Today we were heading to Lechlade, the highest point we can visit in our boat (the river is navigable further but gets quite shallow). We didn't put the canopy up last night, one of those very rare times that we left it off - partly because there was little to no chance of rain but also because I wanted to really make sure the Araldite I used had plenty of time to fully harden.
We set off at a leisurely 09:45 and headed up through Radcot lock soon after. The next landmark was Radcot Bridge - not particularly tight but comes with a 'local knowledge' warning of awkward currents. As I approached the centre of the arch I could see the narrowboat ahead get dragged into the side of the arch and scrape its way through! Just before I was 'bows in' committed the current suddenly pushed us to starboard quite hard and with no real room to correct that I just went full astern and reversed out of it.
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| This is a photo from our 2016 blog when we went under Radcot Bridge OK! |
At this point Caroline and I looked at one another and we agreed that it wasn't necessary to get to Lechlade, certainly not worth damaging the boat for anymore! So we turned around and quite solemnly started heading back downstream. It was a bit of a shame, only a couple of hours from Lechlade but we saw the current swirling through Radcot Bridge and that was enough for us to bail out.
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| Rushey Lock |
On the way back we stopped to use the services at Rushey Lock (emptied the pot), Oxford Cruisers was packed with their hire boats so we couldn't top up with water there this time.
We desperately needed to top up our water so we joined the queue for the tap above Eynsham Lock. What a waste of time that was, the tap barely dribbled, it's to do with the 'anti-back-syphon' taps that the EA have fitted. They are simply dreadful. You can only use a maximum of 7m hose (otherwise the back-pressure is enough to stop the flow) so people have to moor very close to the taps, which just makes the moorings around the tap stupidly busy. Coupled with the very slow flow it makes for a very poor experience, they need to resolve this soon.
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| Topping up at Eynsham Lock |
We gave up after half an hour of dribble and were soon at Kings Lock where we decided to moor on the lock island for the night. It is a lovely spot, we've stayed here before. You can just hear the rumble of traffic on the nearby A34 and A40, but not enough to detract from it being a great place to moor.
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| Our overnight spot at Kings Lock |
It was a lovely evening so I carried on repairing the damage from the previous day. We were happy enough with the canopy frame now, the Araldite did the job (post-trip note - I have now bought replacement fittings and a few spares!). This meant taking a couple of sections of windscreen off so I could get to the damaged gelcoat (where the screen had pushed the hinge backwards) to repair this. I also needed to straighten the hinge pin and dress the scrapes on the top edge of the windscreen where it caught the bridge. It wasn't actually that bad at all and I quite enjoyed fixing it all. I took care to align the screens correctly when I refitted them (they can be troublesome to lock together when assembled at the best of times but now they are as good as they've ever been!
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| Bent hinge pin and screw |
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| Slight damage where the hinge moved back |
With everything fixed and almost as good as new we celebrated with a bite to eat and a bottle of wine. Then we both showered (we used the genny so Caroline could dry and straighten her hair) and of course we ran out of water!
23 miles, 7 locks today. About 12l of fuel
Timings -
10:00 - Arrive Radcot Lock
10:15 - Leave Radcot Lock
10:30 - Radcot Bridge - this is as far as we went, turned around downstream of the bridge
10:45 - Arrive Radcot Lock
11:00 - Leave Radcot Lock
11:30 - Arrive Rushey Lock (emptied the pot)
11:50 - Leave Rushey Lock
12:00 - Tadpole Bridge
12:25 - Tenfoot Bridge (which is 12' 2"!)
12:40 - Arrive Shifford Lock
12:55 - Leave Shifford Lock
13:30 - Newbridge
13:55 - Arrive Northmoor Lock
14:10 - Leave Northmoor Lock
14:30 - The Ferryman and Caravan Park
14:55 - Arrive Pinkhill Lock (busy, we had to wait one cycle)
15:20 - Leave Pinkhill Lock
15:35 - Swinford Bridge
15:40 - Arrive Eynsham Lock (managed to get some water but gave up!)
16:25 - Leave Eynsham Lock
16:55 - Moored on Kings Lock Island
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