I am Linda and along with my husband Richard and our dog Muffin we enjoy our summers on the UK's canal system

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Dunchurch Pools (North Oxford Canal) – Monday 23rd April


We were up early as we had two appointments to see boat painters.  Mary H has never been repainted and is now 10 years old – so the time has come.  Also, she is Flag Blue which has faded really badly. 

It wasn’t far to Hillmorton Locks where we moored up and went to see Hillmorton Boat Services.  We had a look round and were very impressed with what we saw.  They spray paint the boats and the finish does look good.  It was then up the locks (I don’t know how anyone could do a lock in 1 minute 20 seconds (see Sunday’s post).  Our next stop was Willow Boats.  We were equally as impressed with them.  They hand brush the boats and the finish is equally as good.  So, which one will we choose.  I’m not going into prices.
  


We had a fun time getting into our berth.  Dunchurch Pools is an excellent marina but what they can’t control is the wind!  There is an island in the middle, so Richard went around it and in – it was a bit scary and I’m glad I wasn’t steering!

We went to the Boat House for dinner – it has always been good food in there – nothing special just well cooked.

11.22 miles
3 locks


Tuesday – 24th April

Time to go home.  It was raining but fortunately it’s not far from the boat to the car.  Packing is easy, but the cleaning is harder!  But why is it that I always leave something behind?  I have a list which we checked off as usual, but I hadn’t put down the lead for the Bose speakers – just the remote, so another addition to the list!

We were away about 11am and home at 2.45pm – that included a stop for lunch.
  


To sum up the time spent on the boat.  We did 98.97 miles and 8 locks.  I reckon we had more rain than sunshine but the sun was hot on those days. 

We are forsaking Mary H in 2 weeks time and are off to Brittany with the caravan.  Richard will be back in the first week of June with a friend while I help my Step-father sort out his flat and get rid of the things he no longer wants.  Richard and I will be back in July for a couple of months – where to?  Who knows!!!

Here are my two favourite photos taken this time – favourite for different reasons.  This one as it epitomizes Spring for me.
  


But this one is extra special.  4 months ago on Sunday Richard had his quadruple heart bypass.  He didn’t have a heart attack he just had angina pains, so the diagnosis was a great shock to us all.  I really didn’t know how he was going to be and what sort of life we were going to have.  This photo just shows that he is now back to his old self – 100% better 😊



1 comment:

  1. My understanding is brush painting results in a thicker coat and it's supposed to be easier to touch-up (repair). However it probably takes longer to brush paint a boat which may mean the price is higher.

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