Wednesday 8 May 2013

I know, you want to see us moving this floating home, not titivating it, but first here is a 'fun' picture of water leaking into our engine room, over the electrics and across towards the engine, protected by my precious sheets of oak for our new wheelhouse table (more of that another time I'm afraid!):
Now a picture of us underway on our first jaunt, being the first time the Thames allowed travel in 2013:

We were told off here because there were fishermen (a long way away) and we might disturb them, even tho' I was just giving a burst of speed for the cameraman, fellow barge owner Richard.
Then here is us moored up safely at Wallingford - we're on the right, the left bank has a fellow Marina escapee !

Idyllic eh?  Lovely Italian restaurant just up the road, and good ales even nearer - why would we ever leave UK you ask!  This was £5/night/boat, the same price we paid for our two canoes in 1976 !  This was our first overnight stop upstream, and then we pressed on to Abingdon, and here is us in a lock going there:
Will this summer never end, I hear you ask.  Then moored just by a Burdock paddock:
It was then that Bollinger (the moggie) showed, as he had at Wallingford a bit, his real desperation to dominate the several square miles around as he had at home.  It seemed that the only reason holding him back was the lack of a really good satnav that showed the way off the pontoons of the marina to dry land.  At Abingdon we lost sight of him at about 11pm (the eye glow) at the furthest corner of the field.  He returned (thu' an porthole left for the purpose) at 3.10 am!
Of course, it's not all unspoilt open fields, as we found going upstream

You just need to suspend Envy Mode and use the Gloat one - you may have a moat, but you can't float, so here you are stuck!  Something like that - I know, it needs work!  We had visitors in both locations, a lovely lot of them, and on Sunday did a trip with Nik's sister & husband up to 2 locks short of Oxford.  Then we re-moored upstream of Abingdon bridge:

Where I pictured the early morning mist and Archangel now surrounded by others:
I think in view of internet connectivity and its fragility, along with blog software and my lack of skill, I'd better publish this while I appear to be ahead!  This takes us up to 30th April, oh wait a moment, here's a shot of Burdock bathing at Ab's:

As you can see, we're not impressed, except maybe by the river smell once he's inside - shampoo to follow.

2 comments:

  1. Could you tolerate your idyll briefly interrupted?

    We antipodeans are, again, about to visit the UK - next week for a fortnight - before going on to Moscow.

    Do you have a fixed abode? Wallingford?

    Richard and Wendy

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  2. Everyone keeps going on about the awful weather in UK but all I'm seeing is blue sky. Love the one of you at full steam, very impressive.

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