Reflections at Crick

We have been east of Braunston tunnel travelling the wide Grand Union canal. It has been six months since we left Crick to head south for London. What a trip, what memories and pictures we do have. Now we are wondering where to go for the winter months. Here we are a bit limited because Foxton Locks are closed to save water and it is not known if they will open in the winter. There are friends here which made it feel like a home coming.
We have been keeping track of our boating friends during the summer as they travelled about the waterway navigations and elsewhere. Some have been down south on the Thames, the Wey and Kennet and Avon. Another has been east in Anglia on the Nene and Ouse while another has been up north and done the Great North Run! Yet another friend went to America, got married and returned to the boat with his bride.

Different boating at Oxford, 2007
We have decided to get a Gold Licence which allows us to navigate the rivers and canals next year. It has been a long time since we have been on the Thames. Not since 2007 in fact. There is a certain lack of water on the south Oxford so we may not be able to get down to Banbury. It would have been quick and easy to jump on a train to go home for Christmas, a short journey from there and family may have come up to see us. So we are considering a trip north to Great Haywood again. Whichever way we go we need to get past the winter stoppages at Watford, Napton or Fradley locks that are shut in November.