 |
| A derelict Top Lock circa 1970 |
Having spent a
wonderful summer in newly-discovered East Anglia, I set off on 2nd
August for north Oxfordshire which involved driving up the A12
towards Ipswich, turning off onto the A14 and following it all the
way until it disappeared into the M1/M6, and then heading off towards
Rugby before turning south to Southam and my ultimate destination of
Claydon. Luckily the roads weren't too busy for a Saturday and I made
the 150 mile journey in exactly 3 hours (which is what I'd
predicted). However, I then had to sit in the car for twenty minutes
until the rain eased off enough for me to get out of the car, put on
my waterproofs and walk the quarter of a mile up the tow path!
Phoebe has put her
lovely canal-side property back on the market again and wanted help
tidying it up ready for an open house event that she was going to
host in a bid to drum up interest. The property would really suit a
young, enthusiastic couple of eco-warriors as it has very green
credentials, being entirely off-grid. The main disadvantage is its
lack of vehicular access, so that everything has to be taken up the
towpath or consigned to a friendly narrowboat negotiating the locks.
This has made it very hard for Phoebe, who is only a few years
younger than me and lives by herself – it really needs a couple to
make it work.
I set to almost
straight away weeding the brick paths and dead-heading the plants in
the flower beds in front of the house – it always amazes me how
much better things look with just these simple measures taken. I only
had limited time to help get things shipshape as I was due to go to
Cropredy on 7th August for the three-day music festival,
and we were going to the Green Gathering at Chepstow on Sunday, 3rd
August.
To promote the sale of
her house, Phoebe had had some T-shirts and postcards printed with a
picture of the house on the front and the words 'You too can live the
eco-dream...' and on the back a few details and the price. Her idea
was for us to wear the T-shirts to the Gathering and distribute
postcards as we were going to meet up with some people from the WWOOF
organisation and, hopefully, some fellow hosts and WWOOFers.
We set off at about
9.00am on Sunday morning, leaving Malin, the lurcher, behind in case
it got too hot, and made quite good time to Chepstow racecourse where
the Gathering was being held. It cost us £25 each for a day ticket,
and that was with a £5 reduction for being WWOOF members, so I was
quite disappointed with what I found. I'd expected it to be very
similar to the Big Green Gathering that used to be held on the
Mendips and where Jeni and I had stewarded several years ago, but
this was just a shadow of its former self. There was a campaigns
area, a craft area and a permaculture area plus a healing field and
all the usual wholefood outlets, but there were none of the large
venues for music and debate and we found no sign of any eco-build
ideas such as straw-bale houses, etc. However, the main
disappointment was that we couldn't find the WWOOF stand – we
walked round and round and eventually asked at the Information Tent.
They had never even heard of WWOOF and professed not to know who had
booked pitches or where they might be located! By now we were both
getting a trifle grumpy so took ourselves off to the permaculture
area to enquire at their information point. It was the same story
there, too – they had not heard of WWOOF, nor did they know where
they were until we spotted a 'talk' advertised on a chalkboard
outside a tipi which just said 'WWOOF 4-5pm' – no explanation of
what WWOOF stood for or anything. By now I was ranting loudly about
'piss-ups in breweries' and bemoaning the fact that I had allied
myself to a bunch of incompetents – what a glorious, golden
opportunity missed! There should have been a major WWOOF presence
there as they could have targeted exactly the type of people they
want to reach, but they didn't even have a promotional stall. We
wandered round a bit more and had a very tasty curry sitting on the
grass (the only high spot of the day) before deciding that we would
have to leave if we were to get back in time to give Malin a walk and
her food. We never got to the talk as the original time slot for the
meeting was 2-4pm not 4-5pm; Phoebe had driven a round trip of 160
miles and wasted a whole day that could have been better spent in the
garden and had given out just two postcards – we were furious!
Phoebe sent an email
when we got home and eventually WWOOF got back to us with an apology
and the offer of refunding our entrance fee. They had not been told
of the time slot alteration until midday on Sunday and couldn't
contact us to let us know, but it still rankles that they weren't
even there for the rest of the three-day event.
 |
| Early morning canal |
I worked out my
frustrations on the garden over the next few days and then, at just
gone 7.00am on Thursday I set off down the towpath with my rucksack
on my back towards Cropredy. It was a glorious morning, despite the
dire weather forecast, and on my way I met a couple of canal people
that I got to know last year. One of them, Jason, invited me on board
to have a cuppa to break my journey (it was only about three miles,
but felt longer!) before I walked on and met up with my sister,
brother-in-law and the rest of the gang – just in time for
breakfast rolls!
 |
| Evening festival sky |
Cropredy (or 'Fairport'
as the locals call it) has become an annual event on my calendar and
I really enjoy the company and the eclectic mix of music. This year
we were treated to the likes of Waterboys, The Wonder Stuff, The
Australian Pink Floyd Show (who were amazing despite the torrential
rain we had to endure while they were on stage) and.....Chas 'n'Dave!
Whoever thought they were a good choice was seriously mis-informed,
although I did find my feet tapping along to all the old
boogie-woogie favourites in spite of myself. Alongside these
well-known names there were other more folk-based artists, and the
whole festival was thoroughly enjoyable. However, on Sunday morning
we had to strike camp in the pouring rain and decided to forego our
usual farewell breakfast roll at one of the venues in the village.
Unfortunately, Phoebe's open house event was scheduled for this
Sunday and did not drum up the interest that she'd hoped for – only
4 people came to seriously look around and several friends turned up
to give moral support.
The next day the
weather was dry again but with a keen wind and Phoebe and I got back
out in the garden removing ivy from one wall and a huge clematis from
another. Unfortunately for me, it was far too windy to have a
bonfire, so I had to leave the enormous mountain of debris that we'd
created for someone else to play with!
It didn't feel as if
I'd been there five minutes before I was repacking my bag and heading
off down the towpath to my car and the short journey back to
Cheltenham. I was very aware, as Phoebe and I left the house, that it
may very well be the last time I stay at Top Lock and it made me feel
very sad as I've enjoyed my stays there over the last few years.
 |
| Top Lock as it is today |
No comments:
Post a Comment