Day 9

20 miles: 12 locks: Another extra crew member (Mollie the black dog) 1.5 bottles Brasso remaining: 7+ litres of Pimms

Tonight we are moored along a very pretty part of the Oxford Canal, we had the doors open while Matthew and I ate dinner, after finishing for the day. It is really tranquil. There is a quaint cafe by the water, it had lots of little tables and few odd items in a barn, including an old fashioned pram and lots of cushions and bedding. There were also several caravans and tents, so we're not quite sure what it was! 

It has been another slow day, the Oxford Canal is so busy. We spent ages waiting for fuel and to go through some of the locks. We spent most of the day trying to catch up with yesterday's schedule. We are probably about a day behind where we should be. However, despite that, we have had lovely weather, and the scenery is lovely. 

I made some lemon curd this morning to go with our pancakes, I had some lemons that we needed to use.. It tasted really good, and was easy, even on gas. I do find it harder judging cooking, with gas it seems to be more guesswork than electric. However, I'm managing okay, and I'm used to the confined space. We had an extra crew member again shortly after breakfast, Mollie the black dog! She hopped on the deck and had a bit of a sniff around but didn't make it inside like Maisie. She then tried again a short while later around the hatch in our bedroom while I was polishing the brass vents! I did do a lot of cleaning today, it's all looking really good. 

Anthony and Charlotte enjoyed pushing open the lock gates - working together they are quite strong, but some were a bit too heavy. They also love foraging for blackberries, sometimes they'll hop off the boat and instead of helping Matthew, they'll be amongst the hedgerows, hunting out fruit. They really are having a great time, I thought they might be a bit bored by now, but they are still having fun. We did bring lots of creative things to make, games to play etc. So they always have something they can do, if they don't want to sit on the roof or help out.

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So, tomorrow will hopefully bring us to Oxford, and possibly the beginning of our travels on the River Thames. It feels like we are getting closer to home but there's still quite a lot of travelling left to do.