A Country View.

Hi Folks.

What another glorious day.

I went and got a few salad bits from the shop in Braunston and some bacon from the Butchers. Keith went to the Chandlery to get some boat bits as well. We then decided to leave the Braunston Stop House moorings and head out into the countryside up the joint Grand Union - Oxford Canal. As we left a gentleman on the bow of NB Constance said "Hello, I read your blog". I thanked him and we went on our way. If the gentleman on NB Constance is reading this posting, it was lovely to briefly meet you. Thank you for reading our diary. Maybe next time we meet, we will get longer to chat. All our readers are very important to us. So thank you for taking the time to pop in and read our diary.

So we are now out in the countryside and it is truly sublime. Stunning views and lots of birdsong.

Between Bridges 105 and 107 on the Oxford Canal, we spotted this heifer grazing on the bushes. Your think aww how lovely. The problem with this was she was grazing out on the towpath. On the offside there were cows grazing in the field, so we think she may have swum across the canal. At any rate I rang the BW quick response team number and they were going to send someone out to find the cows owner.

We winded at bridge 107 and headed back along the canal to moor near bridge 102, the Flecknoe road bridge, 7.4 miles 4hrs. This will be our home for a couple of days, as we have boat jobs to do.

We are moored behind Tug Hector, the 2nd boat that Roger Fuller built back in 1986. The last time we saw her she had just been bought by her present owners Daisy and Paul, and they still love her, which is great news. Tug Hector has had a few changes made to her inside and she is looking lovely. Whilst we were nattering to Daisy and Paul, Graham on the Ecover boat Tia, pulled in to refill my Ecover bottles for which I am grateful. I had been hoping to do this for sometime. I got to have a few words with Graham, before he was off on his way home. No doubt we will see him again sometime.

So all is well with our world and we will enjoy this mooring and the digital TV signal we have. Murray is level in sets with Tsonga, so come on Murray, give us Brits something to cheer about.

Right I am off to make yet another salad for dinner.

Banbury to Cropredy.

Saturday 31st January.

Banbury to Cropredy, 3.8 miles and 3 locks.

Yesterday evening as we had no TV signal to speak of, Keith and I were both working on our computers. Keith was on facebook and I was working on my family tree, which has become very addictive. In the past few days I have learnt that my 2nd Great Granduncle Thomas Henry Cosser was an able seaman on H.M.S Duke of Wellington in 1881. She was the flagship of Sir Charles Napier at the Crimean War. I also lost two relatives in WW1 Albert William Cosser a private in the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment and Albert Victor Brewer of the Gloucestershire Regiment, 13th (Service) Battalion (Forest of Dean), both are buried in war cemeteries in France. I always thought my family was boring, but it appears not. Even my Grand-father was a Warrant Officer Class 1 RSM in WW2 and served in the 8th Army under Montgomery. It really amazes me that I never knew this from my family, not even about my Grand-father. I am really enjoying the ancestral search and cannot wait to find out more about my family. It has all been with the help of a friend, who loves doing family trees.
Before heading off to bed, I made up the back cabin stove and whilst doing so with the doors open, I got chatting to Jen from NB Witchcraft which was moored behind us. We met her husband Bill earlier in the day. It was a really lovely evening to stand out chatting, whilst watching the police cars and vans rushing over the Tom Rolt bridge, just a typical Friday night for them I guess.

It occurred to me this morning that as January draws to a close, we have been on the move for just over a year now, and in that time we have covered 1317.7 miles and worked 907 locks. OMG 907 locks, I guess I should remember them all, but I am afraid I do not. It has been an incredible years cruising. We have met some fabulous people, made many new friends and caught up with old friends, around the system and of course sold coal to lots of lovely customers. We look forward to another year of excellent cruising to pastures new.
So now on to today, we waved goodbye to Banbury at 9.55 am for this year and left Brian on NB Kyle behind. Unfortunately we did not get to see him before we left, but we have no doubt that we will see him again, hopefully later in the year.
Our jaunt to Cropredy was pretty uneventful and only took us 1 hour 45 minutes, we only saw the Cropredy Canoeists out for their Saturday session. It was such a contrast to a couple of weeks ago, when we were struggling through ice, the same trip took us 4 hours 35 minutes, but then we were pushing through 1 to 1 ½ inch thick ice at the time. The weather has turned colder and there is snow forecast, yippee. But whether we will see any of it is another matter. Having arrived in Cropredy we pulled into the 14 day moorings and tied up before I made us some lunch and a coffee. During the afternoon we took a stroll up to Cropredy Church to have a look around the church yard in search of a friends ancestors, sadly we did not find their head stones, but so many of them are now unreadable, which is a real shame.
Right now it is absolutely beautiful out, a cold sunny winters day on the Oxford Canal.