Heading for Abingdon

 We are moored tonight nearly into Caversham and Reading so this was to have been the story of our travels down the Thames to here from Oxford. But unfortunately the software does not seem to be behaving itself so this only goes as far as Abingdon. Next instalment hopefully soon. The weather has been glorious, if a bit hotter than we would wish. Living in a steel box (albeit an insulated steel box) when the temperature outside is above 30 degrees each day gets a bit wearing. But the big advantage of cruising the Thames is having a swim every afternoon to cool down.

This is Osney Bridge coming through Oxford on Thursday (6th August). This low bridge is the reason that there are no huge cruisers on the Thames above this point.

Around Folly Island in Oxford you can pass either side. We had never been towards the right of the island before so here we are. It is much narrower than the main route and passes under a low arch of Folly Bridge. You then have to dodge the Salters Steamers that you can just see through the arch. The steamers are not running at the moment because of Covid.

Thursday evening we moored just before Sandford Lock. If you look closely at the sign on the post you might notice that it says "Private, No Mooring". The lock keeper at Osney Lock had told us to ignore this so we did and had no problems.

On Friday morning we shared Sandford Lock with another narrowboat called Leonora which seemed appropriate as we are Leo. At 8 foot 10 inches,Sandford is the deepest lock on the river above Teddington Lock.

We liked this sign by the lock at Abingdon. There was a second sign that "on leaving the lock make sure you pass to the left of the red floaty things". More or that in a minute.

So here is what happens when you pass the wrong side of the 'red floaty things' otherwise known as buoys. The cruiser in the picture has done just that and is rather firmly aground. We were moored just opposite with a grandstand view. First another cruiser tried to pull it off but failed. The narrowboat in the picture was more persistent and, with some expert maneuvering, succeeded. We could not help because we were facing the wrong way - the cruiser needed to be pulled off backwards.

This gives a better idea of how deep it is on the other side of the red buoys. These three swam across the navigable channel and then went paddling.

Return to Oxford

There is only one way from Lechlade by boat and that is back down the river to Oxford so this posting mainly covers new bits we've explored on our way downstream.

This is the only problem with mooring at Lechlade! A herd of cows share the field with the moored boats and they often get a tad too interested in the mooring ropes and anything they can chew on the boats. The strap of our cratch cover is no longer quite as neat and straight as it was!

On Saturday (1st August) we decided to go for a bike ride and passed this splendid forest of teasel plants.

We cycled to the Cotswold Water Park part of which was a nature reserve but most of it proved to be a housing development of posh and probably expensive but very ugly square houses round old gravel pits. After that the ride got better and this photo is in the village of Whelford. The river is the Coln which joins the Thames at Inglesham just above Lechlade.

The next village on our ride was Kempsford which has this intriguing church with a central tower.

This is the view inside the tower with lovely painting on the ceiling lit by the large windows.

Last time we came to Lechlade we hired a double canoe and followed the Thames upstream, fighting our way under and over fallen trees and other obstacles. We reached this bridge, Hannington Bridge, and then turned round. It's much easier by bike, though the wind was a bit lively against us on some stretches.

On our way back we visited Inglesham Church. This is now preserved by the Churches Conservation Charity and has some multilayered wall paintings, fine box pews and the bracket for an hour glass which was used to time the sermons.

On Sunday we had a bit of a lazy day doing two short walks and a bit of shopping in Lechlade. This view of Lechlade Church is taken from near St John's Lock which is the last one on the Thames at this end.

Shelley visited Lechlade in 1815 having rowed from Windsor with 3 others and wrote his 'Stanzas in a summer churchyard' here. This plaque records the fact and is displayed on the wall of the churchyard.

On Monday we left Lechlade but did not go far, mooring at Kelmscott where this photo was taken. Kelmscott Manor was bought by William Morris and he and friends were also rowers and used to row up here from London. William and Jane Morris did a lot of good works in the village and these houses were built by Jane. The plaque depicts William Morris in the garden of the manor.

