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.

Napton Bridge, Oxford Canal

 A bank of primroses by one of the locks.

A fairly uneventful day, met a hireboat for the last 3 locks at Calcutt and followed then onto the Oxford.  They turned off at the boatyard and we moored up by the pub.  Yet another one that looked quite dead.

I walked into Napton on the Hill to the shop/cafe/post office to get some supplies.  Perhaps a bit to far via the lock, but the shop at the lock was not open!

For this card I matted a piece of decorative paper onto pink card and then fixed it to the front of a white card blank.  I die cut a circle of the paper and matted that onto a circle of the pink card and added a smaller green circle and white circle with the sentiment stamped onto it.  Three gems and a bow were added for decoration.

Cuttle Bridge, Grand Union Canal

Ten more locks today, so it was an early start (as usual) and we reached the pub moorings at The Cuttle Inn at 0945 and moored up.  The pub looked dead and we had arranged to meet our daughter and family for lunch, so when a space became free opposite at The Boat Inn we moved across and had a lovely lunch there.

The Cuttle Inn did open, but it certainly was not very welcoming, and there were no signs of life at 1230, so they lost out.

The Grandsons had a great afternoon on the boat, we walked up to the lock to watch/help a boat down which fascinated the eldest one.

A gatefold card made from a kit which came free with a card making magazine.

I cut a circle out of the front flaps and added decorative paper to the front of the card, adding roses and gems in the corners.

The inside was decorated with a contrasting paper and a topper which was matted onto a white circle of card.

Radford Semele - Grand Union Canal

 I don't know how many times I have been through Shrewley tunnel before, but I never noticed the small tunnel at the side before!

 A nice early start and we were at the top of the Hatton flight by 0845 to discover that a boat was 3 locks in front of us, going down!!!

This magnificent gentlemen was watching us do the top lock.

Then a volunteer lockie turned up and helped us down to the 4th lock where Silver Lining was waiting for us.  So instead of stopping off at he garage for the night we went right down to the bottom with the help of two volunteers and the crew of the other boat.  And then on through the Cape locks and when we got to Tesco (to do a heavy lift shop) we discovered it was closed (Easter Sunday).  So it was on to here, one of our favourite spots on the GU.  We got here just as the rain showers set in.

I don't like his card very much, here goes.  A brown card base with a panel of patterned paper matted onto dark brown, cream and light brown card on a dark brown card base.  Brown ribbon is wrapped around the panel.  The two bird cage panels are also matted onto cream, light and dark brown card and fixed to the card and two brown bows added at the tops.

Near Br 64, Grand Union Canal

 Just before we left Birmingham we took delivery of the new covers for our settee.  They look really great (if very expensive!).  I am also in the process of re-vamping the curtains which are now 18 years old and were beginning to show their age.

When we woke of this morning we had no electricity!  Why do we always have a crisis at the start of our cruises?

Anyway, I phoned Dylan at Swallow Cruises and he promised to have a look at the batteries when we passed by his boatyard.  Which he duly did and pronounced the batteries as fine and they were reading 100%.  So it was a bit of a mystery.

We had intended to stop at the top of the locks but we met a boat at the last lift bridge coming the other way, so decided to go for it.  Big mistake!  There was a boat in front of us, so we only had one lock for us until we got past the Boot Inn where we met up with a lovely female volunteer lock keeper who helped us down to the junction.  There were more volunteers re-surfacing the towpath and generally tidying up and painting Lock 18.

We moved onto the Grand Union canal and immediately felt the benefit of deeper water.  No scraping noises and lots of power.

This is a "card in a box".  Basically a box shaped card that can be folded flat to fin into a normal envelope.

The inside of the box has 3 tabs and the die-cut items are fixed to them with strips of acetate so that they look like they are floating when the box opens out.

I used lots of baby related die cuts to make this card and yellow gingham paper to make it gender neutral.

Railway Bridge, Stratford on Avon Canal

 Our last view of the James Brindley having it's makeover.  It should be almost finished by the time we get back.

This year's cruise is, hopefully, down to Devizes on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

We set off early-ish and were moored up just before 1pm.

The Stratford on Avon canal is so shallow that we were scraping along the bottom in places, even though we were in the middle of the canal.

It's that time of the year again.  Blossom is blossoming everywhere.  To here are 3 cards I have made from photographs.

Norwegian Cruise

We have just spent almost two weeks on a Norwegian cruise, sailing along the coadt up to the Russian border and then back down to Bergen.  Well, almost back to Bergen, but that s another story.

We had lots of sunshine and snow showers but the views from our cabin at the back of the ship were stupendous.

Then, we were just manouvering into port above the arctic circle, doing a sort of winding movement.  We were stood at the front of the boat in the saloon when I said to David that we were not going to make it.  (I've been stood on the front of our boat while doing that manouvre and I know when it's not going to work).

Anyway, the next thing, there is a crunch!

After about an hour of discussions etc we were all called into the cinema for a briefing and told that we would have to evacuate the ship to be taken by bus to the nearest airport and flown back to Bergen

In a way it wasn't such a bad plan, we got to see views that we would not have seen had be stayed on the boat.

And we got to do a smaller fiord cruise and a trip on the Flom Railway which was pretty spectacular.

So, I know it's not Christmas, but the scenery is similar.

This is a tri-shutter card and came as a kit, so all I had to do was stick the pieces in the right places.