A few toll/tall stories ...

When we walked along the path up to the road on Thursday evening to say goodbye to Saul and Sarah, we noticed a toll bridge over the river which appeared to be collecting money from each vehicle passing through.  According to the Nicholson's guide, this has been in place since 1777 - wow!  Barry got a photo on Friday morning of the toll keeper's hut in the centre of the road and the charges in 2010 are as follows:

• Car, small coach, small Lorry - 5p
• Car and caravan/trailer - 10p
• Large coach - 12p
• Double decker bus - 20p
• Large lorries 10p per axle

  Swinford Toll Bridge - obviously still paying it off after 233 years

How fascinating, there must be a story behind this - would the money collected even pay for the toll-keeper's wages we wonder?  How quaint though.

Passing through our first Thames Lock, we had to pay our fee of £93.50 for a 15 day visit.  So we have until 7 August on the river, at which time we'll head onto the Kennet and Avon to Bristol and back, ready to do another 15 days on the Thames.  You're only 'allowed' two 15 day licenses, and although a month's license is cheaper, we wanted to do the upper Thames prior to the Kennet and Avon rather than returning to it (after doing the mad trip down the Thames to Reading overnight to avoid the license fee as was suggested to us!)

We also picked up our 'Guide to the River Thames' from the lock-keeper - it reads like a rule book of Dickensian proportions - DO this, but DON"T do that, AVOID this and that, etc, etc.  Then there's the blasts on the horn to tell oncoming boaters your intentions - yeah right, I can see hire-boaters understanding those rules when we give them two blasts on the horn to say we're passing on their port (left).  So typically British to issue such finite instructions so that if anything goes wrong they can say you didn't follow the rules to the letter!  Still, I'm sure it's all supposed to protect our safety and we'll follow it to the letter (if we can remember it all, which is unlikely!) ...

The guy in the dingy above is a commercial crayfisherman who sets his pots up and down the river and supplies live crays to the local pubs and restaurants. Since he can't throw the little ones that they don't want back, he sadly has to destroy them.

This couple have been on the waterways for 30 years - she's Irish and he's from Stockport on the Macclesfield canal - a beautiful boat but very heavy so they struggled on the twisting winding river

Painted pots and cans adorning a narrowboat roof

Looking back after leaving Eynsham Lock (£93.50 lighter)

Every lock is 'manned' in the summer from 0900 - 190hrs June to August (with an hour for lunch from 1300 to 1400hrs), which certainly makes travelling on this stretch of water rather a doddle!  The locks are very well cared for and all have beautifully manicured gardens ...

Pinkhill Lock keepers cottage

A very tranquil setting, though it would be nicer without the plethora of pylons!

Harts Footbridge spanning the river

Typical view seen along the river

We meandered along the snake-like Thames to Newbridge, where there's a pub either side of river so of course we were obliged to sample them both!  On the one side was The Rose Revived Inn, seemingly a fine-dining experience with many tables on the banks of the river, and on the other side was the The Maybush Inn which was a lot quieter than its counterpart.  One imagines that there's a friendly (or otherwise) rivalry between the two establishments.  We certainly enjoyed the latter more than the former, as there was a real 'pub' atmosphere and Barry soon found himself chatting with a fellow boater (albeit of the plastic boat variety!) at the bar - leaving me sitting on my own outside!  I could hear his dulcet tones so went in to join him - his favourite place nowadays is standing at the bar of a British pub telling and listening to (tall?) boat stories.  I'm not a 'standing at the bar' type of girl, so find it all a little tedious, especially when I'm sober and my only company are chattering men drinking beer and getting more and more slurry with their words!  Ah well, sharing your life with another person is all about compromise, and poor Barry had had to sit patiently while Sarah and I rabbited on about women and madwives the other day ...

The Hamlet of Newbridge, which has a fine 13th century bridge - and our mooring for the night by The Rose Revived Inn

    Part of the fleet of paddle and electric punts for hire                     Old 13th century Bridge

The sunset lit the bridge just at the right time - Maybush Inn on the right

  The Thames walk follows the line of the river from the source to the sea

Electric punts buzzing round with a group of giggling girls on board

 

 

Friday night was the first time we've had a boat moor alongside us, though we suspect it won't be the last as it's now the school holidays so there'll be many more boats around.

Looks foxglove-like, but suspect it isn't!

Onto the Thames following a spectacular debacle by Specsavers!

