Five on a boat to Oxford - part 7

It was one of those beautiful, misty autumnal mornings when we set out up to Banbury. There's a good Waitrose there, so we made full use of that, and of the services at the wharf. Then it was a slow glide back into the Oxfordshire countryside.

Bourton Lock, then Cropredy, where our progress was slowed by a large number of junior members of the Cropredy Canoe Club paddling ahead of us. The weather was fine for the time being, and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Broadmoor, Varney's and Elkington's Locks led us to Claydon Bottom Lock, below which we moored. It had been a very uneventful day, though very pleasant, the weather good, the countryside glorious.

The icing on that cake was the email from Janet Richardson, editor of Towpath Talk, and the attached review of "Moving home with our feet under water", which would be printed in the next edition.

I was very chuffed!

On Thursday, we made an earlyish start up the Claydon flight. There was one boat in front, and Mike went ahead from time to time to help them through. There was one behind us, and several on their way down, but we reached the top in good time, though not entirely dry, the rain coming down on and off, sometimes quite heavily.

Fenny Compton Tunnel, overhung as it is by plant life, required us to stop and wait for an oncoming boat - this one without tunnel light! - before we carried on to Fenny Compton Wharf,

then the Griffiths Bridge hairpin bend and the Stoneton wiggles, after which we moored under the pouring rain to have lunch. NB Quercus arrived not long afterwards. They were fed up with the inclement weather, and were going to stay for the night. We, made of sterner stuff! carried on, however, and finished our day after bridge 123 at Priors Hardwick, the ghost town. Away from the spookiness of the town, we were in a lovely, remote and quiet spot.

The rain continued.

Five on a boat to Oxford - part 2

Monday was slow - very slow! But then, we weren't in any kind of hurry, unlike the numerous hire-boaters we spent our time with, all of whom had schedules to keep to, bases to be back to by a certain time on a particular day. Our schedule was vague. Christine and Mike had to be back at Yelvertoft by the 24th, to drive back to Torquay the following day, to return to work on the Monday. We were in no hurry to get anywhere in particular; we'd wind somewhere around Thrupp, we reckoned.

So, there was a lot of traffic that day. Braunston Tunnel was busy, and the Locks were hard work inasmuch as they involved a good deal of helping some rather novice boaters ahead of us and behind us. Oh, and sharing locks with us. Our three visitors are fairly experienced, so, with Grace at the tiller, we were able to lend a hand or six to others. That's always usually fun, and it's good to meet other boaters. One surprise was the encounter with a hopeful who was trying to turn his boat in the width of the canal ("I've done it before lots of times!"), got it jammed and needed the assistance of three of us to get him free. He didn't even look embarrassed.

We moored above Bottom Lock for lunch, and watched the crowd of boats behind us slowly disperse before moving on to Braunston Turn, where we turned left towards Oxford. We moored for the night below Bridge 100 just before the weather turned stormy.

And it poured for much of the night, but we awoke on Tuesday under a much more peaceful sky.

So on we went, with fewer boats on the move, the canal delightful as always, the colours of the trees amazing, the fields dotted with sheep and cows, many of them still quite young. Passing Napton Junction aka Wigrams Turn, and arriving at Napton Bottom Lock. Here, we took on water, and Christine and Mike went shopping. The very convenient shop nearby - "Open every day" - was closed. A vollie at the locks suggested the sign should read "Open sometimes". Fortunately, Mike found a local Post Office that sold the bread and milk we needed.

It was at Napton Locks that we caught up with several of the hire-boats. These locks are single-width, so our ascent was again slowed by the learner drivers and the learner lock-wheelers, all doing their best, but clearly not well-tutored by the hire companies who had taken their money in exchange for the experience. No problem, though. It was fun, helping out.

Looking back at Bottom Lock

Around 100-head of Water Buffalo

We moored north of Priors Hardwick Bridge. The wind was whipping up - our share of storm Aileen - but we were well sheltered by the hedgerow, and we spent a peaceful evening and night there.