Living in a hallway

This English weather just won't make up its mind. A week ago it was pretty miserable, a couple of days were that bad we just sat around reading books and even lit the fire. This week has been magnificent! We've even had a couple of Barbys. We've been traveling back towards the Thames, making new friends on the way by sharing locks as we travelled back down the Kennet and Avon. Once we reached the Thames we resumed our journey upstream to catch up with Sarah and Karl in Abingdon.  Its a picturesque market town where we spent the day exploring its historical sights.  We had tea at the Nags head after they came to scrutineer our boat, then we returned the favour by scrutineering their flat which overlooks the market square in Abingdon. On the Sunday Sarah and Karl came to meet us at our new mooring just outside Oxford.  We had a BBQ lunch on the bank of the Thames and then went for a cruise through Oxford while enjoying a few cans in the sun. We're now on the Oxf...

After nearly a fortnight on the Kennet and Avon, as a canal its a little disappointing.  There's a distinct lack of quality moorings, and heaps of shit box boats cluttering up the place.  We think this is where the hippies have to come to die. We've still managed to find some quaint villages and interesting sites to see.  One of the highlights being the beam steam engines at Crofton.  They used to pump the water to the top of the canal at Crofton to feed the system.  They're still operational and can be used as a back up to top up the system when necessary.  One of the engines is over 200 years old. An interesting feature of this canal is that it was part of the GHQ Line during the second world war.  A lot of the defence's are still in place, there are pill boxes everywhere and some of the bridges still have the concrete bollards to stop the tanks. Another unusual feature are the turf locks, there are are two remaining which are listed as Ancient...