Trains, Swans and Traffic lights

We’re back home on the boat after an epic trip to Criccieth. And after a rather challenging train journey to Oxford on nearly the hottest day on record!

 

 

The Llyn Peninsula (North Wales) is a favourite family destination and tends to have a bit of a microclimate. This means that the weather is changeable but often better than inland. We had an epic time exploring some old haunts including Aberdaron and going up to Blaenau Ffestiniog on the Ffestiniog Steam Railway. Our train journey home on the national network didn’t go quite as well!

The forecast was for the hottest day on record and some trains had already been cancelled. Our train ended up with standing room only and someone collapsed from heat stroke in the vestibule section. They were fine, but this area of the carriages is not air conditioned and gets up to 40+ degrees. We were then held up at Banbury for nearly 2 hours as the rails had buckled. I tried to take the dog for a walk in the shade, but the platform thermometer said 42, so we quickly returned to our seats! The boatyard in Jericho, that was “boat-sitting” Heron for us, was due to close at 4pm, we made it with 15 minutes to spare. The 3 hour journey had taken over 6 hours. So, after sending Ian to fetch some groceries, we untied and headed out of the city to the cool of the countryside.

That evening we moored above Sandford Lock and enjoyed the cool breeze in the pub garden! As the next day was due to be another scorcher, we made an early start and found a little island to moor up to. We hid in the boat in some shade and, like the rest of the UK, watched the thermometer rise, which eventually topped 40 degrees.

The following morning, we were treated to a spectacle called the Swan Upping. It’s an annual event on the River Thames that dates back to around 12th century when birds were claimed and marked by the Crown and anyone else who had the rights to them. Cygnets were a source of food and collected to be fattened for the banquet table. These days the focus is on conservation and education, the Swan Uppers check the health and numbers of swans and cygnets along the River Thames from Sunbury to Abingdon, originally it was from London to Henley. The Uppers take about five days to do the 79 miles in traditional wooden skiffs dressed in the livery of the Crown or their Company.

On locating a family of swans, they shout “All-Up!” and the boats converge on the brood and surround it, gradually closing in until the birds can be lifted from the water. The swans are then examined, marked and released. Originally, the two Companies, the Vintners and the Dyers, made their own marks on the birds’ beaks, but today they use their own rings and the Crown’s swans are left unmarked.

 

 

 

After this excitement we headed on into Reading to shop at Tesco’s. Yes, there is free mooring by the entrance, so we stocked up the cupboards (please notice the beer on the top of the trolley!) and turned onto the link for the Kennet and Avon Canal. This is our route to Bristol, but first we had to get through the city centre and the only traffic lights that I know of on the system- over the years we have perfected the method of creeping the bow of the boat up to the button so that I can press it without falling in or being left stranded on the fence!

 

 

Cruising through the centre of a city is fascinating; are the gongoozlers (boater’s name for people watching them) watching us or are we watching them? The architecture of the city makes an interesting contrast to the softness of the countryside. But the closeness can get a little claustrophobic and I find it a relief, like a breathe of fresh air, to get back into the open landscapes again.