Narrowboat

Tyler did some great internet research and booked us a week on the Acumen II out of Nottingham while his folks were visiting. We took the train from Oxford to Nottingham in the morning, grocery shopped in town when we arrived, then took a taxi to where the boat was parked. One minor gliche--the taxi driver had no clue what we were talking about when we told him the name of this (it turns out) totally obscure marina way outside of town and right next to the nuclear plant...uh oh, we all thought to ourselves...what have we gotten into??

But, we eventually found the boat, and the funny owners (Mac and Sue) showed us around all 200 square feet, and then snuck us out of the marina despite a red light for flood warning. Great thing, too, because otherwise we could have been stuck at the nuclear plant indefinitely...They "sailed" with us up past the flood gates towards the canal, got us through one lock, then left us on our own, shouting "remember--canal boating is a contact sport!!" as they jogged up the path and out of sight.

The inside of the boat was super nice and new. The furniture all moved around to accommodate TV watching, reading, and lots and lots of playing cards!!

One of our first locks...

A couple of nights we moored out in the countryside, but mostly we stayed in little villages like this one. They usually had "boaters" facilities, sometimes showers and toilets (though we had a pretty good setup on the boat, too) and always great pubs.


We walked from the boat to this little village about a mile off the canal called Barton-Under-Needwood that had a great old church and a coop grocery store.

A rough life...

Back in Oxford, we had our last English pint at the Turf Tavern after walking through Christ Church Meadow. It was great to have visitors--thanks Millers!!