Day 159 and we reach the end of the navigable Thames. A short trip into and just beyond Lechlade. We saw our first sail powered vessels on the Thames.

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We went up to the Round House which is considered the normal limit of navigation for powered craft.

D had a particularly stressful winding which involved a trip through a willow tree (D’s speciality), this time including cutting himself out with a saw, and beaching the bow several times on a large sandbank on the south side of the river. Moored briefly at Lechlade for some shopping, where we found a fantastic butcher/deli/greengrocer. J could easily have spent twice as much. The last lock has a statue of “Father Thames” which used to be at the source of the river. We have been there and the statue must be seen by many more people now as the source is in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere.

Short return trip to moor just by Kelmscott manor. As we went to sleep something was swimming between the boat and the bank, so we lay there speculating about what it might be; otter, water vole, mink???? we will never know.

Day 160 and we start the day visiting Kelmscott Manor which is the holiday home of William Morris; very interesting. You hear a lot about him but not his wife who actually executed a lot of the designs, or his daughter who continued his work. They shared the house with Rosetti for the first three years. The engraving was done after Morris’ death

Cruised down the Thames to just above Newbridge catching up a very slow hire boat on the way but at least they moved over to let us past. They had been a full lock ahead of us and it took us a very short time to catch them up. They moored just behind us.

Day 161 and a relatively short cruise planned for today so set off quite late. The hire boat from yesterday moved off about 45 minutes before us, and we caught them within another 45 minutes, again they let us go past. We assumed they must have moored as they weren’t the next boat to catch us at the next lock. A few more boats around today. Eventually moored at Godstow bridge. This is the site of Godstow Abbey which is said to be haunted. Had a great show by a kingfisher just off the bow and managed to get a photograph, albeit not the best.

 

The stories of haunting may be true……………… the boat rocked violently twice in the evening; or maybe it could just have been the cows in the field tripping over our lines 😉

Day 162 and we start with a walk into Oxford. We visited the Bodleian for a Tolkien exhibition. Very interesting, including some of the original art work. After provisioning primarily at the covered market we met D’s sister Sue at Oxford station and got a taxi back to the boat. Set off promptly and had lunch, including some homemade lentil soup, whilst we were running. Went down the Thames to Isis lock

and then back up the Oxford canal, unfortunately caught up another boat which had come off the Thames through Duke’s cut. Followed them all the way through to Thrupp where moorings were in short supply. D’s sister got to see a kingfisher about an hour after saying she didn’t think she had seen one. A very late finish for us. Nice to be back on narrow canals, we haven’t been through a narrow lock since the first week in August.