Villages R Cool....

Yesterday was a rainy don't do anything outside of the boat sort of day. So the only time I ventured out the hatch was to turn the ignition key to run the motor.

Today was much better so we headed off for a walk  around a couple of the local villages and then it started to rain. Didn't last long  though and with a fine warmish day we had a good look around.

If you've read this blog before you'd have seen house photos before but I make no excuses as where else in the world can you see such living history.
I'd rather look at thatched cottages and stone buildings  than a row of State house's in the "Nui" or  Wolverhamton or anywhere else in the world.

I think the English and their  imports, all ages,  take them for granted and It wouldn't surprise me if  most teenagers  said that  they hadn't noticed any.



Aynhoe Park is privately owned and has 250 acres with Capability Brown designed gardens....

It can be hired for weddings, or just a good OL p - ss up....

 

A lot of it was rebuilt after the 17th century English Civil War...



The neighbouring....

Church of  St Michael..


Continuing around the narrow streets, many one way, we found several thatched cottages...





This in Aynhoe...



















Aynhoe.....

 
 
 

 

Also Aynhoe.. the holes on the end wall would  originally be for  entry to a pidgeon loft  I'd say....


This house on Blacksmith Hill.. Originally a Dairy building, the lounge was where  milk and cheese was stored..

In Aynhoe ...... Original flag stone  paved entry hall....

 

Is for sale at 790,000 quid... Grade 11 listed.. that means you'd probably need  permission to install a new toilet roll holder...



Some interior photos...

Door to master bedroom...

Then up the road a bit...

A couple of pheasants....



Several of the cottages had names with reference to black smithing which must have been what  was originally housed there...

Lovely verandah over front door.... How old some of those horse shoes??


A stroll of a couple of miles to the village of Clifton and...

This thatch stands alone on design...... Who wouldn't want the room at the Top?......

 

 

 

 

 Then in Deddington no thatch  but plenty of Class....

So if one has to stand on the head stone in the cemetery to take the above photo over the stone wall....

 

May as well take a photo there too...

 

Around a village tree was miniature cyclamen....

On the local radio station this morning, "traffic hold up on local road due to Wild Deer on road". How cool is that, 20 miles from centre of Oxford city.

The only hold up you'd see 20 miles from a large city in NZ would be the so called "First Settlers" holding up and robbing  tourists  in a camper van or a couple of back packers.

Tomorrow  Gatwick.....

 

 

Blowing a Bit....

Up early to leave our mooring  at Thrupp,  the CART  sherriff  would be doing his rounds later in the day, and we were  reversing  along the canal, by 8.15am,  under the lift bridge to the water point for a top up then headed North.
With fine but cool weather we shared the first lock , the unusual shaped  Shipton Weir, with 2 other boats. By the time we reached Bakers lock, only 1.5miles on, it was a bit showery.

It was good to be cruising on the "cut" again after time just doing short moves enabling us to sort the winter months.

At Pigeon lock there's  a nice house moored  beside  the canal with...

A turf roof on the LH end...


And with plenty of helping hands doing the business on the locks......

Leonie found time to pick a few blackberries......    tasted OK in a sponge later  for PUDD....

 

At  Dashwood lock  we caught up with the Thrupp  "deputy sherriff,"  lol, .....







Maffi... have coffee will travel.. the layers of clothing worn have increased 4  fold since last week but mainly to keep dry......

As I drove into the lock Leonie yelled "Maffis here" as he approached and began to chat.
That didn't last long as a scream from the direction of the NB  at the top of the lock, and which Maffi was helping the two woman crew get to Thrupp, had him sprinting faster than Usain Bolt to the canal edge and drag one of the crew backwards onto the towpath  from the canal water. Wet but not injured so we continued our yak..
 Thanks for sharing  conversation and beers at the "Boat Inn" who knows where the cut will lead..