From Kelmscott, after a good meal at the Plough, we walked to Buscot Park, a National Trust property, the house still being lived in by Lord Faringdon. The gardens were magnificent and included these reproductions of some of the terracotta warriors.

Buscot Park house is built right on the top of a hill and the gardens extend over a series of valleys giving splendid vistas like this one across a valley to mock waterfalls in the distance.

Here is the house which was not open to the public when we visited. you can see for miles over the Thames Valley and,when we returned to our boat we found we could see the top of the house from the back deck.

In the grounds is this so-called 'Rolling Bridge'. Again the public are not allowed to cross it but we understood that if you wish to cross you have first to pull the bridge towards you and then walk onto it, pulling it over to the other side.

These very large sycamore seeds rotate in the wind.

This was called the 'swing garden' and had four of these large swing seats around a central flower bed. There were lots of these focal points in the garden with paths connecting them all.

On Tuesday we carried on downstream, mooring at Northmoor Lock so that we could walk into the village of Appleton. We have been passing a lot of these brilliant yellow flowers lately and made use of the app on Ian's phone to identify them. They are Common Fleabane.

Appleton has some lovely old cottages.

Last night (Wednesday 5th August) we moored near Swinford Toll Bridge shown here and had a short walk as well as touching up paint on Leo in a very strong breeze. The red buoys mark shallows in the river. You have to remember to go to the left of these when going downstream.

We passed this decorated houseboat today close to where the Duke's Cut links the river with the Oxford Canal.

And just to the left here under the arched metal bridge is the Sheepwash Channel which also links to the Oxford Canal and is where we emerged onto the Thames just over a week ago.

So that seems a sensible point to stop. From here on we are on new ground (or should that be water?), at least for this year. So we'll talk about that in the next posting in a few days time.

Up to the top of the Thames

This posting on our blog covers our journey from Oxford along the upper Thames to Lechlade where we shall probably stay a few days. Lechlade or strictly Inglesham a mile or so upstream, is the navigable limit for boats like Leo.

First some pictures of Tuesday when we spent the day touring Oxford with the benefit of a guided tour downloaded from the internet.

This is looking back at the very end of the Oxford Canal. Near the end a lock goes right giving access to the Thames and a dead end branch goes left. The picture shows the end of the branch. It used to go further to a canal basin which is now a car park. There are those who would prefer a canal basin - yes please!

This is the Ashmoleum Musuem, seen on our tour. Preferring not to go inside the buildings even when, like this one, they are open, we looked more carefully at the outsides.

Our guide seemed particularly interested in the demise of the three Oxford Martyrs - Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley in 1555 and Thomas Cranmer in 1556. The cross in the middle of Broad Street marks the spot where they were burnt at the stake.

Here is another Bridge of Sighs connecting two parts of Hertford College with two Japanese tourists taking a picture under it - not many tourists about at the moment so worthy of a photo itself.

The distinct lack of tourists leads to this sight of many empty punts on the Cherwell, waiting for customers.

We made an exception to our 'stay outside' rule in the case of the Botanical Gardens where we admired these huge pitcher plants in a conservatory. They are carnivorous and with a pitcher this size any insect is fair game.

Having a Leo boat we are always on the look out for lions to photograph and found this intriguing grotesque on Magdalen College. Nobody seems to know why the king has his finger in the lion's mouth - one explanation is that the king is removing a bad tooth from the lion's mouth but, whatever the reason, it doesn't seem a very good idea to us.

 On Wednesday we left Oxford:

We filled up with diesel and set out on the river. In this picture we are going down in Isis Lock which leads to an insignificant backwater called the Sheepwash Channel which in turn connects with the Thames.

The route to the river goes under several railway bridges close to Oxford Station, including a swing railway bridge which is no longer used.

Here you see Leo cruising past Port Meadow which we had walked round on Monday. We are now heading upstream. The east side of the river, here on the right, is very shallow so you need to stay in the middle.

