Days 84 to 90 Oxford

On the way to Cropredy Marina, one of those fluke occurrences common to boaters when the end of the bathroom blind fell off and bounced into the loo.  Not a big deal in a house, but in a boat with a macerator, it could have been an expensive disaster!  Many phone calls later, an engineer agreed to meet Catnap at the marina - phew.

Then as we left Banbury, a hapless boater managed to lose a tyre which got itself stuck under one of the lock gates on our route.  The lock was closed, hours of tense waiting ensued, the tyre was extracted by CRT staff with huge rakes (according to eyewitnesses) - but too late for our loo rendezvous.  Fortunately, an engineer on site the following day fitted us in.  Phew again!

End of the line!  The southern end of the Oxford Canal where it joins the Thames - where, if we'd come this far by boat, we'd have turned and re-entered the canal to come back north

Isis Lock, the last before the Thames

Green man

Dappled girl

Canalside conservation area in central Oxford

Bridge with ornate streetlamp

 

The very first Oxfam shop (and the UK's first charity shop) opened here in 1948

Seventeen 'Emperor' heads outside the Sheldonian Theatre

Bridge linking two parts of Hertford College, popularly known as the Bridge of Sighs

The Radcliffe Camera, a famous landmark is an 18th century circular library

Which don inspired this gargoyle?

St Sepulchre's Cemetery "the gloomiest and most enthralling of the Oxford burial places"

 

...and one of the tombs, of a porter of one of the colleges for 44 years

Central Oxford residential street of gothic Victorian terraces

Skyline, dreaming spires

 

Days 73 and 83 Thrupp to Banbury via Duke's Cut

Friday 4th September and the task is to find a mooring in Oxford for a few days.  The city is famously short of mooring space and for longer boats like Catnap to turn around once there means exiting onto the Thames at Isis Lock, turning, then re-entering the lock.  Also, we set off later than planned, giving only a few hours to get in to the city and come out if we draw a blank.  We decide to cruise south as far as Duke's Cut to turn, then cruise north and find a spot where we can leave the boat and travel to Oxford by train or bus.

The Jolly Boatman, Thrupp - our mooring for a few days - where we enjoyed an evening drink at their tables under the trees

 Couldn't resist a new tiller pin - from Thrupp Wharf.  We also bought eggs from a towpath bicycle delivery service run by a Welsh woman livng locally

 

 Dahlias at the next Lock...

...and this is the gate beam supposedly shortened for firewood with its temporary splint!

 

 

Traditional canal boat painted ware

The guide warns that this bridge is particularly low and care is needed, for example, with chimneys and boaters' heads!

Rickety looking Stratfield Brake Footbridge

 

An allotment on a boat, with tomatoes, beans and salad veg.  We've heard our patch at Sawley with courgettes, beans, broccoli and leeks is doing well

Duke's Lock, where we came down, turned round and ascended the lock again.  The cottage is Victorian Gothic and very pretty

 

From Duke's Cut, we retraced our route this time heading north back through Thrupp, Kirtlington.  Reaching Banbury on Monday 14 September, we booked some nights at Cropredy Marina which would be our base for visiting Oxford by train. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Days 67 - 72 Banbury to Thrupp

On Saturday 29th August we left Banbury on the last part of our journey to Oxford, 27 miles away.  This sounds like a short journey, but if we do 6 miles in a day, that seems a fair distance especially if locks are involved.

 Obviously, like us, Van Morrison fans

 The sad sight of a burnt out cottage at Grant's Lock south of Banbury.  Jan was helping another boat coming up, when it jammed entering the lock - another example of the dangers of leaving side fenders down.  The owner eventually freed them by, rather precariously, balancing on the cabin roof to pull the fenders up with his boat hook

Leaving Grant's Lock, showing how very narrow these locks are

 Twyford Wharf, from where many of the hireboats set out

 

 

Tarvers Lock and pretty stone cottage near the village of King's Sutton (inaccessible due to the River Cherwell running in between)

 The Pig Place, where rare breeds roam and all kinds of pork products are for sale, including a whole pig (if your freezer is a bit bigger than a shoebox)

Picturesque scene at Haddon's Lift Bridge

 

Sunshine and blue sky today

Concentraing on the twists and turns of the canal

Aynho Weir lock, looking back to the weir bridge.  For this section, the River Cherwell and the canal merge - an 18th century money saving ruse

Approaching Aynho - looking for mooring for the night

 

 The countryside here is rolling farmland and the canal is open to the elements.  We hear that windy conditions can make handling boats a little tricky

This is what you do in order to cross an open lift bridge: just pull on the chain and it gently comes down!

Waiting for the lock at Somerton - the deepest on the Oxford at 12'.  By chance while we waited, a fellow participant on the diesel engine course we did in Leicestershire arrived in his boat

 

The boat name on the sign is 'Corona 2020' - surely grim local humour

Fantastic boating weather and delightful scenery

The character on the right was going on about someone chopping off half of a lock gate further on and using it for firewood - difficult to know sometimes

A lock bridge that looks just TOO small!

A tithe barn at Upper Heyford from the 1400s, built to collect tithes from local farmers for New College, Oxford

Very narrow, banks of reeds and probably shallow too!

Though wonderful open views and skies, too

  At Lower Heyford our first automated lift bridge, operated for us by a kindly fellow boater

Spot the kingfisher, honest!

 

Here it is

Dashwood Lock

More reeds brushing our sides

Colours on the canalside

Luxuriant woodland here at Gibraltar, so called we think after the local pub The Rock of Gibraltar built for the navvies who constructed the canal

Boats moored at Gibraltar

...some with woodland sitting areas

George's Bar and Bistro, moored at Enslow between two bridges - lovely idea though it is, causing a bit of an obstruction!

CRT staff on the left with grease bucket, giving all the paddles their regular maintenance.  She says that she loves the work, so much better than an office job

Leaving Baker's Lock.  The bridge is over the unnavigable River Cherwell which joins the canal here until the next lock...

...waiting at Shipton Weir Lock, which is six-sided

Nothing to hold on to, so we just float in the middle!

Coming into Thrupp Wide, home of Thrupp Canal Cruising Club who manage the moorings and the wharf

Once we'd used the services, a resident operates the lift bridge for us

 

Evening light at Thrupp at our mooring.  We plan to spend a couple of nights here, then set off for Oxford on Friday (4 September)