Tied up in Cropredy.

Hello readers.

Finally after a couple of days of strong winds and rain, this morning we woke up to sunshine and not a breath of wind. I guess it was all blown out. I did not wake up leisurely though at  decent hour. I was woken up by the alarm call of a couple of Crows alongside the boat. Marmite was on her bed in the engine room, flashing her tail with such fury, that I think not only had she seen them, the Crows had seen her and that was why they were creating such a noise. All this happened at 6.15 am, so no lie in for me today. Wide awake I made us a cuppa and we sat in bed listening to the radio for an hour.

Up and about, the boat chores got done and the animals were sorted out. We prepared the boat for the off, leaving our mooring at 8.20 am. We were behind another boat as we approached the top lock at Claydon.

I stepped off the boat and went and helped with working the lock, so that the woman could move on to the next lock. We followed them down the locks and they decided to moor up after the bottom lock at Claydon, leaving us on our own for the rest of the locks down to Cropredy. We were fortunate, because boats were coming up the locks and so we just cruised straight in. A new sight for us heading to Cropredy was the new marina. This we knew about but it was out first sighting of it. We arrived at Cropredy at 10.30 am and tied up on the 24 hour moorings.

Having locked the boat up we strolled into the village to see what changes had been made since our last visit in 2009. The Bridge Stores is still there and there is also a small shop selling antiques and collectables behind the shop, this is well worth a look.

The 14th C church is an absolutely beauty.

Both the pubs are still going strong The Red Lion and The Brasenose. One new addition is the Wild Damson Cafe with its bright Green walls. With today being polling day the Village Hall has been called in to action for people to place their votes for who ever they want to be the new government. Cropredy is a lovely village and very picturesque.

On returning to the boat, it began to pour with rain and I looked like a drowned rat by the time I climbed down into the back cabin. Lunch was cooked and eaten and then it was time to take Paddy for his walk. I noticed the boat behind us from Facebook and so me being me, I just had to knock on the boat and say “Hello” to Ronni and Yogi on NB Witchcraft. It is always wonderful to put faces to names. Unfortunately the rain came down and our chat was cut short, but hopefully we will get to chat again sometime in the future.