Charlie & Barbara (sorry, Sir Charles & Lady Barbara) were busy all morning packing the cars. Having realised that with Wanda & George's cases taking all the boot space in the Rolls, we would need an alternative. Aurian came to the rescue by allowing us to use his Mister-Two (Toyota MR2) so that Barbara could take George and the majority of the luggage in the bigger car and Charlie and Wanda with a moderate amount of packing in the fun car.
As arranged, at midday exactly, Charlie & Barbara took both cars around to Chris & Clive's, who had very generously been acting as a B&B for Wanda & George, only to find that there was nobody there. But they all turned up quite soon, having been doing an extra bit of Cotswold tourism (Chris, Clive, Wanda, Lady Barbara & George).
The cases various were squeezed into both cars ...
and off we went, zooming up the Fosse Way (ancient Roman Road - very nice and straight) with Wanda navigating admirably so we got to Wigrams Turn Marina in good time.
Saros was where we expected to find it among the hundreds of boats in the marina, so after several trips to and fro from the cars loading the barrels of wine and a few other necessities, and then
sorting things out inside the boat, we were ready to leave.
After a bit of confusion about when the ropes needed to be untied, we were blown away from the pontoon, Charlie skilfully avoiding hitting two boats which the wind was pushing us into and successfully cruised out of the marina into the Grand Union Canal, turning sharp left then into the South Oxford Canal. The real adventure had begun!
Pottering down the narrow confines of the Oxford Canal, Charlie & Barbara had kept today's destination a secret from Wanda & George. They'd probably expected to be cruising for hours until it got dark - if so,
Thanks to Nick's wonderful Canal Route Planner, Charlie & Barbara discovered several weeks ago that the start of our trip happily coincided with a performance by the Mikron Theatre Company at the Bridge Inn so a table was booked for the four of us.
The Inn were expecting us, and it was lucky we had booked in advance as they were very busy with many people turning up for the performance of "Losing the Plot".
After finishing our nice meals, we moved out into the garden just as the travelling players launched into their amusing play. Just the four actors appeared as a cast of thousands (well eight or ten at least) and despite the chill wind in the pub's garden, the audience were very enthusiastic. A half time break provided a welcome opportunity to fetch extra warm clothing from the boat so that the second half was a somewhat more comfortable.
Before they restarted, one of the players even checked that Charlie was happy to stand (everyone else was sitting) - it's not often that actors are so concerned about their audience, and towards the end when it started raining lightly, they shortened the play a little for everyone's comfort.
All in all an amusing and entertaining evening:
And so back to the cosy boat.
Tomorrow Napton Locks lie in wait for us. We'll get thewhips
windlasses out and get the commoners earning their passage!
As arranged, at midday exactly, Charlie & Barbara took both cars around to Chris & Clive's, who had very generously been acting as a B&B for Wanda & George, only to find that there was nobody there. But they all turned up quite soon, having been doing an extra bit of Cotswold tourism (Chris, Clive, Wanda, Lady Barbara & George).
After a bit of confusion about when the ropes needed to be untied, we were blown away from the pontoon, Charlie skilfully avoiding hitting two boats which the wind was pushing us into and successfully cruised out of the marina into the Grand Union Canal, turning sharp left then into the South Oxford Canal. The real adventure had begun!
Pottering down the narrow confines of the Oxford Canal, Charlie & Barbara had kept today's destination a secret from Wanda & George. They'd probably expected to be cruising for hours until it got dark - if so,
Thanks to Nick's wonderful Canal Route Planner, Charlie & Barbara discovered several weeks ago that the start of our trip happily coincided with a performance by the Mikron Theatre Company at the Bridge Inn so a table was booked for the four of us.
The Inn were expecting us, and it was lucky we had booked in advance as they were very busy with many people turning up for the performance of "Losing the Plot".
After finishing our nice meals, we moved out into the garden just as the travelling players launched into their amusing play. Just the four actors appeared as a cast of thousands (well eight or ten at least) and despite the chill wind in the pub's garden, the audience were very enthusiastic. A half time break provided a welcome opportunity to fetch extra warm clothing from the boat so that the second half was a somewhat more comfortable.
Before they restarted, one of the players even checked that Charlie was happy to stand (everyone else was sitting) - it's not often that actors are so concerned about their audience, and towards the end when it started raining lightly, they shortened the play a little for everyone's comfort.
And so back to the cosy boat.
Tomorrow Napton Locks lie in wait for us. We'll get the
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