I’ve spent many a happy hour strolling along canal towpaths and riverbanks enjoying watching narrowboats pass by. I’ve even seen 3 of the 7 ‘Wonders of the Waterways’ yet had never been on a British narrow-boating holiday, that is until now.
Our adventure started one bright and sunny October morning when we drove to the Anglo Welsh base at Eynsham near Witney in Oxfordshire to pick up our narrowboat for a four night break along the River Thames. After loading up with supplies from a nearby supermarket, we arrived at the boatyard in the early afternoon. Here we were greeted by Jo and Dan who suggested we temporarily move the car close to where the boat was moored so that we could load all our luggage on board. As regular readers will already know, we are a family that never manages to travel very lightly!
Setting eyes on Cunningham, our 65ft Admiral class narrowboat with her blue livery and gold detailing, we couldn’t wait to climb on board to explore our home for the next five days.
With two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a lounge/dining area and fully equipped galley kitchen, our boat was so long that it almost felt like a train. Bed linen, towels and high quality pots, pans and utensils were included, and we adored it all.
The boat even had central heating, a wood burning stove, Wi-Fi, a TV, radio and DVD player making it almost a home from home and very spacious for our crew of four, comprising myself, my husband and two adult sons.
After loading everything on board, we were given full operating instructions of how everything worked by Dan who was very helpful. Our handover started at the bow (front of the boat) all the way through to the stern at the rear. We learnt everything from making engine checks and using the tiller to how to change gas bottles, etc. There was quite a lot to take in but with a manual on board to refer to we were quite happy. Handover complete, we felt reasonably confident and were soon edging out of our mooring to make a mid-afternoon start downstream towards Oxford.
For the first 35 minutes, my husband (David) and older son (Mark) took turns at the tiller whilst I sat comfortably at the front of the boat enjoying the slow pace of the river as it meandered through the reeds.
It felt so tranquil motoring along at four miles an hour, enjoying the fresh air and the ever changing views.
At Eynsham we encountered the first of two manually operated locks – further downstream they are all automatic (self-service button operated). There was a lock-keeper on duty and he showed us how to operate the sluices before opening the heavy wooden lock doors. My job was to hold the boat steady with the foredeck rope as the water emptied out of the lock.
With the first lock under our belts, I took my turn at the helm needing to remember that I had to turn the tiller the opposite way to where I wanted the boat to go! This took a bit of thinking about at first but thankfully I managed without veering towards the bank.
Along the next stretch we were closely observed by a herd of cows and slightly further on spotted a heron perched on a tree branch. It took a little over an hour to reach Kings Lock which had a large blue sign indicating that it was a self-service lock with no-one on duty.
As there was another boat already in the lock we moored close by until it was our turn to go through. On entering the lock we were observed by a couple sitting on a bench who waved to us as we passed by. This lock was slightly deeper than Eynsham and it was actually fun to be able to open and close the paddles and sluice gates ourselves.
I then moved onto my other role of galley maid by serving up buttered currant tea cakes and mugs of tea as we chugged slowly along in the late afternoon sun through the beautiful Oxford countryside to Godstow Lock, arriving at 17.05.
As we approached the lock there was a riverside traffic light system in operation as construction work to the riverbank was being carried out. The sign indicated that the work would be completed by September so it was obviously running slightly behind schedule.
Godstow was another self-service lock and we were already getting the hang of it all by now, passing through within 25 minutes. At this lock we had a jogger who paused for a short rest as a spectator and a family of ducks sitting on the riverbank seemed to be also looking our way.
By this time it was getting a bit chilly so we popped on our coats for the final stretch of the day into Oxford. The Thames becomes much wider after Godstow and along here we shared the river with some university rowing eights out for a practice session.
It was 18.15 by the time we arrived in Oxford where we managed to find a mooring large enough to accommodate our 65ft boat just above Osney Lock. With perfect timing, crew member number four (i.e. our younger son Simon) phoned to say that his train was just pulling into Oxford station so we explained where we had moored and within 10 minutes he had joined us on board. After having a quick tour round he was suitably impressed, after which we closed the curtains, locked up the boat and went in search of a cosy pub for dinner.
We couldn’t have found a more convenient mooring as it only took us ten minutes to walk into the centre of Oxford where we were soon tucking into steak and chips in one of Oxford’s many pubs. Back on the boat a couple of hours later we were soon warm and cosy with the central heating turned on and after a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit were snuggled up in our comfortable beds for the night.
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