Frozen Aynho doesn't stop Bella

Here we are, New Year's Eve. This morning was bright and frozen, but we are determined to make it to Cropredy, where we expect to celebrate New Year's with Dom, Helen and various other boat nutters. For once, we were the ice breaker, rather than someone else starting it for us. A little slow through Aynho weir lock, as along the way, we managed to pick up an entire bicycle tyre around the prop. Pete stuck his hands into frozen canal water down the weed (!) hatch to fetch it out and all was finally clear. Somehow he's still warm, though Elizabeth made fresh coffee and served our homemade chocolate fondu biscuits to help out. (Chocolate fondu biscuits: left over chocolate fondu (this time made with rum), one egg, enough self raising wholewheat flour to get sticky and paste like, spoonfull by spoonfull on tray in gas marked 6 oven and hey presto! Yumsville.)

Short Reg trip to Oxford then on to Aynho

A little trip in Reg (via TKMaxx) to Oxford and we were on our way north again. Ravenspur had set out already, looking forward to going to the Raindeer in Banbury. We made our way to Aynho, watching the frost set in.... We had another toasty night aboard and finished up watching The Thomas Crown Affair (Peirce Brosnan). Lovely.

Dec 28th and we're back at Heyford

Pete and Dom walked in to Heyford Wharf to have David Dare say, "Well I see it is the Rugby contingent!" We moored up just after lunch and then collected Reg who had been parked up in Heyford ready to be needed. A drive to Banbury meant shopping lists dealt with, a little road rage managed and the happy return to Bella and Ravenspur. Too cold to walk to the pub, we took advantage of Ravenspur's wonderful Bloody Marys. Toasty night with our iron stoves!

Moored up at the Rock of Gibraltar

Here we are, moored up at the Rock of Gibraltar pub in Enslow. Apparently, the area was called Gibraltar and the pub was made of local stone... Anyway, you can just see Ravenspur, a lighter green, moored up just ahead of us. Dom and Helen kindly moored first and left just the right amount of space for us. We had hoped to have dinner but realised that on Sundays, they only do lunches!! So we had an afternoon of pints and chat. Great.

Helping Ravenspur to float backwards

On the 28th, we left Thrupp, our friends on Ravenspur inTow. Not exactly - but tied up next to us, as you can see in this phot. Ravenspur had got as far as Thrupp and decided not to go into Oxford, where we had gone. Therefore, we had turned around for the return journey, but they hadn't. So, we tied alongside and we travelled forward to the winding hole and they floated along backwards. Fun! We let each other through the Lift Bridge, then each facing the right way, made our own independent way to Enslow. Well, not quite independent, as we helped each other through Lift bridges and locks.

Christmas day

Here we are, Scrabble after a hefty and wonderful meal. Pete, of course, is taking the piccy! Notice, this is Super Scrabble. Jeffrey won, followed closely by James! The Nativity set is up and reminding, just to the right of this shot. We started our day with a wonderful service at St Columba's, delighted to see friends and to enjoy Carla's carefully thought out and moving service. James and Jeffrey arrived just after 1pm and we started with cream cheese, caviar and fizz. Salmon next, then organic turkey roll with bacon (prepared by Feller and daughter, Oxford covered market), followed by our Christmas pud which Pete and Elizabeth made back in October. Chocs, cheese and port, all was well!!

Thrupp for Boxing Day

We left Oxford late this morning and made our way to Thrupp. We had a fabulous Christmas with James and Jeffrey, ending up with a relatively evenly spaced Super Scrabble game, won by Jeffrey with James in close second. We're now moored up near our friends Dom and Helen who have made their way down the Oxford canal for their Christmas cruise from Rugby. We'll be travelling back north sort of together, planning on having a meal tomorrow night at the Rock of Gibraltar pub in Enslow.

Pictures to follow!