Acquaintances old and new.

11.4 Miles, 0 Locks. Now at Hawkesbury Junction.

Well it was a beautiful day for cruising but the wind felt like it was coming straight off the Arctic circle. Not so many boats on the move today.

The biggest swan clutch we have ever seen. 12 cygnets.

Other than seeing the largest clutch of cygnets from one pair of swans there wasn’t too much else to catch our eye. Upon arriving at Hawkesbury Junction the first familiar sight was that of Iain and Alison on coal/diesel boat Gosty Hill servicing the permanently moored boats. We had a good chat with them before they headed off in a Southerly direction.

Our old diesel supplier, Iain and Alison on Gosty Hill.

We had a late lunch and then went for a walk to see if Nb Lazydays had arrived. At this stage there were still plenty of moorings available. With no sign of Alan and Frances we walked back to the boat via the local convenience store.  About 5pm we thought that we should go for another stroll. We had no sooner left the boat when we walked past a couple going in the opposite direction. I casually remarked to Dot “Do we know who we are looking for” to which the response was “No”. With this we turned to look back at the couple we had just walked by and they did likewise and we all burst out laughing as it was Alan and Frances.

Alan and Frances of Nb Lazydays with us at the Greyhound pub Hawkesbury junction.

They had not long been moored up but where there had been plenty of moorings 2 – 3 hours earlier they found themselves having to moor some distance away. We then retreated to the Greyhound pub for the next 3 or 4 hours chatting on all sorts of subjects. It was a pleasure to meet you both after all this time.

Bridge 15 at Ansty on the Oxford Canal as mentioned by Kev and Ann on Nb 4Evermore yesterday. We reported this to BW 12 months ago and received a reply that as it was private property they could do nothing until it collapsed. I hope there is no boat under it when it does.

A total of 39.80 Miles, and 24 Locks on Granny Buttons.