Cruise Data Year 2005 Annual Mileage 1321 Locks used 779 Engine hours run 1338 Diesel (Ltrs) used 1598 Cost of Gas £139 Cost of Coal £274 Cost of Pump-Out £275 Maintenance Costs £1602

The aim this year was to do the south, and we did. We started by leaving the Macc and heading off up the Trent & Mersey as far as the Middlewhich branch and then cutting across on to the Shroppie and turning south again heading for Birmingham and the Grand Union canal. It was a nice cruise in the Spring with not too many boats about and nice weather to go with it.

The approach to Birmingham was via Wolverhampton, a new route for us but not too stressful and a nice mooring in Wolverhampton. Then it was into Birmingham and the start of the Grand Union, with the long haul, and many heavy locks down to London. The cruise was very quiet not many boats but we did have a loose exhaust, which plagued us for the rest of the summer. We went through London and Little Venice and headed for the River Lee and Stort, nice rivers, once you get out of the London suburbs and well worth a cruise. Once back in London we stopped in Limehouse Basin for sight seeing and then did an early Sunday morning cruise through central London (just after the bombing on the tube and bus). We stopped off at Brentford and went round the circuit again to Little Venice and stopped there for a couple of days, before returning to Brentford and back onto the river. Next stop was the river Wey, which again is an interesting cruise, but as always the Basingstoke canal was closed due to a lack of water, so we were unable to explore it. Back on the Thames we headed for Reading, spending some time in Henley, which we liked very much. At Reading we stocked up with food at the riverside Tesco and then went on the Kennet & Avon canal making for Bristol. It is a long flog and the number and poorly maintained locks didn’t help our enjoyment. But once you get past Hungerford things look better and Bath and Bristol make the whole trip worth while, until you realise that you have to go back the way you came, all those locks again!!

Once back on the Thames we headed north and followed it to the end of navigation in Lechlade, a very pretty run, if a bit desolate at times, but we would do it again. Back at Oxford we turned north again, and were glad to come across our first narrow lock for some time, it was a pleasure to savour. This part of the Oxford canal we had not done and really enjoyed it, it took us back to Napton on the Hill thus completing our ring and summer cruise for 2005.

Janice enjoyed the Thames so much that we will go back next year but the other way round, it was better than we had expected and we met far fewer boats than we thought we would, it was nice having all the locks done for you by friendly lock-keepers.

We are not sure about the K&A but do know that we will not be in any rush to go there again, one thing it does have though is plenty of BW service points and pump-outs, I would say more than anywhere else on the network.

We did meet lots of old friends and made some new ones, all of which made for a good time with lots of wine being consumed and good food eaten, all in the name of being sociable of course.

Take Five did very well, apart from the exhaust rattle which it took me all summer to sort out, it is now though (he hopes).

The main topic of conversation on the cut this summer was the BW consultation paper on the new proposed licence fees, which would put “continuous cruisers” into a higher band making us pay nearly three times more than we pay now. We found an action group had been started in London and soon joined them and passed the word on to all those we met. We now hope that all the work the group has put in pays off and BW back down.

So we are now settled down for the winter and will soon be planning next years summer cruise, so watch this space for detail.