Oddingley

 With a much shorter trip to the boat that before, we set off in good time, just after 9.30 and were at the marina just over an hour and a half later. The roads were definitely much busier that when we travelled up from Cornwall last weekend but there were no unexpected delays. The standard satnav route begins with just over half an hour of country roads, with some very tight bends, to take us to the M4 motorway. After skirting Swindon we leave the M4 and take a mostly dual carriageway across gto the M5. At the Air Balloon junction there was the usual queue but it moved smoothly so not an undue problem but perhaps it will be rather longer when traffic returns to more normal levels, especially in summer holidays. The final leg was along the M5 until we reached the Droitwich intersection.

We did not have any definite plan for the rest of the day, after we had unloaded the cart, but in the end we could not resist setting off after lunch for a short trip - we only have a few days before we need to return home (now in Devizes!)

The two main problems we discovered were that the Webasto water heater would not fire up (much the same as last year) and that the fuel gauge was registering a reading. Mike dipped the tank and found that it was almost empty even though we had left it almost full and with the heater fully switched off. So we are a bit puzzled about this.

We untied from our pontoon around 2 o'clock and headed across the marina to the service point and filled up with diesel - 167 litres, so quite an expensive loss.

After coming out of the marina we turned left to go up the three locks gto Hanbury Junction. A boat was just leaving the lock which was helpful except that we discovered that they had not filled the side pond. This meant that by the time we had taken out a deep lockful from the next shirt pound we could not get over the top cill until Christine had run some water down. By then a volunteer lock keeper arrived - the two on today prefer to work just the top two locks.

After several attempts, Mike eventually coaxed the boat over the cill. He proceeded rather cautiously as the pound was still very low and indeed, became stuck on the bottom half way to the second lock! More water needed and soon we were able to proceed.The final short pound was a bit fuller as the keepers were in action but did say that for some reason they knew not, they were having unusual problems with the water level.

After clearing the three locks we turned right at Hanbury Junction in the direction of Worcester  - still no definite plan! Christine had lit the stove earlier since the central heating was not working and so we had to steer rather carefully through the bridge holes to avoid damage to the chimney - we normally remove the chimney for cruising but this means letting the fire go out. Fortunately the bridges on this canal have a higher clearance than some. We even managed to pass through Dunhampstead Tunnel without incident!

At Dumhampstead Wharf, shortly after the tunnel, we spotted a boat called Inheritance. This would not normally be exceptional nor worth a photo in the blog but there has been a light hearted thread on Canal Forums about with name such as this. We had not noticed one before . . . 

We moored up opposite Oddingley Church as we have done in the past, surprised that there were already several boats already moored here. A little later the sun came back out for short periods.

Having moved house twice since we last cruised we are having to think carefully to remember where things live on the boat!