Wallingford, River Thames

 We were off at a quarter to eight and got all the way to Culham Lock before we found a lock keeper on duty so we could pay for a two day licence for the Thames.  The Thames are so easy to use now that they are electrified and we are allowed to use them out of hours.  Mind you, we had to wait for half an hour at Sandford Lock as a hire boat had just come out and for some reason the lock would not open again.  David had to phone up the emergency number.

The moorings at Oxford were rammed and there were one or two scullers on the water.

I love this barge.

Lots of work being done on the willow trees, this stretch looked quite bare.

There were our first swallows, kites, ducks, geese (the proper ones) greebes and most other waterfowl on the water.


We arrived in Wallingford around 3 o'clock and moored up on the left by the swimming pool.  There would have been room on the town side if the gin palaces had moored more considerately.

One happy birthday card.

Oxford - Oxford Canal

These are the new signs by the locks leading down onto the river sections.  I don't know what was wrong with the old ones, they worked perfectly well.  These are powered by solar panels and flash the appropriate state of the rivers.

A quiet day in Oxford, some shopping and a bit of siteseeing

The light blue panel was embossed and then matted onto a darker blue card.  Some spotty blue ribbon was wrapped around the bottom and tied in a knot.  The sentiment was printed onto white card and stuck to the bottom right hand corner with sticky fixers and two gems stuck on each end.

To finish off, the panel was fixed to a light blue card base and three gems were added to the top left hand corner.

Oxford, Oxford Canal

Ah!  the tranquil canal.  Only the A34, another major road and the railway just behind.  Blissful!

The last drag into Oxford today.  Lots of static boats, 4 locks and 3 lift bridges.   The hawthorn was just blossoming by the locks and the smell was delicious.There were only 2 boats on the city moorings and one of those left just after we arrived, so we virtually had the place to ourselves.

I have made several cards using this picture of a coote on her nest in a liferaft.  This one I matted onto silver, green and pink card.

I took a piece of floral paper and rubbed the edges with green ink and fixed it to a white card blank and then added some embossed green card on top.  Then added the photograph.

Bridge 223, Jolly Boatman - Oxford Canal

 Now here is a sight you don't see very often, and she was the third one we saw this morning on the towpath.



I tried to creep out of the front door, but it squeaked and set  her off to the bridge.

Where she looked around the corner and couldn't decide what to do next.

She finally decided to jump into the canal

 So she leapt into the water with a great splash, swam across to the other side and disappeared across the field.

And I took lots of pictures of the bridge and missed all the action!

We met 6 hire-boats today, all full of single men, is there something we should know?

One of my least favourite lift bridges (Mill Lift Bridge) has now been electrified, so it was just a matter of pushing a couple of buttons and not hanging onto the end of a chain and then sitting on the beam.  Greatly improved.

We got diesel at Enslow Wharf and while tied precariously to another boat at the wharf and "traditional" type boat put putted past and a speed of knots, knocking all the boats about and pulling all the ropes.  And they say it's the hire boaters who don't slow down!

Apart from that, there was no room in Thrupp (0f course!)  I never know why so many people want to stay there there is nothing much to do there.

We were looking for somewhere to stay the night though and finally found a spot by the Jolly Boatman pub, so we went for lunch and had a lovely meal each.

Now here's a card for a boy.  A blue card blank with a part embossed brown card matted onto light blue card.  Navy ribbon was wrapped around the panel and then stuck onto the card blank.  Three die-cut and embossed stars were added with a computer generated banner and a blue ribbon knot.

Chisnell Lift Bridge - Oxford Canal

Considering this is Easter week, there have been very few boats about.

Today we were out for 3 hours and travelled 6 1/2 hours, working 4 locks.  Did a bit of river cruising and it was sunny, but the wind was cold.

We moored up just before the lift bridge, which was open but sometimes it is closed.   I said to David, "If that bridge is down tomorrow, you're in trouble!".  Well the bridge went down and several boats went through and struggled to get the bridge to go down after going through.  Eventually it was left open.  So David was relieved.

Forever Friends.  A cute little bear, this one carrying a red rose.

I wrapped some rosebud ribbon around silver card and fixed it to the front of a long card blank, then I added the bear with sticky fixers and the hearts down the right hand side with the sentiment on the bottom.

Between Haynes and Foxes Lift Bridges (170/171)

 All the lock workings have been greased recently and there is grease all over the locking mechanism, so when you touch it you also get covered in grease.  Someone came up with the great idea of using a stick to flick the lock up or down and left it on the top of the paddle gear.  It caught on and most of the stands now have a stick on top.  Now why didn't I think of that?

We were up and off by 0700, arriving at Cropredy at 0815 where we spent an hour taking on water.

Then it was on to Banbury where we arrived at 1145.  David went off to do some shopping but I had to return to the boat.  I have had a bit of a tummy problem and cannot go far from the toilet.  I also had excruciating pains in my legs and could hardly work for a short time.

So, after Banbury we stopped between the two lift bridges just outside the town.

This was David's Birthday card last year.  I found the pictures on the internet and printed them out 3 times.  I matted one set of pictures onto some lilac card and matted that onto holographic silver card and then onto a white card blank.  I cut out details of the pictures from the other two copies and decoupaged them onto the base pictures.

Bridge 147 - Oxford Canal

 A really early start - 0545!  Noticed someone complaining on Facebook that people go past her boat very early in the morning.  Whoops!  Does she know she is missing the best part of the day?

Everything was going well until we got to the middle of Claydon locks and we were met by a CRT worker.  The pound between locks 20 and 21 was empty.  We had to wait for an hour for the water to be replaced.

Then it was on through Cropredy where we took on water and got rid of the rubbish and it was on to Banbury, stopping off for a pumpout at Sovereign Wharf (they are only open on Fridays, so we were lucky!).

A quick shop in Banbury (I have not been too well for the last couple of days and couldn't manage the town, in fact I never even got it to the front door of the mall!).  The it was on to a piece of piling between two open lift bridges.  And it was still only 1pm!!!

Two pretty boats on a pretty card.  I matted the photo onto silver, blue and red card and fixed it to a green card blank.  Then a topper of dandelions and a ladybird was added.