Somerton to just south of Cropredy

A busier day today - we wanted to get to Banbury to do some shopping, so actually managed to set of (just) before 9am...

Like the previous days, the canal itself has been really quiet, but often 2 or 3 boats waiting for a lock. I wonder if we've met up with a lot of boats desperately heading back to Napton to hand them in on Saturday.

Again the weather has been very pleasant, not too hot, and not too cold - ideal for boating.

The canal through Banbury was interesting - very neat and tidy compared to the "real" canal

For the first time this trip, we've found a mooring spot with a nice circular walk for Barney - and as a bonus, a couple of (easy) Geocaches on route. Very quiet as well, though you can hear the occasional train in the distance - but this is far better than the drone of the M40.

12.5 miles, 7 locks and 1 (easy) lift bridge today.

Kidlington to Somerton

Another gentle day meandering up the Oxford Canal.

Apart from a couple of stiff lock gates, and a heavy swing bridge, managing with a minimal crew has not been a problem.

The weather has been really nice all day, not too hot, not too cold, though occasionally a slightly troublesome breeze has appeared - timed, of course, to convince the world that Vagabond is being crewed by novices!

This is Heywood Wharf - unlike many wharves, a really nice place:

We stopped for a nice lunch at the Barley Mow in Upper Heyford - so nice, that I forgot to take a photo of it...

We are currently moored in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the evening sunshine.

7.5 miles, 5 locks and 1 lift bridge today.

Thrupp to Kidlington

The Wheelers have taken over Vagabond again. Just the two of us (and Barney) this time, so don't expect such rapid progress as before.

We swapped the boat for our car at Thrupp, a lovely canalside village just north of Oxford. Following a pub lunch in the garden,

we sorted out the boat

and headed off north along the South Oxford Canal.
Four and a half miles of cruising, one lift bridge and three locks later, we are now moored at a peaceful spot near to Kirtlington.
Let's hope the sun keeps shining!

Sunday 19 August 2012 - Lechlade, River Thames to Thrupp, Oxford Canal

After a very pleasant time on the Thames going upstream and reaching Lechlade for urgent provisions, we turned around at the limit of navigation, and headed back downstream. To say we were going with the flow, was an understatement - Tuesdays heavy rain had produced a very fast current and steering is challenging at the best of times navigating the twisty bends of the Thames upper reaches, since the back end of the boat does entirely its own thing. Speed up,or slow down, had little effect and we got pushed into some ragged overhanging trees when we met another boat on a narrow bend and suffered damage to the sign-writing - there was no time or space for evasive action other than to duck inside the shelter of the boat or we would have been injured too!

We thought ourselves fortunate not to have met this barge on a narrow bend! and look at the the lower lock landings under water.

So, when we moored at Newbridge, beside a farmers field some serious rubbing down and repair work took place over the next 2 days. Our faith was restored in waterside pub food here, at The Rose Revived - good service, good food and happy to recommend the place - thank goodness.

The morning sky one day was just like a noughts and crosses board! Reminders of the Dambusters film!

Our next stop was back at Bablock Hythe, and as busy as we have ever seen it, with moored boats. No swimmers this time, but some narrowboaters are using their safety ladders to advantage.

Altogether a very enjoyable ten days on the Thames, mixed with walking stretches of the Thames Path either side of our mooring spots, - highly recommended. Our Thames trip up to Lechlade some 3 years ago, paid off hugely, as we knew where the best dog walking mooring spots were.
We duly left the Thames, at Duke's Cut, very overgrown as you approach the Oxford Canal and hiding goodness knows what in the vegetation! As we dropped down onto the Oxford canal - a queue! Our first this summer, and then along to Thrupp, it was people and boats all the way - mad dogs and Englishmen etc!

.

Monday 13 August 2012
Oxford Canal to Lechlade, River Thames

Anchor at the ready before we proceed onto the Thames!

The Olympics have finished, and the weather is back to showers again! but we have had 3 lovely days making our way upstream to Lechlade.

The flow on the Thames is very definitely there, you can see it, and certainly feel it as we swish round the sharp twists and turns - going under the low arched bridges requires concentration and a degree of good luck that another boat, and certainly not a narrow boat, appears from around a blind bend.At Newbridge, beside the Rose Revived with plenty of audience in the garden, we needed to push the throttle well forward to ensure we got through safely.

At Bablock Hythe we enjoyed some lovely real ale outside at the Ferry Inn and had a lovely mooring alongside their Thames field. The day was so perfect, some boaters used their safety ladders and plunged into the river for a swim - we didn't as we had seen some dead sheep floating down, half an hour earlier! Apparently, after the David Walliams swim, a lot of people are swimming the Thames, starting at this end - we met a group today of about 20, fortunately before they took the plunge!

Now and then, we have to operate the lock ourselves as the "Self Service" signs are up. Here is Bob doing his stuff at Rushey lock.

Ah Sunday Lunch! - we had found the perfect location, waterside pub, sunny day, lovely garden, good beer, despite a surly barman, BUT the food - eventually - a memorable plate of food for all the wrong reasons! How can some pubs survive, and yet so many others fail. We will not be dining in Radcot again, ever I think! 

Now  we are moored in Lechlade, with just a few other boaters, and shopped in the local town, but disaster - Waterways World is sold out!

Thursday 9 August 2012 - Thrupp, Oxford Canal

Well, we are now enjoying our 3rd night at Thrupp, a very quiet and tidy mooring spot on the outskirts of Oxford. Very good reception for the Olympics, very busy with moving boats and so waterway entertainment is always on hand. Pub, shop, water, we need for nothing else.

On our way down to Thrupp, we inadvertently moored in Lower Heyford, good spot but it is adjacent to the railway, and so no chance of a decent nights sleep. Won't do that again! Pretty well for the first time this summer we actually came across some CART people reinstating some canal bank, just below Somerton lock. It seems a strange priority when the vegetation on both sides of so much of the waterway is extending across the width of the canal and closing in fast. Picture shows Cart at work.

Until today our plans were to turn round and head back up the canal again, but we have good information that the flow on the Thames is less fast, and so we feel able to go along Duke's Cut, and on upstream to Lechlade tomorrow. .

Our pictures show the boat passing under Thrupp lift bridge - now electric, push button with 2 control boxes, (OTT?) and a clutch of very late ducklings, to taunt the dog!.

Sunday 5 August 2012 - Grant's Bridge, Oxford Canal

As I write this we are being battered by a heavy deluge of rain, having deferred moving off this morning because of the angry black clouds looming all around. We are on the Oxford canal, going south, having yesterday threaded our way carefully, and slowly through the many many moored boats already gathered for the annual Fairport Cropredy Convention festival next week. Having done that and not upset any moorers, we were then greeted by masses of canoeists spilling into the water by Cropredy shop. Many were prepared to risk life and limb and force their way between us and moored boats, to paddle away, really oblivious of the crushing capability of a steel boat - they should have a steer of a narrow boat and understand the 'no brakes' and little manoeuvrability aspect.

Lovely reeds alongside the Hardwick lock, just south of the M40.

Banbury was as usual, gongoozlers galore - felt like being in a fish bowl, moored there. We soon moved off after necessary food shopping!

Our picture shows our passage down the town lock as we left Quayside in Banbury - shame about the litter, when the town has so many litter bins and recycling facilities.