By the time we reached Lower Heyford Leonie had had the washing on the drying rack out and back in  from the front of the boat several times and every time asking me " is it going to rain, how longs it going to last"?...
Hey I'm a master boater not a freak'n  ambassador for the weather bureau....

We moored at Upper Heyford and took a walk around the village, small but had the standard pub and...

A nice row of thatched cottages...

 

And this stone  house with a trendy .... everything.... fence , entry porch...


We  pushed on but the wind was increasing  in velocity making it uncomfortable so we picked a nice quite rural mooring and closed the hatch just as a heavy wind driven shower hit..... who cares....


Up this morning, not early as we had to recover from yesterdays early start, and the sky was blue but the wind was still strong.
Pressing on we shortly arrived at Somerton Deep lock to find we were 5th in line to go up. This lock is so slow filling and emptying there always seems to be a queue.

Being exposed to the wind meant each NB arriving needed help from the towpath to get the mooring ropes secure so it was a bit of fun playing hold onto the blow away NB....

 

Somerton Deep lock has a 12 foot rise and fall... at this end ...

 

And this end too......

Made it to Aynho, pronounced  A  No, had a pump out, filled with diesel then bought a new water tank , petrol  and  pumpout cap key as I dropped  ours in the canal  then moored on the opposite side of the canal.

Watching Doc Martin on telly to night recognizing the Port Isacc sights we recently visited  but havn't  noticed that prick giving out 100 quid parking tickets......

Tomorrow we'll see what the weather brings...

 

Jummp'n Around....

Had a plan for Saturday and the steady rain that fell all Friday night wasn't going to put us off.
And it didn't because it had stopped by dawn so onto the car we got and drove to Blenheim Palace for the Fidelity International Horse Trials cross country day. About 90 competitors had done dressage the day before and showjumping was on Sunday.
Followed a bit of the horse stuff in NZ so a good day out looked in order..







Passed this dude looking a bit concerned trying to arouse these  two...

Common get up your  round starts in an hour...

Then out to the course where we spied a top kiwi fella...

Sir Mark Todd stepping it out counting horse strides between the jumps...


The competition got under way and we were surprised how large the fences were in height and width after watching  similar on TV..

 

 Solid timber with no give......

Moved on to the section where they jump into the lake, tricky as, and saw some near  crashes  with varying styles to match..

 

 The Wait for me style....

This riders name was Michael Jackson so he had to...



Show the Glove.....

 

The Lazy Boy chair style....

And Rearing to go style...

 

 

Then  Mark Todd popped over, no drama, to show his style..


Another Kiwi Champion competing was Andrew Nicholson....

 

Exiting the lake by jumping up over the Dragons....

 

A competitor gallops across the other side of the lake on the way out...

The grounds at Blenheim Palace are immaculate but that's another story...

 

 

Looking at the stone bridge from were you could view  4-5 jumps..


You don't see many of these going around...

An Appaloosa... the North American Indians  went to war on them...


Over the last jump after 3.5 odd miles.. if you've  cleared this ....

 

You can't call your round Rubbish...

In the trade section there was a zillion stalls selling everything horsey plus everything horse people, the other half, may want...

 

Like a leather buttoned couch Dogs Bed for the favourite  Pooch..

 

And you havn't seen dogs on leads ,not even on the tow path, in quantity until you've been to one of these...

 

 

 I don't care how sad the eyes are your not sharing my lunch...





A "Rope Head" or "dread locked" mutt....

You  wouldn't bring a 3 wheeled bike on the muddy hills ....

 

So why bring a 3 legged dog....

The scene was set for a....

 

"Teddy Bears Picnic" down in the woods...

But not possible when....

 

Horses and riders jump through your bush all day......

Tomorrow ,  North......

 

Nine till Five....

Wev'e  managed to get a plan into operation leading up to and including the winter months and that involves the Oxford and nearby, 20 miles, area.
Still moored in Thrupp but we'll be moving on Sunday, the CART sherriff will say times up, further North.

