So this is how it goes. We plan to do the Four Counties Ring (including Chester) in August, turning north from the wedding spot. Pete gets accepted for a specialist church role and has to go to Windermere for training and Elizabeth would prefer to have Bella a few days on her own somewhere she knows. So, ditch the FC Ring idea, travel north and return to Hillmorton.
So we have to go south a bit from Priors Hardwick, the wedding stop, just to turn around. We aim to turn around at Fenny Compton, an hour south, and go north again. But the winding place was blocked. So we moored up instead, had a fun pub dinner and decided to go another few hours or so and 7 locks south to turn around at Cropredy, take on water and empty waste. As we approached Cropredy, the boaters' news is that it is full of boats. Chokka, ready for the famous Cropredy Folk Festival (think Fairport Convention). And, having made the decision to go to dear Croppo, we'd made a date with friends and had decided to moor overnight anyway, so moorings became an important issue.
So we did what we do. We moored up at the first available mooring, just below Varney's lock and a lovely mile walk from the centre of town. Then we looked at the moorings sign : 14 days.
"Shall we stay?" "Good plan!"
So here we are. Elizabeth is in a familiar place and Pete travels next week from nearby Banbury. And, we do the festival fringe!
