Idle at Lechlade

Or maybe that should be “Idyll”.
With the river rising and running fast there’ve been strong stream warnings all the way up. On Saturday we had “red boards” appearing on several reaches blossoming like desert flowers after the rain.
Still, it’s not been a problem. We’ve enjoyed watching the aircraft arriving at RAF Fairford just 4 miles away for the airshow.

I’m going to bore you now with more aircraft pictures… so look away if you’re not interested.
First the iconic British aircraft….

Avro Lancaster
Avro Vulcan
Vickers VC10
Lockheed Tristar, part of the RAF transport fleet
The Americans were well represented – transport aircraft included the ubiquitous Hercules
And the huge Boeing B-17A Globemaster

Most of these shots were captured as the planes were on approach to Fairford, flying slowly and therefore quite easy to take. The display teams were a different matter entirely…

The Red Arrows, no introduction necessary..
The Swiss national aerobatics display team, Patrouille Suisse.
From South Korea, the Black Eagles flying domestically built supersonic T-50 Golden Eagles.

Later in the evening yesterday I caught a blurey P50b Mustang doing aerobatics…..

But all is not what it seems!


It was a fine evening so George lit up the barbeque and we enjoyed a mixture of chicken, lamb chops, Cumberland sausage and salad, washed down by a bottle of wine (or two). Splendid.

It’s been quiet today, we’ve been hearing jet and prop engines on and off but with a change in the wind direction the planes have been taking off away from us. They’re already in the cloud base by the time they get anywhere near us.

We were getting a bit worried about sanitary arrangements while we’re stuck here, so George and I visited the caravan site just across the field and arranged use of their facilities. It still means carting full loo tanks across the meadow and full water bottles back, but that’s so much better than running out!

For a change of pace, this afternoon George and I took the dogs to the head of the navigation at Inglesham Roundhouse, then on to the village church.

Inglesham Roundhouse, head of the navigable Thames, confluence of the River Coln, and start of the derelict Thames and Severn Canal.

Ten minutes across a field took us to the village, just a couple of farms and a venerable old church.

St. John the Baptist, Inglesham
Although no longer used for services, the church is maintained by The Churches Conservation Trust
  





The main structure dates from very early in the 13th C, with alterations and additions made up to the early 1500’s. The church has remained much the same since this period, apart from the rebuilt bell-cote, a mere 300 years old!




The interior is stark, the murals which once decorated the walls have long since faded.
The altar
It must have been inspiring in it’s heyday, but now it feels a little sad, with the weight of 800 years of worship hanging in the air and penetrating the old oak of the pews. A bit spooky, to be honest…..

With a couple of days of relatively dry weather the water is starting to behave. This evening most of the stream advice between here and Oxford has been downgraded to “Stream Decreasing”. We’ll give it till Wednesday morning to settle down a bit more then we’ll give it a go.
It’s still a bit fast to negotiate those tight bends in a narrowboat going downstream.

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