It was so mild on Thursday
morning that I didn’t bother lighting the fire; the weather had really changed
as we also had gusty winds which haven’t been around for a while. It really does feel like we have had all
weathers this last week, from being frozen in, through fog, mist, gloom, sun,
wind and rain.
As well as being windy it
was raining on and off during the morning but by 11 o’clock it felt like the
rain would keep away so I set off for Calcutt.
I wasn’t really sure where I would end up but knew I had to get water
before the weekend and Calcutt had the nearest water point.
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Heading through Lower
Shuckburgh – you can see the wind has eased as the wavelets are quite small
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Buddy seemed to be happy
getting all the smells as we cruised through the fields.
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He constantly moves from
one side of the boat to the other
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Not sure what he is trying
to say here
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At Napton junction I
turned right to Warwick. I had thought
of continuing straight on and joining the South Oxford canal for a while to go
down to the Folly Inn at the far side of Napton (there is a water point there too). Our current plan is to go to the Folly on New
Year’s Eve so that’s why I gave it a miss and turned towards Warwick instead.
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Napton junction signpost:
Not very clear but the sign points to Braunston back where we came from and
Oxford is on the other sign behind the Warwick one
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My choice after filling up
with water was to reverse back and moor up at Napton reservoir or to carry on
down the Calcutt locks. By the time I
got to the water point I did neither - I just turned (winded) the boat round, reversed back to the water point, filled up and headed
for the reservoir.
It did mean we are now facing the wrong direction but it isn't far back to the junction to turn when we set off again. I should have mentioned that I turned the boat and reversed onto the water point in one simple and effortless move and I even said out loud how good the manoeuvre was; if people had been around the outcome would have been totally different of course.
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| Our view from the front back down to Napton junction which is where I will turn when we set off again |
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The view from the back of the boat to
the top lock at Calcutt and the water point in the far distance.
All the moored boats on the left are permanent moorings and a few of
them are residential.
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This is looking out from from the side of
the boat over the reservoir
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In the afternoon we went
for a circular walk via Stockton. I use
an app on my phone called Health and it tells me how far I walk each day. I’m not entirely convinced by its accuracy as
occasionally it seems too high or too low.
Today was one of those days. We
walked for an hour and three quarters, not too fast and not ambling, so I felt
it was about five miles. The app said it
was 3.1 miles which is quite a difference.
A lot of the walk was on country roads rather than towpath so I wonder
if that makes a difference.
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