Friday 8 November 2013

Record time for the Claydon flight

Yesterday's weather was a great deal more pleasant and Daisy was the first to soak up a few rays scorching through the windows - just as well she was happy that way as the local gentry were out on a shoot all around us and she and the boys had to be kept in
 they retired at lunchtime for a slap up lunch made by Jennifer Archer whilst Brian flirted with ..... - sorry; getting a bit carried away now. Everyone knows that we're in Oxfordshire not Borsetshire (I don't think that's how you spell it).
 So I trundled off around the pretty village of Claydon
 some of the old buildings are really gorgeous
 and I'm not at all sure that Vic hadn't been through here with his newly serviced chainsaw whilst feeling a bit more artistic than practical


 by the time we returned to MR ...
 ..... G had finished mending the spare bed (I think he might have been about  ready to have tried out a test snooze if we hadn't interrupted)
 Weather was still OK when we left this morning and we shot up the Claydon five locks
 completing them and the pounds in 40 mins
 through the 'tunnel' (now just a cut) and under the first iron bridge; leaving the pretty little classic canal behind us now
by the time we popped into the Fenny Compton chandlery it was chucking it down but that didn't deter us from going to the Wharf Inn for a pint and to stock up with herbs and spices - every spice you could possibly want and loads I haven't even heard of - oh, and (hopefully) good eggs too. A supermarket delivery there at lunchtime tomorrow for the heavy stuff ... potatoes, dog food, Cola, etc...

We met a hire boat couple in there who were heading for Oxford; they weren't very happy as it was, and were even less happy when we told them they really needed to change their plans, wind and maybe head to Rugby as the lock closures meant they couldn't get there. She had already fallen down the steps in the boat and hurt her back and he had fallen 10ft down the lock steps, hit the concrete and bounced into the canal!!!!!!
As we left we heard them say that they might try Benidorm next year - but not by boat.
We'll help them turn the boat in the morning; it's a shame, but it sounds like he's lucky to be alive - I won't tell him if you don't (Derwent 6's traumatic experience came to mind)

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the lovely photos of Claydon. Such a pretty village, especially in the sunshine! What a shame those hire boaters weren't enjoying themselves. They'll have paid a lot of money to be sore, miserable and wet. Benidorm will be cheaper, but I know which holiday I'd choose!

    Alistair

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    1. Hi Alistair, yes it is very pretty but there's also a lot of unattractive infill. Talking SERIOUSLY lovely is Wormleighton where we moored tonight. I'll walk up tomorrow if the weather is halfway decent - if not I'll try and find the pics from a previous visit and put in a link.
      We are finding a number of hire companies that are not coming clean about stoppages - it's, in my opinion, immoral

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  2. omg, he's so lucky, It doesn't bear thinking about x

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    1. I know. Thinking about it I'm surprised 'elf and safety haven't banned all locks - I tripped at Somerton Deep lock last week and came close to going in head first to the empty lock - it took quite awhile for my heart rate to recover. Fortunately very few incidents end up with bad damage - your man was just one of the unlucky ones xx

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