The first lock is Godstow. Many of the Thames locks are manned, particularly in the lower reaches, but this one wasn't. We met a lockie at the next lock - King's Lock - and asked about buying a visitor licence for the Thames, since you used to be able to do this at the locks. Covid has changed all this - you now have to order and pay for a licence over the phone. We have a licence now, but we do wonder if all the visiting boats have done this.

Here we are going into Eynsham Lock (which was also manned) with a boat called 'High Hopes' which is now moored in front of us at Lechlade.

This rather uninspiring little craft has strong memories for us. In 2012 when we were caught in floods on the Thames at Wallingford, this tug called Tungsten towed our boat and our son's narrowboat, Pas Meche, up the river for miles to the Oxford Canal where we were able to escape the flood after 11 days trapped at Wallingford. Tungsten was skippered by a very laid back chap called Steve. As well as paying him for the service, we left a crate of beer onboard Tungsten after we were rescued.

Pinkhill Lock is delightful and was our last lock on Wednesday.

We moored on a field below Farmoor Reservoir just above the lock and walked back later to look at the flowers. Many of the Thames locks are kept beautifully and this is no exception.

We walked quite a way on the other side of the river and gently up to Sutton and Stanton Harcourt. Sutton has lots of thatched cottages like these and Stanton Harcourt has fine stone houses and a tower known as 'Pope's Tower'. This has nothing to do with the Pope, but refers to Alexander Pope who apparently translated the Iliad when staying in the manor house here. The tower is on private land and we could not get a good picture of it.

On Thursday we travelled further up the river and this is Northmoor Lock. All the Thames locks so far have worked perfectly.

There are few bridges over the Upper Thames but this one is called Newbridge and has a pub on either side of the river.

Here Helen tackles some of the really twisty bends on the way to Shifford Lock. Now we've got to Lechlade we'll be able to rest our arm muscles.

Egrets seem to be getting more common. This one was part of a flock of six or so birds by the river. It is a Little Egret but we have also seen Great White Egrets which we've read probably fly over from France.

The parasols made us think that Radcot Lock was manned but it wasn't so it was nice that they had arranged for some shade for Helen on what yesterday (Friday 31st) was a very hot day.

We passed two groups of swimmers shepherded by boats. These were the pink hats group. The river has been busy with paddleboarders, canoes, swimmers and people jumping in. Some enterprising lads were jumping in the water from a second world war pill box alongside.

We've been up here before but we don't remember the many aircraft flying over. We think these come from Brize Norton a bit further east. Perhaps they were training pilots as the planes seemed to go round in anti-clockwise circles. What they'll do if they want to fly clockwise, I don't know!

At St John's Lock, which is the last on the Thames, is Old Father Thames shown here. The statue used to be close to the source of the Thames but was subject to vandalism and was brought here, where he has been given a spade.

This is just to show you that we also went swimming in the river after we had arrived at Lechlade. Many youngsters were in the water but when it had cleared a bit, the oldsters went in and we relearned the skill of climbing back on the boat afterwards to avoid the sticky gluey mud at the water's edge. Following our example the skippers of the boats either side of us went in too. So did Ian - but no picture.

There are lots of swans here and one seems particularly aggressive, that is more aggressive than this aggressive animal normally is. Fortunately the horrid one seems to attack other swans rather than humans.

After a blistering hot day (34 degrees was forecast and the cabin temperature hit 38), the evening cooled down. We walked up to the Roundhouse where a selection of ambulances and police cars were attending to pick up the casualties from a drunken fight among youths from Swindon. No such problems on the field where we are moored - just families with children and boaters. Oh and a farmer who knocked at the ridiculous hour of 8.30 am this morning to ask for his £5 mooring fee.

We've stayed put today (Saturday 1 August) and may stay tomorrow too. But then we'll be off downstream again.But more about that in the next posting.