Not quite, we’ve just moored near Onley, that’s all!
As has become our recent custom since we brought Caxton to Braunston, we travelled to the marina on thursday evening. Unlike our time with Phoenix III when we used to cart bags and bags of stuff between house and boat, we now manage with just a few bits from the fridge and maybe a small bag of other belongings, so well set up is Caxton. We were late to bed but were awoken just after three by the sound of torrential rain and loud thunder which was backlit by a terrific lightning show. I was in a deep sleep when my alarm went off at six and I wasn’t at all happy. It’s not that I mind going to work, it’s just that when I am at home I very rarely hear the alarm because I usually wake up before it goes off. I enjoy a better quality of sleep on the boat and in fairness, the same was true on Phoenix III, I’m not sure of the exact reason but it’s a fact. The only facts that I was sure about this morning was that I had to get up for work and that I didn’t want to! I did get up of course and like a good boy, I went off to work.
A mid morning downpour preceded the start of the warmest day of the year so far with the temperature on the outskirts of Coventry reaching 30.5 c.
I got out eventually and made my way back to Braunston where Sue was waiting. She had washed and dried the bedding, been up to the village shop and still had time to spend with her friend Jane before Jane had to collect her children from school.
I got changed into shorts and T-shirt, we made ready and escaped from the marina. Once out on the cut, we made our way on to the North Oxford and headed in the direction of Rugby. There were a couple of boats ahead of us, too close together really and they came to grief when they met another two boats heading south at bridge 83. The first of the northbounds got through but the second had to make an abrupt stop to let the southbound boats through the bridge. The first through could have passed quite easily but headed into the bank for some strange reason causing a log jam. While this was all going on, I brought Caxton to a halt on the offside and waited. With both southbound boats through the bridge and the northbound boat on the towpath side getting entangled with them, a clear path opened up for us so I eased Caxton into forward gear and just gently left them all to it. A short while later we found our mooring for the night close to the prison and YOI at Onley.
There is another storm forecast for tonight so we might be in for another spectacular show.