The English Canals

June 9 

Today is a travel day. Our flight is not until 8:20 p.m., so we have lots of time to kill after checking out at 11 a.m.   

Merry left early to visit the Jewish museum while I finished packing and getting the bags to reception for checkout.   

When Merry returned, we headed out on a self-guided tour of a local laundromat. I was still wearing my concert clothes, as I was totally out of clean clothes. The mat was about a mile away, and we had the laundry in one roller bag.  

Once we arrived, Merry filled two machines, and with the help of another customer, we navigated payment and got the wash started.   

Next, I headed off to find something to eat. I brought back two large pizza-pockets and a bottle of cold water, which was well received becase of the hot weather and humid mat.   

Wash complete, we returned to the hotel and waited in the comfortable lobby four hours for our ride to Brindisi airport , 40 minutes away.   

Brindisi airport was very disappointing in terms of service and on-time schedule.   Our destination was Zurich, Switzerland, via Swiss Air, for a long overnight layover but not long enough to get a hotel, so we had an uncomfortable and noisy night. 

Are businessmen getting younger?

June 10

Our morning flight to Birmingham, England, left at 7:40 am also Swiss Air, landed at 8:40am local time [one hour back], a few minutes late, but no big deal.   Passport was easy, as was getting the checked bags, but we had to pay a pound to get a cart [trolly], which did not sit well with us.

Brother-in-law Steve’s smiling face was a welcome sight.  I just needed to pick up a SIM card from the little “Spar” in the departure hall, and we were on our way, a one-hour drive to the “Ventnor Marina” in a village called Calcutta, a 25-minute drive from the town of Rugby.  We stopped at a supermarket for food for the first few days.   When we arrived at the boat, our home for the next month, my sister Pauline had just finished preparing the boat for us.   

My sister Pauline and her husband Steve

We chatted for a while then headed to a nearby cafe for a spot of lunch.   A charming little cafe with eight tables, and luckily one empty for the four of us.  A tiny kitchen with three ladies scurrying around preparing a surprisingly extensive menu.    

We caught up on family matters and talked all about our recent adventures.   A good selection of deserts but we were too full to indulge.   

We headed back to the boat.  Steve took out their personal items, and we brought in our luggage and started to unpack.    

By the time Pauline and Steve left, it was late afternoon, so we elected to just settle in and cast off the next morning.   

June 11

The morning was chilly, so I lit the fireplace, which quickly warmed up the small living area. 

We spent a little time putting everything in its place and preparing to set off on our canal travels when the heavens opened, so we took our time and set off when the showers were over.  By the way, we do all the work and running of the boat.  No crew, no chef, and no housekeeping.    

We decided to head south on the Oxford Canal all the way to the city of Oxford.  It’s only 50 miles, but we take our time and enjoy the journey.  We needed to turn right onto the Oxford Canal, but we were heading down the canal map, and I turned left.  Luckily, I realized the error, and we turned around at the next wide spot, called a winding hole. You nose into the wide part of the bank, and the wind helps turn the boat around. These days, we use the engine.  

  When complete, we stopped at the first pub, “The Folly,” for a late lunch, a charming pub, and the food tasted delicious, with a nice pint, of course.   

After lunch, we took a little nap, as we woke very early due to the previous night in the airport.  By the time we were mobile, it was after four, and we were at the top of a flight of eight locks, so we took it easy for the rest of the day.  

June 12

We headed out at 9:30 and enjoyed the rolling countryside.  

Merry relished the challenge of the locks and did all the hard work.

The Oxford Canal is a contour canal, meaning it follows the contour of the land, making some quite bizarre twists and bends. This made it all the more charming—that is, until we came across some serious civil engineering work that lasted over a mile. I later found out it is the much anticipated and much criticized high-speed rail link between Birmingham and London.

At 11:45, we arrived at the village of Finny Compton, which the map says has a nice pub. We found a convenient mooring and set off to the pub. This canal-side pub is quite plain compared to The Folly Pub two days ago, and the food was just as plain.  After lunch, we set off down the lane, one mile to the village center.  We found a small coop grocery store and replenished the supplies.  After our walk back [7,000 steps], we needed a rest, at which point it started to rain [for the rest of the afternoon], so we stayed put and did a load of washing.  The washer is small, so we must do a load every three days. 

June 13

Checking the canal map, we needed to travel through Finny Compton Tunnel, which it said is 1,138 yards [well over half a mile] long. This means taking the wheelhouse roof down.  In 1776, the Oxford Canal was built, and connecting the Coventry Canal to the Thames required the construction of the tunnel.

When we arrived at the tunnel location, no tunnel was in sight. The tunnel was so successful that it became a bottleneck, so it was decided to open up the roof, creating a cutting.  

