http://duchessomnium.com Island to island Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:56:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I spent the next four days in Oxford, sleeping in my ex-husband’s guest room.   He and I passed long mornings at Starbucks, sitting at an outside table and watching the north Oxford world of aging dons, pregnant women and precocious children go by.  We fretted over cappuccino about our Baby, ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2347 The new boaty friends we met on the Grand Union canal were adamant that if we arrived late in the day we would never get a mooring in the city centre.  They advised stopping short (but not too close, they said, because it gets very dodgy); the best plan would be ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2328 The moorings at Brentford were not at all scenic, crowded by low rent flats overlooking the canal on one side, and a large office complex on the other. The most charming feature was an untidy coots' nest floating on some detritus by a boat tied to the opposite bank. But I ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2296 We left Hampton Court knowing that there were only a few miles and one lock before the Thames, now almost at its mouth, no longer meanders comfortably downstream, but instead ebbs and flows with the estuary it is about to join. When in a rash moment down the pub I had ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2268 The crew and I meant to spend the day at Hampton Court Palace, but as we were waiting for the ticket office to open I took a phone call that changed my plans. My younger daughter, ever the Baby of the family, though she is 18, has given me some of the ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2251 Pangolin stayed moored up by the Eton playing fields on the sixth day of our cruise; the Bursar gained an extra £6 mooring fee, the crew spent the day at Windsor Palace, and I got a much needed rest and a day alone. The following morning the journey downstream from Windsor ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2210 We set off in mist and heavy rain, and the emotional boaty weather was not a lot better.  Mr Crew was at the helm (narrowboats are driven from the back) and I was up front with the binoculars – not concentrating on what was ahead, as I probably ought to ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2170 The crew were up so early that over breakfast I had to make a unilateral declaration that there was to be no talking or any activity of any sort aboard Pangolin before 6 am, except for essential trips to the loo (or, if like my crew, you insist on boaty ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2144 The day began badly and got worse.  My crew has been mutinous and I have had some difficulty reasserting my authority as Captain.  It seems that proper captains do not ground the boat because they are too busy exclaiming over sweet little new born baby cygnets to notice a sand bar. Mr ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2136 The crew were up very early and eager to get started.  We were off before 8 and in Oxford by noon.  I did most of the driving, and our route took us along the narrow canal and through 4 locks before we reached the centre of Oxford.  There isn't a lot ... http://duchessomnium.com/?p=2104