that we have got a b****y good deal. It seems that the butty isnt a canoe after all and in fact is a houseboat - which should attract a 50% charge. I offered to pay the difference but it was not needed.

We ended up on a wild mooring overlooking the meadows to the west of Oxford with the distinctive tower of Jericho church peeping through the trees. Its so shallow that the boat is 3ft off the bank but with rain threatening beggars cant be choosers.

The Oxford Ring

The Oxford Ring

June 2017

You could be forgiven for thinking the title of this blog post is the name of an Inspector Morse episode, maybe filmed in Jericho, which is adjacent to our mooring for the last couple of days. But no, it simply refers to our one day circumnavigation of Port Meadow with our daughter, her husband and the endlessly entertaining Alice, our first grandchild.

Jericho, Oxford

But first back to Jericho. If you have moored, or even passed through Oxford in the last decade you cant miss the hoardings between St Barnabas Church and the canal promising an exciting new redevelopment in the site of what was Castlemill Boatyard. Sadly this redevelopment has languished on the drawing board and remains unrealised. We moored opposite College Cruisers for our first night on the 48 hour moorings and soon realised the selection of mooring is very important if you want a good nights sleep.  The northern end is alongside the railway marshalling yard to at about 11.00pm all the trains come rumbling in for the night, wheels screeching on the points and then from 5.30am they are all revved up for 30 minutes before departing for another days work. Top tip - use the southern end near the weir where housing blocks the worst of the noise.

Tower of St Barnabas, Jericho

We did venture into Jericho, site of the old Eagle Ironworks and directly linked to the construction of the canal. The area was redeveloped cheaply in the 1870's and sitting on poorly drained soil it became something of an unsanitary slum with its nadir in the 1950 when it became the city's red light district. Then, just when it was on the cusp of demolition, a community organisation was formed, grants obtained and the whole area was cleaned up. Today you wouldn't suspect the areas run down past. It is THE fashionable area for students and commuters with its good pubs, atmospheric streets of 2 up 2 down terrace houses and an art house cinema. 

The Marklew's breakfast visit

Anyway, after a couple of nights outside the walls of Jericho we met some friends from Aldridge for breakfast and enjoyed a trundle up to The Plough where we met Suzie, Jack and Alice. We pootled up to Dukes Cut and entered the EA waters of the Thames, pausing to breast up the butty just before the first lock. 

Cormorant at Port Meadow

I then motored around to the visitor moorings (hard to moor on the starboard side with the butty attached) and presented my debit card for punishment. The lock keeper stood there, hands on hips staring at the butty muttering things like wow, and gorgeous before turning to me and exclaiming "what is it, I mean on what basis do I license it?". I indicated that I had been looking on the website and hadn't identified an appropriate category, save possibly as a tender - if you stretched the definition a bit. "Hmm" was the reply and the guidelines were consulted. Then a call to a senior colleague before the final verdict was in. And the EA's conclusion about the Jam Butty? For licensing purposes .... its a canoe! This decision suits me just fine as the motor cost £100 for 31 days and the "canoe" an extra £20 (ish). 

So we set off downriver with the canoe strapped to the side, scaring oncoming boats as we dominated the narrow winding channel to reach the more open waters of Port Meadow. It was a flaming hot day and all along the river young people were playing in the cooling waters or jumping off the bridges. With he sun still hot in the sky we decided to create a wild mooring on the tree lined and shady length just before the southern entrance into Isis Lock, tying onto three spindly trees. Ideally Suzie would have like a swim but hauling a seven month pregnant girl over the stern was not appealing, so we compromised and paddled our feet off the back of the butty. Alice, not wishing to miss any fun going, was delighted to paddle in a bowl of Thames water, and then managed to squeeze most of her body into its modest confines. Hey, we just rolled with it and at the end filled it with hot soapy water and it served as an impromptu bath.

 Bathtime on the Thames

We relinquished the motor boat to the three of them and retreated to a peaceful, if slightly cramped night in the butty. The following day we completed our circuit, entering the Oxford Canal at Isis Lock and making our way back to The Plough. As is common in these parts, each chance stop, even at the Elsan point, seems to attract preserve enthusiasts and more stock is sold. 

Hmm, we  did a stock take in Oxford and concluded that the level of jam is a bit dire, so on Saturday its off to Kidlington Market to get some more strawberries.