Around and About other places

We frequently take the boat out during winter whenever the maintenance stoppages permit.  Here, we are entering Somerton Deep Lock between Oxford and Banbury.  This is one of the deepest narrow locks on the system and reputedly haunted.  The southern extremity of the Oxford Canal was built during  a worldwide trade depression and as a result some of the engineering works were done on the cheap (wooden lift bridges and single lock gates being just two examples).  Some indication of how cold it was at this time can be seen by looking at the rear hatch cover at the bottom of the picture.  The shiny, reflective surface is not, in this case, polished paint.  It is, in fact, ice.

Back along the Oxford Canal again, this time close to Napton Junction.  Most of the pictures show Swanmore, but here are a couple of pictures of Vigornia looking fresh after a repaint job by Lawrence Burn.  We liked Vigornia, but not the colour scheme, so it was a repaint at the first opportunity.  Napton Junction (or "Wigrams" as the old boaters called it) is usually an interesting location.  With two marinas and hire bases within a quarter-mile of the junction, there is usually plenty of traffic.  Leaving the Oxford to join the Grand Union heading north presents the steerer with a blind corner caused by a towpath bridge.  There are frequently boats moored both sides, so great care is needed rounding the junction.  A particularly pleasant house has been built on the junction and the antics of us boaters must be a source of constant amusement for the owners.

Many of the people that I work with know about my interest in boats and some have found it very useful to steer the conversation around to the subject in meetings.  A frequent topic of conversation then becomes the width of boats and locks.  Here, on the Claydon flight near Banbury, we see a good example of just how tight a fit a boat is into a lock.  There is usually little more than an inch of clearance either side.  With a little practice, it is possible to enter locks without hitting anything.

Here, getting a little practice at steering into locks, is Ann.  To inspire Ann with confidence, Lisa made a set of  "L" plates that were stuck to the bow and stern of the boat.  For the benefit of our American friends, "L" plates are displayed on motor cars when being driven by a driver under instruction and signify "learner".

Easter 1998 took us up the Leicester branch of the Grand Union Canal.  Here, on Kevin's 41st birthday, we are ascending the staircase flight at Foxton.  At this point, we are almost half-way up the 10 locks and we'll have to wait in the central passing pound as three boats are descending.  You can see smoke from the boat's chimney indicating that it was a cold day.  The snow started later that day (see the Oxford Summit page for what happened later that week).

In 1999, we moved Swanmore to Otherton for the summer.  The intention had been to spend most of the summer heading up to Llangollen and then back to Fenny for the winter.  It didn't quite work out, due to pressure of work and other circumstances.  The scenery on the Staffs and Worcs canal is reputed to be amongst the best in the country.  The picture above left shows one of the many limestone cliff overhangs that exist to the north of Kidderminster while the picture top right is an interesting tunnel.

According to the song, there were "Three steps to Heaven", but according to the old time boat people, there were the "Twenty one steps to Heaven" of the Hatton flight on the Grand Union Canal.  This flight was rebuilt in the 1930's as part of an early job creation scheme to provide a canal of barge dimensions all the way from London to Birmingham.  But for a number of reasons, the final few locks into Birmingham were not widened and so the narrowboat remained King.  However, with the advent of the diesel powered boat a butty was frequently employed and at least both motor boat and butty could "breast up" and pass through in a single locking.  We're looking uphill to a sight of gates and the curious paddle mechanisms marching relentlessly up the hill and thus we know that we have a couple of hours of lock working ahead of us.