While we were in Ireland, for various reasons, we decided to get the work on Legend done at Stoke Boats. We messaged Russ at the boat yard, who said to get over there as quick as we could so that he could get us out of the water and see what needed doing. So as soon as we got back it was full-on boating up the South Oxford, the North Oxford, the Coventry and the Trent and Mersey.
We’d done our usual Birmingham airport parking hack, i.e. on the side of the road in Marston Green, so after a late flight, a twenty minute walk back to the car and a quick whizz round a 24hr Tesco, it was midnight by the time we got back to Legend. Good to be home though.
Despite the late night and the chilly morning, we were up and away early, heading up the Cropredy locks towards Napton in the beautiful Autumnal sunshine.
Apparently everyone else had the same idea and by the time we got to the Claydon flight - where a couple of volunteer lockies were keeping a tally board - we were the eighth boat going up.
As we carried on we began meeting more and more boats going the other way as well. The impending rain that was forecast for the rest of the week probably had a lot to do with it, but we couldn’t remember the last time we’d seen so many moving boats in one day. It was all very sociable though, lots of chatting at the locks with happy hirers and summer cruisers on their way home. We’re going to miss this.
With all the movement, the summit was really shallow and slow going, so it was a relief to get to Marston Doles without getting stuck. We’d planned to moor up at the top, but as it was so shallow we thought it would be prudent to drop down a couple of the Napton locks before stopping.
Another bright and early start the next morning got us quickly down the remaining Napton locks and onto the services at the bottom.
We were soon through Braunston...
...and onto the North Oxford heading for Hillmorton where we’d arranged for Lindsay and Paul to come over for dinner that evening. They have a mooring near Rugby, so we’d never be any closer and it would possibly be the last chance they’d have to say goodbye to Legend. It was a fabulous evening, Ann-Marie’s home-made pies went down particularly well, and we had a really good catch up with two of our longest standing boaty friends.
Dave was up and cracking the whip again in the morning and we were soon down the Hillmorton flight.
We were only going through Rugby to Newbold, but we had a busy day planned, so it was really frustrating to find ourselves stuck behind an old chap going so slowly that Dave had to keep knocking Legend out of gear because even on tick-over we were catching him up.
He was fully aware of us behind him, but made no effort to allow us to go past, and it's very bad etiquette to pass someone without being waved on. Luckily there was a mooring space just before the pub in Newbold so we pulled over while Matey-boy crawled off towards the tunnel. Dave rushed off to the bus stop to go and get the car from Cropredy, then had to run back for the car keys, then missed the bus and had to wait for an hour for the next one. While he was gone Ann-Marie started packing as much stuff as we could live without into boxes and bags ready to go into the car as soon as he got back. We were going camping for the weekend, first for one night at Steve and Annemarie’s in Sutton Courtnay, where we’d blagged a night in one of their tents, and then two nights in West Wittering, near Chichester, where we were joining the Pompey Puddleducks 2cv club for their annual camp. Our van was at Sutton Courtnay so we were swapping more of our possessions for our camping gear while we were there. Ann-Marie ran out of boxes before she ran out of stuff, but she still did an amazing job emptying out under the bed and thinning out everywhere else. When Dave got back he parked in the pub car park and we began carting everything down the tow path. We did really well, and had the car stuffed and were on the road by about 4pm. We arrived at Camping by the River just in time for dinner with out mates, followed by an evening in the wood fired hot tub and a night in a proper bed in Dottie.
After a hard few stressful days, being pampered like that was just exactly what we needed. We’re so lucky to have such amazing friends!
On Friday morning we swapped most of what we’d brought with us in the car for our camping kit then had breakfast with Steve and Annemarie before carrying on south to Wick’s farm in the sunshine. We got the tent up and spent the afternoon catching up with Karen & Andrew, along with lots of our old friends, and just chillin’ in the sunshine. That evening we joined everyone else for the famous Big Buffet, followed by an early-ish night.
We nearly cried off parkrun in the morning, but had a word with ourselves and went over to Bognor Regis for what is becoming our annual south coast run.
We both got PBs there, and Ann-Marie was only 30 seconds off her all time PB, so very chuffed with ourselves.
From there we went to Bosham, where the club convoy was headed. We got there just in time to see them arrive, then went to a café for brunch.
After a walk round the harbour we went back to the café with Fran & Sean for coffee and cake.
Back on site there were Christmas themed games, a fancy dress competition and then later on more food on the BYO barbecue.
It rained overnight, so on Sunday morning we packed everything up, but left the tent for as long as possible in the hope that it would dry out. Luck was on our side and we just managed to get it down and packed away dry before it rained again in the afternoon. After lots of goodbyes we drove over to Karen’s for a brew, where we met up with Mum & Dad who came over to see us before we went left. On the way home we had a quick stop back at Steve & Annemarie’s and put all our camping gear back in the van. After all the rain over the weekend the lane down to the field was really muddy and slippy, but we got in and out OK and were back on board Legend by about nine-thirty. We still had a fair way to go to Stoke on Trent, four long boating days at the very least, so once again we were straight to bed with the electric blanket and an alarm set for dawn.
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