Banbury Canal Day

A year ago last Sunday, we were on the return leg of our trip to Oxford, and we arrived at Banbury on the day before their Canal Day, staying on to enjoy the event the next day. We went again this year, but by car, setting out under a sunny sky and arriving at the car park right next to the canal less than an hour later.

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Again, it was an excellent event with a superb craft market, charity stalls and a wide variety of other traders. There was lots of live music at a couple of venues, dance down by the arts centre, a number of shop-boats selling craftwork, cheeses, and take-away food, as well as the many other various places to eat and drink. Tooley's Boat Yard was open again with a programme of talks and demonstrations, and a very popular trip boat made the journey between windings on either side of the main venue.

The weather, as last year, was perfect for the occasion, and people turned out in their thousands. I was very impressed with the local council who, regardless of the huge number of additional visitors to Banbury that day, and the opportunity to make a lot of money, didn't increase their usual weekend car park rate from the usual £1.50 per day.

It was a great occasion. I think the fact that I wasn't quite so delighted by it as I was last year can be entirely attributed to the facts that we weren't on a cruise this time, and the event wasn't new to us either.