Iv'e been helping out our mate,  at S D Timmo car sales, Spencer doing some  odd jobs, I'm suited to that, and today and tomorrow some panel work and paint prep..

I had to set the alarm and be somewhere to do "work", a dirty word, at a predetermined time.
After five months of having  no schedule or time frame  it was a  feeling like the first day at school..
and I did have a cut lunch....

The Panelman is Back...
Borrowed panel tools, mine are retired, but still .....

Repaired the  guard...

Rear bumper.. and RH sill...

The spraybooth...


Five miles from the centre of Oxford city and...

 

Over the fence is very rural... just right for eating a cut lunch...


 To manage all this travel and things to come we have purchased a.....

A top of the line Ford Focus... a much sort after car and the competition to purchase one from others wanting them for things like Demolition  Derbies makes ownership pretty much a Lottery....
We are so lucky...
It's the first car we have owned that Insurance cost more than the price of the car...



Swimming past the boat...

This duck needs to have a serious talk with the OL man....Shurley  not a Polar Bear involved....


Visited a real nice village.... well it was until it started to rain so the photo shoot was cut short...

Woodstock about  7-8 miles North West of Oxford..... backs onto Blenheim Palace.....Home of Sir Winstone  Churchill..

A pub.....

A  nice house that had several windows bricked up.. they used to pay tax's on the number of windows.. Maybe the reason..

This time with the lights out...

And a cool front door.......
Then the rain came....

Tomorrow Work?????..

 

Thrupp,n Good...

Moored up in Thrupp, bloody nice place it is and to get a mooring you have to do the "early bird gets the worm"  thing because if you arrive after  mid day it's   "no way jose"..

Wev'e been doing some winter organization and programming so it's handy here to catch the bus to Oxford.
And that's exactly what I did this morning. Set the alarm for 6.30am, siiikkk, and in the steady rain made my way to the bus stop for a rondevous with the first of two buses to reach my destination.

On my way back to the boat  catching the two buses in the reverse order was the plan but in the centre of the city of Oxford where  I make the change a huge street carnival is under way and the leaving point for the bus had changed as indicted by the notice on the bus shelter  and the closed roads  and the  ghost train ride  etc that now spew across the streets.

So I retreat to where the temporary place of  departure  is supposed to be but there's  nothing going my way so I figure I gotta walk past all the blockages and head outta town on the bus route until I see buses coming. It was easy to do just add 2 miles to the distance travelled today and wait  25 minutes for the bus..

Got to the boat about 6.45pm, a big day in retirement terms, a lovely  roast chicken dinner soon put things right..



Boats moored at Thrupp....

On the seven day  and  the two day moorings and about another 16 boats behind these  around to the 
Jolly Boatman pub..

Three more toward the lift bridge....


A freight train goes by Thrupp  hauling  containers...

During the last 6 yrs in the UK  rail saved 2 million tonnes of pollutants, 6.4 billion lorry kilometers or 31.5 million lorry loads...

Over 50 Lorries off the road with this one train.....
Every tonne of freight carried by rail produces at least 80 per cent less carbone dioxide than if  moved by road...

Something that happened a couple  or three weeks ago In Banbury..
Leonie Pam and Tait walked to a Kebab shop  as they fancied a feed of the chicken shish kebab meal.
The only open kebab shop was pretty average in all ways, hygiene, appearance of staff,  but order they  did and stood waiting in the shop.
A customer already in the shop was sort of sprawled out on a window seat when he then proceeded to start "dry reaching"  which actioned one of the shop staff to bring from behind the counter a large rubbish bin and that was the signal for the "pig" to start  and try to fill it with "vomit"..
Stepping towards the door Tait said he should report it to the health department to which the staff member replied " he's a customer you can't do anything"....
Maybe in Banbury that's an acceptable occurance, I'm sure some people actually like extra "Mayo" on their  kebab..
Even the demand for a  refund of  their money and the not waiting for or want of the takeaway was treated with astonishment....

Tomorrow another bus trip......