Sunday 29 June 2014

Meeting a Tortoise - Sunday 29th June

We had a late start for us today and meandered down the cut watching the gongoozlers at the bridges and passing 4 separate well behaved Stag Party boats and 3 day boats some of whom were still learning the ropes.

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At Hayford Wharf we passed some more gongoozlers this time having morning coffee at the cafe next to Oxfordshire Narrowboats yard.

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We stopped for water just after the bridge and as we moved off a couple on the boat coming the other way were waving at us. It was not until they were almost past that we recognised Angela and Michael of Nb. Levik. We had a quick chat and they said that London had been particularly difficult for mooring. The picture shows them disappearing through the bridge hole.IMG_4472

At the next lock we had to wait whilst a boat was coming up and started talking to the people on the boat in front waiting to go down. It turned out that we both were aiming for the same mooring spot and we eventually pulled up behind them. They had a miniature “Jimmy” called Cressy after Tom Rolts famous boat and the two dogs ended up playing with one another on the tow path. Later we shared a bottle of wine and chatted away the evening. Don and Judy have called their boat Nb. Angonoka after the rare breed of Tortoise found in Madagascar where Don had spent several years breeding them to go back into the wild for the  Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

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The canal here looks more like a river as it meanders its way down towards the Thames with plenty of wildlife and the odd Kingfisher.

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