Friday, March 27, 2009

We like a challenge!

Blimey!!!! more wind today so what shall we do..... Well we checked the weather using the Met office site (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html) and tracked the rain fall and could see we should be in the dry today, so no use for the Nubrella yet. We felt we needed a more sheltered spot anyway, so pulled the pins after seeing three other boats go by..... It was one of those tricky days when concentration was at a must.... and it wasn't long before we passed the three other boats moored up. There are some tight turns along the Oxford and with the strong winds around every corner you have to angle the bow in the right place every time. On some of the bridges, we were approaching them sideways and last minute belting through with a bit of throttle to reach the calmness of the other side sheltered by the bridge. We have been showing off a bit trying to hold Derwent6 before going into locks, but nearly got caught out today with the wind taking us into the trees , so the centre rope was used on more than one occasion.

At Marson Doyles, how about this guys luck!!! he decided to take his private helicoptor for a spin in these conditions..rather him than us! We did duck as he went overhead, but he landed it, how's that for showing off......
The weather was certainly getting colder as we came down through the locks. We decided to get water, so moored at the bottom lock water point. It was a bit disappointing to find that one of the water points we couldn't get the lock to open with the BW key and the other one was so slow that we would have been there a couple of hours.....so we moved onto the 14 day moorings to make way for the hirer's and private boats out for the weekend.
We went to The Folly Inn in the evening and had some of their famous pies with home made chips, followed by a home made crumble, washed down with some local ale.

We lose an hour on Saturday night and us liveaboards really look forward to it. Those long evenings cruising as the sun set's and the wildlife come out to play, and BBQ's on the towpath with a glass or two, watching the evening cruisers go by.....



Bring on Summer!!!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad the pub was open this time,even if it was a bit hairy getting there!!!Need your visitors to bring the weather back I see.Luv Dad Tel xx

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful sunset!

Joy & Steve xx

eeyore said...

Lovely sunset. From Napton locks?

Just discovered your blog and will keep in touch. All the best, Eeyore

Del and Al said...

Hi Dad & Tel
I know, you were soooooooo jammy!!
xx

Del and Al said...

Hi Joy and Steve
The sunsets are glorious....sometimes you can't believe you are in this country they are so lovely.
xx

Del and Al said...

Hi eeyour
Glad you found us and will check out your blog...