A brick kiln was built, and all the clay removed above the tunnel became bricks to build the town of Finny Compton for over a century.

After the cutting, we had a four-mile stretch with nine locks.  We got into our lock routine, but after six locks, the heavens opened, so I moored up, and had a sandwich.  Within the hour, it was a nice sunny day again so we carried on and completed the ninth lock, with the reward of two pubs at the end.  We sat in the sun, enjoyed the birds and ducks, and then went for a nice dinner at the pub.  The pretty village is called Cropredy and is in the heart of a very rural area.  It probably got its name from Crop Ready.

The first pub only served dinner twice a week, not today.  It was a true 'locals' drinking pub.  The second pub was crowded, and all tables were taken, but the landlord offered us a table outside in a little shelter with a heater.  We took it and had yet another delicious meal.

We returned to our little ship to watch the opening game of the European Football Championships [soccer], only to find NO TV reception in this area.  The other boats around us had very tall antennas, and we don't.  I did a bit of internet magic and, using a VPN [look that up], got the game on the laptop and used a cable to watch on the TV.  Scotland vs Host nation Germany.  We were rooting for Scotland but they lost badly 5-1. 

June 15 [Saturday]

We had decided to spend two days at this mooring in the center of Cropredy. 

There is a Norman church just yards away, and Merry wanted to attend the service on Sunday, followed by the traditional Sunday Roast [our normal Sunday routine].  It was a damp morning with showers on and off, so we had a quiet morning in our little paradise.

The boat is 45 feet long, 6' 10" wide.  The width is critical as the locks can be as narrow as seven feet.  It includes [from the front [bow] to back [stern]] double bedroom [berth], bathroom [head], living room [saloon], kitchen [galley] and helm station at the back [stern].

 It includes central heating, fireplace, TV and washing machine.

Close to noon, the rain had stopped, and we were having what they call a 'brighter period'.  We checked out the Norman church, enjoyed the lovely cottages, and ended up at a canalside cafe.  The cooking was done in a converted horse trailer, and the makeshift sun/rain covers made it seem like a shanty town.  It included an outdoor Bazar junque shop.  I ordered the Full English Breakfast to share, which is everything in the kitchen, while Merry perused the junque.  

[Merry] What a paradise!  There were four cups and saucers, a lovely blue and white, and a gust of wind made them tremble to the ground. Alas, I was nowhere near it, and the owner, who lives on a boat in the marina nearby, said not to worry, he was sure it would happen sooner or later.

He showed me several necklaces, two of which looked good to me; both were silver. He had them marked 10 pounds but soon came down to 7, still too high for me; however, he seemed excited when I displayed one I was wearing and offered an even trade....something I never thought of until then...we both decided that my wearing one from some place in the south to what he had to offer was a terrific deal for us both!!!!!  He gave me an extra ten-cent piece from South Africa, on a cord, as an extra.....I asked if he might be open tomorrow, and he replied with a yes, my wheels were spinning as to what I could trade for the other silver piece he had in his display.  I left a very happy camper!!!

Before long, a heavy rain shower came over the area, and we huddled under the covers to avoid the leaks. The food was delicious and hearty. We continued through the village, heading back to the boat.

We found a small corner grocery store, picked up a few items, and returned to the boat just before the next shower hit. We bought a lottery ticket for the £3.9 drawing to upgrade our economy ticket back to the States.

In the afternoon, we relaxed in the boat and thought about going for a walk, making bets on when the next shower would start and end.  

Instead, we watched a Netflix movie.  After months of being on someone else's schedule, we are now in control and can decide to do - nothing.

June 16

Merry headed off to the church for the 10:30 service, but it turns out this week is was a 9:30 service, so she only attended the end.  She found out that they have a handbell choir and are desperate to learn how to play it properly.

We had a noon reservation for the Sunday Roast at our favorite pub, which was delicious. 

Merry stopped back at the canal-side bazaar and traded another necklace for a very lovely one. She got a bargain. 

Once back at the boat, we headed off out of town to Banbury. This included four locks, one of which had a very difficult crank and reluctantly asked for help. I am not telling.

We moored up in Banbury, a town of 44,000. Banbury Cross was erected in 1859 to celebrate the wedding of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, the Princess Royal, to Prince Frederick of Prussia. The sponsors of the Cross wished for a monument to be installed that would honor the occasion and also serve as a “lasting credit and honor to the town.”  

"Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady upon a white horse; Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, And she shall have music wherever she goes."

After the large lunch, we had a simple dinner and then watched the England national team play Servia in the Euro Cup competition.  The country pretty much shut down to watch the game.  A one-nill win put England on top of their qualifying league.

This episode of the blog ends. There is plenty more to come, so save this page and refresh it in a week.