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| Reindeer made by an enterprising boater |
There was still the odd
bit of ice on the water on Friday morning but not enough to stop us going for a
cruise. We headed the couple of miles south
down to the end of the North Oxford canal where it meets the Grand Union at
Braunston.
We stopped for water and
lunch and then headed west along the Grand Union a couple more miles to
Flecknoe. This time I moored quite close
to the bridge so that Karen didn’t have far to walk in the dark when she got
home from work. At weekends we tend to moor away from bridges as we don’t need
easy access to the car but during the week, when Karen is commuting in the
dark, we may as well be as close to the road as possible.
On Saturday morning we
drove down to Hartley Wintney to meet the people we are renting a house from
for Christmas. It was even homelier than
depicted by the pictures on the AirBnB site and we were really happy with our
choice.
As we were near my
youngest daughter, Polly, we popped to see her and had a quick lunch in a local
pub. We did have to follow her in her
car – quite a nerve wracking experience as I have never seen her drive before!
Judith and Nigel joined us
after we got home in the afternoon and as it was already dusk we stayed in for
the rest of the day. They slept on the
dinette which converts to a double bed.
This was the first time it has been used as a bed and it seemed to work really well
and they had a comfortable night.
Sunday was a really clear
day so after a leisurely cooked breakfast we went for a circular walk. We started off along the towpath and passed the
boat selling wooden reindeer at the top of this blog entry.
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We turned away from the
canal at Wolfhamcote and took them to see the abandoned church there.
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Whenever we have walked
around these lanes before it has always been quiet – no other walkers or cars –
but it seemed really busy this weekend.
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More walkers behind us
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| Braunston church spire in the distance |
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One of the ruins of the abandoned
village
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We ended up walking
through the village of Flecknoe and as we passed the pub we popped in for a
quick drink. As we were leaving we
literally bumped into our friend Nicola who moors her boat down at Braunston. She seemed to be well known in the pub and
she explained that a few winters ago she was frozen in for several weeks just
where we are currently moored. We are
moored next to bridge 102 and she became known as 102 by the locals.
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| View as we walked into Flecknoe village |
Walking back home from the
pub Judith decided she would like one of the wooden reindeer so we walked back
along the towpath and she chose one.
All in all a lovely
relaxing weekend
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