Sunday 15th May
The weather looked reasonable and so we persuaded Gladys, our neighbour who normally feeds our cat whilst we are away boating, to come out for a day trip. As we were preparing to set off from Aynho another northbound boat passed us so I didn’t hurry with my task of casting off. Finally on the move we found him just entering Aynho Wier lock as we arrived and so he allowed us to share this diamond shaped lock with him. Once through he went out first, and Jannock followed leaving the lock open for two southbound boats. I walked ahead of the boats to prepare Nell Bridge lock . Although he claimed to have owned his boat for 20 years, this single handed man did not exhibit a high level of boat handling skill and took a long while to get his boat into the lock. Never mind, as they say in football, “in off both posts is still a goal”. I worked him up, then assisted another boat down before working Jannock up through the lock as well.
By this time the wind was getting up and the sky was overcast and exhibiting all the signs of raining soon. Around under the M40 and the light spots of rain started. At Kings Sutton lock we caught up the boat in front again and I worked him through again. This time I turned the lock for Jannock as there was no southbound traffic. Once through the lock, with the rain going from light spots to a drizzle, we stopped for lunch and later decided to call it a day and moor Jannock up for the night where we were.
Once I had fetched the car from Aynho, we drove into Banbury to visit Tesco where Gladys purchased a flat screen digital TV ready for the switchover which we’ll get in September. Then home to a hot meal that had been slow cooked on a timer while we were out.
It was a brief enjoyable day spoilt only by the combination of cold wind and drizzle that made it feel worse than it really was.
Graham
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