Hello, thanks very much for watching. Well this is Kidlington. Now my experience to get
here was a little bit frustrating. Because as I’ve done in the past, which I really
shouldn’t do again, I should know my lessons. Coming down the Oxford Canal I kept saying,
I’m sure there’s a better mooring spot just around the corner. I kept doing that
again and again and the day got later and later, the light started to fade. It got really,
really dark. But very, very luckily, and it was purely out of chance, just around the
corner from this next bridge was Armco and I moored up here. Just over the bridge I was
able to park the car and the Kidlington town is just around the corner. There’s a big
supermarket and it proved out to be a really good place to moor up. I stayed here for the
full two weeks, just above the lock here and I went away for one of the weekends, so I
didn’t want to moor up on grass like this with pins. I was really eager to moor up on
the Armco where I knew it would be secure with other boats going past but, Kidlington
is just north of the city of Oxford.
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I left my car at Twyford Bridge and continued to head south. The canal follows the route
of the trainline so I knew I could get back to my car once in Kidlington.
To the south west of Kirtlington is Whitehill Satellite Earth Station. Its large dishes
can be seen from the canal and the station is operated by Cable and Wireless.
Then at Bakers Lock the canal shares a short course of the River Cherwell down to Shipton
Weir Lock.
Into the outer suburbs of Kidlington, I moored just north of Kidlington Green Lock.
The weather had been rain one minute and sunshine the next and together with some strong gusts
of wind, just south of Lower Heyford I came across a boat that was adrift. So decided
to help. Paul, Ade, Vivian and Jim were already trying to salvage what rope this boat had
to try and secure it. Originally it had been moored on the off side to a fence but the
ropes had snapped. The narrow boat had limited gunnels and a fragile roof so tricky to climb
aboard and move the boat.
So, using Alice we managed to secure and move the drifting vessel to the towpath side where
the bank was closer. You often find when boats come adrift or things float into boats, there
is a real community spirit to help out. With the boat safe once again, I continued my journey
south.
My narrowboat has metal doors on the side and at the stern. Using the same European
oak as my tv cabinet, carpenter Michael got to work making solid shaker style wooden doors.
I wanted the same style as my tv cabinet and my kitchen doors so there was a uniform look.
The top and bottom rails are connected to the sides using mortise and tenon joints.
These are strong and have no mechanical parts. The doors have two panels each and the inner
panel is around 6mm smaller than the outer edges to allow for expansion.
This is one of the side hatch doors with the oak placed inside.
In the stern door, instead of the bottom rail being wider than the top, I wanted it the
other way around. This was not only required as there are two air vents in the bottom section
of the door but I wanted a solid larger area to fix a door lock at the top of the door.
I oiled all the doors on all edges with this Osmo TopOil. It has a clear satin finish and
I’ve given the doors around 4 coats with a light sand between each coat. The doors
were then stuck into place using a flexible marina glue.
At Bakers Lock I was rather impressed with this electronic water level board. Although
the level was rising, as long as I was careful, I could pass.
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At bridge 219 I really struggled to keep the lift bridge up. In the end I had to use chains
to connect it to the floor so I could pass. Of course, this bridge had no off side mooring
so I had to climb across the weeds and the roof to navigate on my own.
At Thrupp there is another lift bridge. The good part is this bridge is electronically
opened but the bad part is you have to make a tight 90 degree turn through it. With people
watching and random gusts of wind I gave it a go...
To my utter surprise I swung Alice around in one go and through the narrow gap without touching the sides!
I must say hi to the couple at the stern of the first blue boat on the right. Moored
up near Sparrowgap Bridge, they were viewers and were really surprised to see me. Oh and they
were also trying out a new birthday present of mooring chains!
It was at this point I was eager to moor up myself but all the spots were full for hours on end
Until next time, see ya later.