Just the two of us now mum has left, I was up first and walked to the rail station to pick up a de-caf fluffy coffee for Toby (Toby’s top up). We then had an enforced rest while we waited for 9am and the lock keeper to start at Osney Lock. A knock on the window, and my boss Donald appeared which was lovely, sadly Donald had to go to work, so it was a short visit.
Osney Lock was self service, so we needn’t have waited. The locks are easy to work, I still get in a faff when a lock keeper is on duty, as the front cratch blocks access to the bow rope. The best solution I’ve found is using the pole with the hook.
We soon got used to the wide open waters, and very few boats on the water. The cruisers (plastic boats, gin palaces, yoghurt pots) move nicely out of the way.
A number of the moorings in the Pearsons book don’t exist so we had to go off piste. We found a bank, and Toby manged to get up and off the boat with the rope. We used the secateurs to cut away any branches that may have scratched the paintwork, and used the super long mooring pins.
An early finish at about 3.30, so we enjoyed sitting in the front cratch watching the world go by. Toby gave me my bone juice injection (my top up), and we still have dinner to enjoy and the evening views.
Hi Sarah and Toby, sorry for the delay in checking your blog but the internet has been playing up since the heavy rain we had.
Glad to see that your cruise is going well and it was great to see photos of Duke’s cut and the deep lock at Somerton, it took me back to our journey from the Thames to the marina back in 2008.
Glad to hear you had a lazy afternoon – for a change!
Sarah, maybe I can suggest a method of reaching the bow rope from the cratch, as Pat or Judith advised us last year. I’ll put it in an email though as I’m afeart of being long-winded!