You couldn’t make it up!

By Heather Bell, Posted on July 7, 2026

We took a very slow and relaxed cruise down the South Oxford Canal. During the recent heatwave, we stopped on a stretch of the River Cherwell for a few days and enjoyed having lots of cooling swims with the fishes (the little, tiny ones are very curious and like to nibble your legs!)

At Thrupp, we took advantage of a temporary mooring with the local cruising club, it was only £7 a night and is highly recommended. This gave us peace of mind to do a mad dash up to Liverpool to see our son sing in the National Welsh Male Voice Choir Concert in the Anglican cathedral (the acoustics were amazing). And yes, he does sing in Welsh!

Back on the South Oxford, our destination is Newbury on the Kennet & Avon Canal (K&A), but we were getting anxious about a couple of locks that have been closed for repairs. Staying ever hopeful we carry on and turn right onto Dukes Cut to join the River Thames and head south past Oxford.

Getting the hang of “Self Service” on the Thames locks

We haven’t been on the Thames for 4 years, but it is very familiar territory, and our rather tatty Nicholson Guide has lots of scribbled notes in it with favourite mooring spots. We soon get into the habit of cruising in the morning and tying up in the afternoon to make use of our boarding ladder for more cooling swims this time with bigger fish, curious swans and rather noisy geese (and the occasional kingfisher).

There are quite a diverse range of waterway users on the Thames including college rowers, swimmers and paddle boarders. There is one paddle-boarder who we keep seeing, he is an older gentleman (probably our age hah hah), on his own and is camping by the river every night. On the third day we ended up sharing a couple of locks with him. It turns out he’s from the Ukraine and about 50 years ago whilst living in the Soviet Union, he read the book “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K Jerome. The story inspired him to recreate the voyage for himself and travel on the Thames from Oxford to London. I asked what his family thought of him doing this on his own, on a paddle board; he shrugged “they don’t worry about me, they are used to me and my adventures!”. I hope he made it as he only had 4 days left and just under 60 miles to go.

As we were pootled on we were delighted and very relieved to hear that the repairs to the locks on the K & A were all completed. Sadly, this didn’t last as it wasn’t long before a “drunken sailor” (boater) crashed into the gates of one of them and broke it. Navigation was closed again and so with apprehension levels rising we carried on towards Pangbourne Meadow to wait for an update. The next day a miracle happened and the lock was fixed again, they just had to lift a 900kg gate back into place. Hurrah! So with harmony and calm restored we now had a whole week to get to Newbury (easy peasy). The next day we decided to go for it and have a long day cruising to get off the Thames at Reading and past those troublesome locks on the K&A.

But you guessed it I spoke too soon, as we passed through our first lock of the day, we were informed that the next one at Caversham had broken the previous day and wouldn’t be fixed for at least a couple of days (As I edit this, we’re on day 4). We are stuck… again! What can you do??? Well, we went back to what we did in Banbury, when we were stopped by a fallen tree, we pulled over in the town and went to the cinema. Here’s hoping we still make it to Newbury in time for our next adventure!

So close! The River Kennet cuts through Reading town centre

Are we sinking?!!

By Heather Bell, Posted on June 14, 2026

Picture this, it’s evening and we’re relaxing for one last night on the boat before heading off for a fortnight in the campervan. Ian pops to the back of the boat to get something and suddenly shouts “There’s water!!” Of course there’s water, we’re living on a boat, on a canal, there’s water in the canal, there’s water in the taps, the toilet, the sink etc. I wonder if he’s completely lost the plot, but his yell sounded a bit strangled, so I get up to go see what water he’s talking about and discover him standing in about 2 inches of water in the back cabin. Yikes, we’re sinking!

