25
June 2005
Calcutt to the Engine Arm & back
(8.5 miles, 20 locks, 7.1 engine hours)
An
introductory cruise, but a bit longer than usual.On board we have Oliver,
Joshua and George plus their parents. The boys are full of energy and
the idea was to give them plenty of exercise through the day. We reckoned
that the Calcutt Locks and then the 7 Napton Locks up to the Engine Arm
on the Oxford Canal would be a good and tiring run. How wrong we were!
At the end of 20 locks, the boys still had enough energy to want to go
to the school disco that night.
We had good weather - not too hot, not too cold - and the boys soon picked up how the locks worked. They were full of questions, even young George. Ian let Joshua and Oliver have a go at steering (under supervision of course). Going up Napton Locks took a long time as there was quite a queue in front of us, including a group of South Africans on their first trip who were having a bit if difficulty keeping everything on the boat.
We got to the top of the locks and whilst I waited by the open lock we had just come out of Ian turned Per Angusta at the Engine Arm and came straight back in. We went down the locks decidely quicker than we came up. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with the boys and think that they enjoyed themselves too. What about mum & dad? Well, there wasn't much for them to do as the boys took charge of all the locks etc. so they had a good rest.