Macc has had a lovely time running around on the meadows south of where we were moored in Abingdon, and last night and this morning there was no-one else around which made it even better. In fact we’ve all liked Abingdon, it’s a very nice town with a lot going for it. This morning we were ready to leave a bit before 9, but spotted the Puppet Theatre Barge coming through the bridge, so we waited until they’d passed us before setting off. The barge is normally moored at Little Venice, but is on tour at the moment.
Once they were out of the way we set off through the bridge.
Abingdon Lock was on self service as it was a little too early for the lock keeper to be on duty, and there was activity. It turned out to be a man in a canoe coming down, so Adrian worked the lock for him and then we went up. It seemed to take ages to fill. The lock has a number of signs, one aimed at people going down, the other at everyone. I meant to go back and take a photo from a better angle but forgot, but there’s one on this post from 2020.
Once up the lock we moved onto the water point, arriving at exactly the same time as a widebeam coming downstream. They also wanted the pump out machine, so they stopped next to that while we were next to the tap. We were down to a third of a tank and the pressure didn’t seem that great, so it took a while to fill. There are also bins here and an Elsan, so we had the full range of services at our disposal. I also had time to give one side of the boat a rinse and dry, to get the dust off. It must have been almost 10.30 when we got going again, up a pretty nondescript bit of river. Round one corner we passed the trip boat, Goring, from Oxford. At least it was fairly wide here, just before the Nuneham Rail Bridge.
Apparently it takes trains 2 minutes to go between this bridge and the Appleford one we came under on Friday, but it’s about 5 hours by boat. Or three days if you spend the weekend in Abingdon. A little further on is Nuneham House, overlooking the river.
I was slightly perturbed by this still-growing fallen tree, right next to a boat house. It’s quite a way out over the river.
Just before Sanford Lock we met some more boats coming the other way. One of them was a narrowboat called Jester we’ve seen a few times, and a lady sitting at the front called out that they love the podcast, which was nice. We were also hopeful the lock would be in our favour. The sign said self service but there was actually a lock keeper on duty; he said he was covering multiple locks, so if he got called away changing the sign was one less thing for him to do. Anyway he appeared and waved us in
We were pleased there was a lockie on because this lock is almost 9ft deep and is a side-filler, which means the ropes always need more hanging on to. The gate paddles also create quite a disturbance.
We were hoping for a space on the Environment Agency moorings just off the lock landing, and the lockie said there was one, just behind a widebeam. There’s only room for the two of us, although there are wild moorings further on, which look as though boats have been on for some time. There’s an overhanging edge though, so we’ve hung fenders on the bollards rather than the boat, and we have also discovered that when the lock is filled the water level drops quite significantly.
However it’s a nice spot, with a big meadow right next to us. A number of boats have been past, including Goring again and a much smaller trip boat also from Oxford. This one is called Golden Slumbers, which I’m afraid puts me in mind of a pre-paid funeral plan.
Macc and I went for a walk after lunch. We’re actually on an island here, so we headed north to Fiddler’s Elbow and the top of the island where there’s a bridge over the weir stream.
We walked down the mainland side, past the big weir complex some of which is covered in solar panels, and Sandford Pool below.
There were a few places for Macc to have a drink from the river, but we also found another place in a stream. It was under a little bridge, so he did his troll impression.
We ended up by crossing the weir stream again below the lock, coming past the lock itself, and back to the boat.
5 miles, 2 locks, free EA mooring. (79 miles, 29 locks, £124.50)