Sorry for no photos of the actual incident but we were both kept a bit busy working out what was happening and dealing with the imminent threat of sinking. After much scurrying around and more shouting we eventually discovered that the pipe from the water tank under the bow deck had come loose and, probably for about an hour or so, had been emptying the contents of our 900 litre water tank into the bilge of the boat. As the stern of the boat is lower than the bow the water was collecting at the stern and weighing the back of the boat down. The fact that we were currently standing in 2 inches meant that the water had already filled the space below the floorboards, and yes, there are various holes along the side of the hull that would allow canal water in if they became submerged and slowly flood the boat with dirty canal water. Thankfully this water was clean; we weren’t sinking yet, only the back cabin was flooded, so…

Problem 1: Find and stop the leak
Solution: Turn off the service tap at the bottom of the water tank in the bow and go hunting.

Problem 2: How to get nearly 900 litres of water out of the bilges (which are obviously well below the water line of the canal)
Solution: Use Heather to operate an electric drill with a pump attachment and extended hoses to suck the water from under the floor and onto the banking (not directly into the canal in case it had any particulates in it from the bilges), this took about an hour.

Problem 3: Restore our water system (so I can put the kettle on)
Solution: Get Ian to scramble under the bow with jubilee clips to reattach the very badly behaving water pipe.

And then count your lucky stars that it happened before you went to bed and that you always remember to turn the water off at the tank before you go away! We’d managed to figure out what was wrong relatively quickly but had been horrified by how fast the water tank had emptied whilst we were sitting relatively close to it. By now there was now no water left in the tank, but we do have two full water containers (for emergencies!!) to use when we get back to the boat after our land adventures. These will have to last us until we cruise far enough to find the next canal side service point with a water supply.

We are now (hopefully) fully recovered from our near sinking experience and as I type this we are in North Wales sitting by an open fire watching the sunset over Cardigan Bay. We’d recommend all of the campsites that we’ve been on. The first was on the Lleyn Peninsula called Porth Iago, a cliff top site with access to a quiet sandy beach and the Welsh Coastal footpath.

The second was a little cracker, Nantcol Waterfalls Campsite at the edge of Eryri National Park, we both went wild swimming and it was a stunning location with lovely walks.

And yet again we have come back to Shell Island near Llanbedr. Despite the fact it’s the biggest campsite in Europe, there is so much space (300 acres) so you don’t feel crowded and the sandy beaches go on forever – well at least to Barmouth. You have to time your walk to fit with low tide, if you want to stay on the beach. Ian’s walked it and discovered that after 12 miles your legs ache a bit but the cooling caress of the sea really helps those tired bones (makes them go numb!). If you miss a stunning sunset, there’s always the occasional porpoise to spot across the bay whilst you eat your breakfast. Fabulous.

Running out of time and water!

By Heather Bell, Posted on July 28, 2025

July has been a bit of a battle. Having made the decision to head back up to the Macclesfield Canal, we had 21 days to tackle 189 miles and 132 locks. There were also planned stoppages and time restrictions on some of those locks, so we had to “get a wiggle on!”. But we did have some fun along the way too.

Even at full speed (3mph) there’s always time to enjoy the surroundings and watch the water, occasionally seeing long, streams of large clear bubbles rising up from the bottom of the canal. So we pondered this phenomena, we each proposed a theory of it’s origin.

H: (Boring sciencey idea) There are oxygenating plants with long tendrils growing on the canal bed, the bubbles of oxygen produced are trapped by the fronds of the plant, as the boat passes by, it disturbs the plants and the bubbles are released, rising to the surface.

I: (Bonkers idea) There are shoals of fearful farting fish (Please don’t choke on your coffee). The fish are swimming gently in the water and are scared by the passing boat and fart (jet propulsion?)

