Today was the first full day on my own. So I took it steady. First a walk after breakfast, to stretch the legs, and wait for Heather who was dropping off some stuff I forgot, on her way past.

 

It was a gorgeous spring morning to be walking along a canal in the middle of England. Early enough that there weren’t many boats moving, but late enough that the sun was up in a blue sky peppered with fluffy white clouds. And then a woodpecker starts tapping away in the woods next to the towpath. Then it was back to the boat to move it closer to the car park at the Wharf Inn. Heather arrived just as I did – perfect timing.

 

 

Just a short chug to our favourite mooring spot in the “wiggles”, a part of the Oxford Canal which has no locks and follows the contours, meaning some extravagant “wiggles”. There are times when a part of the canal that is 30 minute cruising time away is only 5 minutes walk across a field.

So this is where we are tonight. After a little lunch – I took Sam out for a longer walk through some classic rolling English countryside. With fields of rape all around.

I am beginning to learn some of the challenges of single-handed boating and they are not always exclusively boating related. Tonight’s challenge, cooking for one. The actual cooking part isn’t the problem, it’s the quantities. At least it was the veg that I massively over estimated. I think I blew past my “5-a-day”.  With dinner over, and the washing up done … and there’s something else you learn when single-handed, you have to cook AND wash-up! (I feel a list coming on for a future post) So after that, I completely lost track of time playing with WordPress. Sam had to remind me that she does occasionally need to go outside to answer the call of nature. She does that by nudging my hand, and then walking away a few steps, then she looks back to see if I’m following. I got the message, eventually.