After three and a half years with the same pair of now very smudged and scratched glasses, I'd been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new varifocals and prescription sunglasses having been 'reliably' informed by the Banbury branch of Specsavers they'd be in Oxford within 10 days of ordering.  I'd phoned Oxford on Monday, who confirmed they'd be with them by Thursday, and then had a call from Banbury on Tuesday to tell me the same story (are you with me so far?), so was convinced I'd be experiencing a new clear vision from the stern of the boat in the very near future - but alas, it was not to be ...

Sarah's son Saul (that's a bit of a tongue twister!) came to spend the day with us on Thursday - I'm not sure what possessed me to volunteer for this predicament, but it sounded like it could be fun!  He was certainly most entertaining, but I think it was the 'having to watch from eyes in the back of your head at all times' that most intrigued us. Bless him it must be challenging to be restricted to a 45 foot long and 7 foot wide space to move about in when you're used to a rather large house.

Firstly, and most importantly, Saul and I took a bus trip into Oxford to A/ get my glasses (lol!) and B/ get a few groceries - especially for things that Saul would like to eat.  Plan 'B' went smoothly, I suspect I may have spoilt him a little by giving him free rein of putting whatever he fancied in the trolley (it's called having a quiet life I think, 'aunties' are able to do this on the odd occasions that they child-mind surely?)

Plan 'A" meanwhile went rather awry when the polite gentleman in the Oxford store informed me that they didn't have my glasses.  He telephoned the Banbury Branch who 'apparently' stated that said items had been dispatched the previous day.  Mmm..., something wasn't quite right, but we weren't sure exactly what until, disappointed, I returned with Saul to Northern Pride to receive a phone call from a very pleasant woman in the Banbury store informing me that my glasses were still there and I did I want them sent to Oxford?  You can imagine my reaction, though Barry says I was actually quite calm and reasonable considering the circumstances ...

So still no new spectacles, they're now sitting in the store in Oxford, having been couriered there by the embarrassed Banbury lady on Thursday afternoon, but we'll be returning next week anyway - luckily!  The phrase 'the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing'  springs to mind - maybe I'll be entitled to something of a freebie in return for my inconvenience - though that remains to be 'seen' (pun intended!)

Ah well, life's full of trials and tribulations to challenge us but it keeps us on our toes, and in the scheme of things waiting another few days for my glasses isn't really a big deal.  So once we'd got Saul safely ensconced in his life jacket (much to his dismay!), we were off up the canal to Duke's Cut and onto the River Thames.  Saul jumped off at the slightest opportunity and pumped up his muscles enthusiastically helping with the locks and lift bridges. 

      Saul feeding the ducks              Life jacket attached - closing the lock gates all on his own

 Saul sits on the roof out of harms way for a while

Cruising back up the still waters of the Oxford Canal ...

before the sharp left hand turn to take us onto the River Thames at Duke's Cut

Cows and clouds - both beautiful in their own way

It's a stark contrast from the Oxford Canal onto the Thames, where we found ourselves very much in the minority - unsurprisingly this river is chock a block with cruisers of all shapes and sizes.  They're certainly able to manoeuvre their vessels more swiftly than heavy steel narrowboats, but despite that the maximum speed limit for either is 8km/hr. 

Our mooring for the night prior to paying for a Thames license - Eynsham Lock

Hire boaters that we'd met previously on the Oxford Canal outside Thrupp

We moored prior to the first lock at Eynsham, where Sarah could collect Saul later that evening.  Behind us the owner of a cruiser had been fishing for American Crayfish - a pest 'introduced' thoughtlessly by someone into the River Thames, and he'd caught a bucketful that he didn't want.  As it's illegal to throw them back into the river, he offered them to us and we foolishly or otherwise accepted.  They're such small creatures that it takes ages to cook them all (having only got one large saucepan) and then extract any edible flesh, clean it of its 'pooh pipe' (gross!) and then savour each morsel.

Barry puts the bucketful of crayfish into a plastic bag

 

  Graeme in NZ will laugh at the size of these!       Hours of preparation to make a small meal!

Saul has a final scamper on the roof of Northern Pride - a good day out on the water

These are just astounding - any offers?

The mystery of the missing public conveniences in Oxford solved ...

On Tuesday morning my parents caught the direct train from Worcester to Oxford - they'd parked their car at Worcester Shrub Hill and jumped on encountering no problems.  It was encouraging to hear they'd been assisted by very helpful station and parking staff (parking arrangements performed by my 90 year old father by telephone and credit card - the man is a legend!).