So do fish fart?-According to Do Fish Fart? (And More Must-Know Fish Facts) – Scuba.com, herring and sand sharks do. There have also been sightings of air escaping from the nether region of a fish after they’ve gulped air at the surface, but this isn’t really a product of digestion, so can’t it be termed as a fart and may have more to do with their swim bladders (now you’re just taking the p***)

One day, the boat decided to go for a little ride on its own. We’d pulled in at the bottom of a lock. Ian jumped off to go and sort the lock out and Heather hopped off, assuming that Ian had taken the midline (long rope tied to the middle of the roof and used as a quick temporary mooring rope) with him and was tying it to a bollard to secure the boat. As often happens with Heather, she was distracted by a nice long branch hiding in the hedgerow, that would be a great addition to our store of firewood. On turning around with the branch in hand, Heather discovered that Ian had already disappeared up to the lock and the boat was now halfway across the canal with a rather bemused Sammy dog staring from the stern. Dog’s aren’t the best at steering boats or throwing ropes. Luckily, that lovely branch happened to have a nice little hook on the end of it; so as the boat slowly drifted across the canal and the bow twisted lazily towards us, we hooked up the bow line and pulled the boat back. Amazingly nobody had to get wet (makes a change – says Heather!!!), the dog hadn’t panicked, and the boat didn’t come to any grief. Lesson learnt – never assume!

Blocked towpath Bolbeck Park, Milton Keynes

Whilst we did our best not to flag in the heatwave, the same cannot be said for the canalside trees. With their roots weakened by the dry soil, it became a daily occurrence to discover a tree toppled across the canal leaving it “passible with care” or evidence of where a bigger tree had recently been cleared. On passing one of these, we were told by a local that it had only been cleared the previous night with a crew turning up at 5pm and working solidly for 5 hours. There’s going to be plenty of firewood this winter.

Almost at the same lock that we’d met them on our way down to London, we pulled in alongside the fuel boat, “Bordesley” Jules Fuels Southern, which was looking particularly gorgeous having just won first prize at the Braunston Historic Boat show.

Bridge over original line of Oxford Canal, Rugby

Another obstacle was discovering the pounds (short stretches of canal between locks) being empty. This happened on several of the flights of locks and despite Ian’s best efforts to refill these sections, the boat still got stuck and we just had to wait until we were floating again. We actually think that our boat has a draft of about two foot, so that kind of shows how low these water levels have got. The worst flight by far was the eleven locks at Atherstone which took us twice as long to get through. Mainly because the bywash at the top lock was out of use and feeder from the reservoir was stopped, so there was no extra water to maintain the levels.

We shared a few locks with a young couple whose boat was positively festooned with raspberries and loganberries overhanging the sides. It was so tempting to reach across and nab one but having complimented them on the display, they gave us a tub of fruit. As exchange is no robbery, I returned the favour with a slice of my rich fruit cake and some Cheshire cheese to nibble with it (originally it would have been Wensleydale as it’s one of Ian’s family’s Yorkshire’isms)

We even shared a lock with the current owner of a boat we’d previously seen in a bit of a state on the Leeds & Liverpool. In July 2023 it was a brand new boat that had sunk in a lock and been refloated. It was lovely to see it on the move again, but sadly, this owner had no idea that it had previously been an insurance write off. He had found watermarks and damp smells inside the boat, which had made him wonder as to the cause, but he knew nothing of the unfortunate event and it seems that there is no legal obligation to inform a purchaser of any previous incidents, which I find quite concerning.

You tend to be extra careful in locks when you see and hear about such situations. I don’t know what it is about this trip, but we saw least one wreck near every town we passed through.

We did have to keep moving at quite a pace and we thought our mission to get on to the Macclesfield Canal was going to fail when we heard that Aston Lock (near Stone in Staffordshire), which already had a planned stoppage on it in a few days time, had been closed early due to low water levels. Well we honestly felt like that was it. But then, thankfully, the levels recovered enough and the lock reopened and the boat got through …just! But not so lucky at the Meaford flight, when Ian was actually solo boating for a few days and got stuck.

As I type this, we have had a few rain showers but unfortunately it’s not enough and a lot of the northern end of the canal system has got planned closures within a few weeks. It does mean that they will lift some mooring restrictions, so at least we won’t have to keep trying to move around. Just to be on the safe side, we have asked for a mooring overstay, as we need to stay put for at least a few weeks while Heather recovers from yet another surgery – yep, she’s finally getting that right knee replaced.

We still have plenty of plans for this year both with the boat (water levels permitting), the van and a very, very big ship!