Between Bridges 130-131, Oxford Canal

 The ascent of Napton locks was lovely, the weather was warm and we were accompanied with the bison for three of them.

The it was a bit of piling in the middle of nowhere, just us and one other boat (for a bit, anyway)  by the evening the place was full.  But it is such a lovely spot everyone wants to stop here.

A Christening card, or it could be an Easter Card with different wording.

The white, embossed card was matted onto gold mirri card and a white ribbon was wrapped around the front before it was fixed to a white card blank.  A white ribbon bow was then added.

The crosses were die-cut in gold and white and stuck to the front of the card.  Three yellow daisies are stuck to the bottom of  the cross and above the bow.

The sentiment was printed onto white card and matted onto gold mirri card.

Gas Street Basin - BCN

 Work begins on the railings by the lock narrows at the Worcester Bar.  With luck it will stop the idiots trying to jump them when they've had a few.  One idiot jumped and missed last year just in front of one of the trip boats.  He was very lucky he not to be killed.

So, after our sojourn in Gas Street for the last 6 months, with just the odd foray to Sherborne Wharf for pumpouts and work done on the boat, we are off tomorrow.  The plan is to start tomorrow traveling to Liverpool, via the Trent and Mersey, Caldon and Macclesfield, then back down to the T&M and up to the Leeds and Liverpool.  Then it is along the L&L as far as Skipton, before returning via the Shroppie.  Should be back in July some time.  Well, that's the plan anyway.

 The sun is shining today, and we had an eclipse of the sun (the pictures were rubbish), the front door is wide open and the fire has gone out.  We are raring to go.

I have been really busy making cards over the past few months.  I have been getting rather large orders from a shop in Edinburgh.  I will endeavour to to publish as many as I can, but there are hundreds!!

This is one of the Easter cards.  The chicks were stamped and coloured in with pencils and markers and matted onto a blue die-cut circle.  The die cut cartouche behind it came from a tissue box (don't wast it if you can use it) with some ribbon wrapped around the bottom and tied in a knot.  Three yellow blossom flowers and a green leaf were added to the edge of the circle with a computer generated sentiment stuck under the knot.  4 yellow gems in each corner finished it off.

Limehouse Basin

The double locks at Camden.  They are just like knitting.  You have to go over and under and round, an 

Well, it's official.  There are NO visitor moorings in London.  Well, not quite true, there are several 14 day visitor moorings: Little Venice, Camden, Islington and Victoria Park.  But you just try and find a space.  At Victoria Park they were even breasted upd end up in knots.

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We had an inkling that there would be nowhere to stop on the way to Limehouse, so decided to do it all in one day.  So after taking on water and doing a pumpout at the Little Venice services we set off through the plastic bags and muck of the Regents Canal.

There are some cracking houses in Regents Park, backing onto the canal, but there is nowhere to stop.  You can't even moor up and visit the zoo - they won't let you.

We got to Limehouse at 2.30 and there were lots of new pontoons and no room by the wall (the official overnight moorings), so we tied up on one of the pontoons.  Of course, we were asked to move to a grotty spot just by the mouth of the lock and now I can't get off the boat without clambering onto the roof and up a ladder.

So, Happy Easter!  One white card blank.  A daffodil topper, a peel-off butterfly and a peel-off sentiment and dot.

Castlefields, Bridgewater Canal

 Guess where we are?  Yes, the place where drunken people fall into the canal and drown, so BW have to spend squillions building a wall to stop them cluttering up the canal.

We set off with Worcester at 0830 and made really good progress (last time it took us 6 hours)



We met two boats coming up and were moored up in the, very, very busy, basin at Castlefields at 1045.

WE MADE IT!!!!!!  No more locks for days.


We celebrated with lunch in Harvey Nichols.

So, Happy Easter everyone.

A cheat's card.  White card blank, stick-on flowers and butterfly and peel-off sentiment.

Gas Street Basin

We were woken 0445 by a boat going past in our direction! How dare anyone beat us to the locks! We caught up with it filling up with water at Autherley Junction - wasn't going up the locks anyway!.

There was a heron stood on the signpost at the junction. We have seen it (or one very like it) there before. David took lots of photos.

Most of the locks on the Wolverhampton flight were for us. We past a Viking hire boat after the 2nd lock there was no sign of life when I walked past, but they were raring to go and were out at the lock before we had got through. Fortunately they had a large crew, so they closed the lock gates behind us.

The canteen wagon at Lock 10 had gone. No more bacon butties to fortify one for the rest of the flight. Hope they are just on holiday and not moved off to a more profitable spot.

The lock keeper opened some more locks on the way up and then that lovely lady who lives in a boat at the top (and fosters dogs and cats, though I don't know her name) set three more locks for us. We did them all in 2 1/4 hours.

While filling one of the locks we did it too fast. The boat shot to the back of the lock, hit the back gates and then shot forward and hit the top one. It opened the gate slightly and water shot in. The gate then closed with the pressure of the water and a tidal wave swept over the bow of the boat. Fortunately the front doors were closed, so only a jumper got wet.

On through to Factory Locks and we came across lots of children in canoes. There is a sign on the bridge about a canoe club, but this is the first time we have actually seen any.

We had to nurse the boat back here as the engine was overheating a lot. I ended up feeding the bottle thingy with ice cubes to try and keep the temperature down!

Still it is good to be back and see everyone again. One more boat has left us, Temaraire, so the basin is looking very sparse.

A little yellow lamb with a garland of pink flowers. I mounted it onto green card with a gold frame, yellow, green and floral paper, with two photo corners. The white card was half covered with patterned paper and a patterned ribbon stuck down over the join.