We walked into Oxford leaving Barry on the boat to move it back up the canal as unfortunately the moorings really close to the city and rail station are only for 48 hours (and overstayers are supposedly 'fined' £25 each subsequent night), so we'd 'done our time' and were obliged to find another slot.  Barry then cycled in and met us in a bar, on one of our frequent rest stops, and once we'd exhausted ourselves looking around we tried to catch a bus back to the boat's new home.  Things didn't run too smoothly as we waited at the wrong bus stop for ages before realising our error, then once we got the correct bus we missed the stop as the driver didn't tell us we'd reached it!  My poor parents had a long treck back to the boat, where we finally ate dinner around 2100hrs.

   Dad carrying a 'useful' piece of cardboard Barry found             Hope it's not much further!

On Wednesday our planning improved and my dad and I went on the open top bus tour, alighting a couple of times to buy lunch at an M & S food store at the station, and then again to eat said goodies sitting restfully in the charming 'Christchurch Meadows'.

We took the bus while Barry got on his bike again so he could collect the bags later on

One of the many floral displays around Oxford

    Don and Sandra on the open top bus city tour                  Lunch stop in Christchurch Meadow

What we did discover on Wednesday was the well-hidden toilet availability mystery tour of Oxford.  We were reliably informed that Oxford Council previously shut down most of the public conveniences to save money, and now a 'collective' of businesses 'allow' members of the public to use their facilities - known as 'The Community Toilet Scheme'.  You can pick up a small business sized card from the Information Centre, hidden away surreptitiously at the rear, detailing ten town locations who've signed up.  I wonder if the Council pay them to provide this public service for them???  More importantly I wish they'd advertise the fact a lot better than they do - there must be tourists walking around every day desperately seeking somewhere to relieve themselves, it's shocking.  Marks and Spencer's and McDonalds must also be a little fed-up with being the local public conveniences that everyone is recommended to use - McDonald's in particular as they're not even listed as being part of the scheme!

Anyway, enough complaining for one blog post - but if anyone is visiting Oxford I'd recommend the Town Hall toilets that my dad and I researched after our lunch break!

Somehow gowns don't look out of place here

Meanwhile, my mum and Barry had a guided walk around some of the University Colleges, with a guide called Stuart who himself studied at Oxford at some time - he certainly spoke very nicely.

Some shots around Trinity College - parts of the 'Harry Potter' series were filmed here ...

'Chalking up' the colleges historic sporting achievements on the walls of the students accommodation

More stupendous college collages follow (Barry can't remember what they all are, sorry!) ...

I thought there was a drought on - the greenest, lushest lawn I've ever seen

John Wesley's College (can't remember the name) dining room and stained glass window in the chapel

Jesus College dining room with some very famous portraits hanging around

 

The history of Charles I and Queen Mary being explained by Stuart, our guide

The courtyard of Jesus College ...

or is this the courtyard of Jesus College ... I can't remember now, they're all blurring into one ...

 with breathtaking beauty at every turn

We caught up with Barry and my mum back in the centre and they then used our bus tickets while my dad and I sat in a cafe waiting for them, following which we found our way back to the train station, by bus (we got good at it in the end!) and said goodbye to them once again.  Hope we didn't wear them out too much!  I'm so lucky to be able to spend such quality time with my parents.

Colleges tour completed - swap over to the open top bus tour

Our next stop was to Sarah's house, a mile or two out of town, and a pleasant walk along the 'Thames Path' much of the way.  We had a most enjoyable evening there - well Sarah and I had a great 'midwifery matters' catch up and Barry attempted to look interested!  He was however incredulous to hear that some years ago Sarah and her daughter had walked the Grand Union Canal from Birmingham to London in six days - only because her daughter had asked if it was possible to do it!  What an amazing feat.

Osney Lock on the way to Sarah's house

' Folly Bridge' over the Thames - here the river temporarily splits into two channels

An amazing house by 'Folly Bridge 'and the 'The Head of the River' pub looking very busy on a sunny Wednesday evening

Anyone for a punt or two? 

  Sandra & Sarah celebrate (& commiserate on occasions) their many years as 'radical' midwives

We walked back to the boat rather than catching the bus (gluttons for punishment?), arriving just before midnight to check out the emailed photos for our 'Canal Boat' magazine article.  I didn't finish putting them in order and writing captions (after recalling where each place was that we visited last year, no mean feat as they weren't labelled!) until after 0200hrs, but knew I'd never get it done in the morning as we had to be up bright and early as Saul, Sarah's ten year old son, was coming to spend a day with us on Thursday at 0830hrs!

Life jacket at the ready, it's a bit of a responsibility to be in charge of someone else's child on a narrowboat, so we knew we'd have to be a little less laid back than normal ...

 

 

 

Arriving back to where the boat was moored - a helicopter searching for something or someone

 

 

 

 

 

A few flirtatious floral displays (and stunning window shapes) from around the Oxford Colleges