April 26th - Rushey Lock to Eynesham

Set off at 10am, winding both boats. A boat came around one of the very tight bends giving me nowhere to go but into the bushes.  Fortunately Annie was ashore and managed to pole us off from the bank.  Met a hire boat heading back to his hire base as most of the family hated it ad his mother in law was unwell. Passed hire base as ambulance arrived so it was pretty serious.

April 25th - Bablock Hythe to Rushy Lock meadow

Set off at 10am on quite a cold morning -2deg C overnight. No lock keepers in sight all day, all self service. At the first lock just as we were coming out another narrowboat set off in front of us (thats considered bad manners) He was slow and holding us up so we both moored up in a convenient field to have a cuppa and wait for them to get ahead.  A small group of runners jogged into view and we got talking to a very nice lady, Mina Guli who told us she was just running into London to finish er '6 Rivers Run' to help raise awareness of clean water in 3rd world countries. I thought the 6 rivers might have included the Avon, Trent etc but was gobsmacked to learn she was running the Colorado River, the Amazon River in South America, the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, the Yangtze River in Asia and the Nile River in Africa, finishing on the River Thames on 30th April!  Her youtube video is here

April 24th - Osney to Bablock Hythe

A late start (11.30) back upsteam passing Godstow. Watered and de-rubbished at Eynesham Lock. Arrived Bablock Hythe without seeing another boat moving.  Pub didnt open until 7 so Pete and I went after tea.

April 23rd - London Marathon

Up early and caught the 7.42 train to Marylebone, then the underground to Waterloo to meet Jess & Kim. Thence to Canary Wharf to meet Abi, Julie and Claire.  Fought our way through the crowds to get a decent view and managed to spot Mark on the course no less than three times!
Met Mark at the finish on Horseguards Parade then back to Claires for a BBQ. Charlie managed to make the BBQ. Caught the train back from Whitton at 7.30pm and made it back to the boat by 10.30.
An amazing day seeing everyone, topped with an amazing performance by Mark - one very proud Dad!

April 22nd - Godstow to Osney Lock

Just about finished the front steps just as Pete and his friend Helen arrived on Canny.  They moored alongside for lunch then we both set off for Osney. We intend to leave the boat here whilst Annie and I travel to London to watch Mark in the London Marathon.

Front steps finished bar the painting

April 21st - remained at Godstow

Worked on the boat today.  Started building a set of steps at the front to replace the current open ladder steps. To do this it was necessary to remove the front radiator, which doesnt work too well anyway.

Investigating central heating pipe runs

April 20th - Oxford to Godstow

Walking Peggy at Godstow Abbey

Watlington Hoard at the Ashmolean

Took time whilst in Oxford to visit the Ashmolean museum to view James's viking 'Watlington Hoard'. Very special.  Moved on to Godstow and moored up next to the abbey.

April 19th - Sandford to Oxford

Beautiful day - just jumpers rather than coats like yesterday. Spotted a tree lying on the towpath that had already been cut up, so we moored and scavenged it!

April 18th - Abingdon to Sandford

Up early for a badly needed pump-out and top up with water. Met Mum and Chris fir a coffee at the Kings Head at Sandford.

The last post - spotted on a walk with Peggy

Abingdon to Sandford - lovely day