We woke to a sunny quiet morning, perfect for a few minutes reflection on getting older and appreciating the fact that I could still step out onto the deck, with ease and enjoy my birthday morning. Not sure if I will be saying the same after celebrating my birthday later.
We set off for Abingdon-on-Thames and had a lovely run up the river. It took us about 4 hours to get there and only a few locks. The locks were mostly uneventful and were also manned by lock-keepers, so no need for me to be running back and forth opening and closing gates and sluices.
One lock we approached with that “joyous” feeling - “the gates are open, lock-keeper waited, its gonna be a quick and easy ride” until we got there. The lock was full of canoe boats. These rowers don’t tie onto the bollards. They kind of just cling to the (filthy) sides of the lock and to each other. And as the water pours in from the front, as the sluices are opened, it feels like a disaster is about to happen. Not sure what, but it could easily involve a canoeist being overturned, or driven back into our steel hull as we were right behind them. But none of that happened and the worst was waiting for the lot of them to row out of the lock. And also give us space to overtake them before the next lock. Which we did, apologising for the wake behind us as we got past them as quick as we could.
Once in Abingdon we found a spot on an open grassy bank, with only a few minutes walk into town and we got the boat all settled in. I am pleased to say that no irate canoeists ever arrived in Abingdon and I am not questioning as to why that was.
We had to use spikes hammered into the ground at this mooring and I love to do that. Makes it feel even more “off the grid”. A lot of moorings have secured rings or even bollards to use but there is something quite rural about hammering in spikes and tying up to those.
I had done some reading/research and was keen to do a little exploring. Abingdon is a historic market town and in the 13th and 14th centuries, was an agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool, alongside weaving and the manufacture of clothing.
The area was occupied from the early to middle Iron Age and the remains of a late Iron Age and Roman defensive enclosure can be found near the town centre. Abingdon Abbey was founded around 676, giving its name to the town.
Other history of note (for us, anyway) is Old Speckled Hen ale was originally brewed by Morland's of Abingdon in 1979 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the MG factory in the town. Old Speckled Hen took its name from an experimental car called the MG Featherlight Saloon. The car's body was made of a wooden frame covered with gold-speckled black cellulosed fabric. It was used as a runaround for workers in the MG factory in Abingdon and was nicknamed the "owd speck'ld un". In 1979, the MG Factory celebrated the 50th anniversary of the MG Car Company's move from Oxford to Abingdon. They asked Abingdon brewers Morland & Co to create a special commemorative beer for the occasion, for which they would suggest the name and would also design the octagonal label. While I appreciate all the history of Abbeys and Iron Age, I loved this bit of history. Everyday is a school day!
I also enjoyed the history of the Abingdon prison, built by prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars in 1811. The prison no longer exists - in 1970 it was converted into a leisure centre and flats/townhouses. According to local legend, prior to its conversion in the 1970s, the prison was haunted by the ghost of an eight-year-old boy who, after being convicted for arson in the mid-19th century, became the youngest person in the UK to be executed by hanging…… I wonder if the estate agents disclose this bit of info in the sales pitch?
And last but not least Abingdon still continues the tradition of bun throwing ! Bun-throwing is an Abingdon tradition that began with the 1761 Coronation of King George III. This longstanding tradition of the town has local dignitaries throwing buns (as many as 5,000 buns in 2018) from the roof of the Abingdon County Hall Museum into crowds assembled in the market square below, on specific days of celebration (such as royal marriages, coronations and jubilees). The museum has a collection of the buns, dried and varnished, dating back to bun-throwings of the 19th century. To date there have been 35 bun-throwing events.
It being my birthday, I wondered if today would be the 36th bun-throwing event??
Oh and Abingdon has contributed to UK music history. The band Radiohead formed as students at Abingdon School. I did enjoy that there might be a connection between the ghost of the Abingdon prison and the lyrics of “Creep” by Radiohead.
We spent two days exploring all of this and more. The weather was glorious so we cycled all around Abingdon. I never got to try Speckled Hen Ale, which I am sorry I didn’t do, but it is no longer brewed by Morelands and the MG factory is no longer there, so things have moved on. We had a delicious meal in one of the old pubs and on the second night had a barbeque on the boat. We might not have had Old Speckled Hen Ale, but we did have a delicious bottle of red wine and we took a few minutes to appreciate the history of towns and villages like Abingdon. It was a relaxing slow two days and exactly what we love about travelling on the boat. And, following a small birthday celebration, I was still able to step up onto the deck and back down, unassisted. So perhaps we should have grabbed a couple of the Old Speckled Hen ales, invited the child-ghost on board and turned up the sound of Radiohead.
