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.