Alice and Banbury

We awoke after a good night's sleep to a much sharper morning, even though it was still dry. We needed to wrap up well for the first part of the morning - Mike decided that he needed a muffler as his face was the only part not well insulated! We made good progress down to Cropredy where we planned to fill up with water and dispose of rubbish. Alas, just as we arrived, one of the residential boats started to fill up and so it was over an hour before we could set off once more. Meanwhile, Christine and Alice had been to the Bridge Shop to buy some much needed milk so that at least we could have coffee whilst we waited.



It was mid day when we continued with our journey into Banbury and, having snacked, we decided to put off lunch proper until we arrived in the town. Alice discovered a good spot to sit on the boat roof to watch the passing scenery!

We tied up beside the shopping centre and had our sandwiches but time was pressing on and we wanted to do a little shopping including finding a butcher to supply our roast dinner tonight. Christine spotted a scarf for Mike in the RSPCA shop - at the indecent price of £1!Alice picked out a delicious doughnut in M&S to have for tea, so no doubt there will be little demand for dinner until much later! Despite our best efforts to ingore it, Alice did not miss the small roundabout on the quayside and insisted on a ride - she only came away very reluctantly! We also spotted Poppy, the boat we hired last year for our six week cruise.



We tried to obtain a replacement water pump from Tooley's Boatyard but, although they were able to tell us exactly what we needed, they did not have anything in stock!

Finally, after passing through Banbury Lock, with help from some local toddlers whose parents were pleased to photograph them pushing at the lock gate, we moored for the night just outside the town. Efforts to bring one of the kitchen lights back to life revealed that the wiring in the ceiling (at least to that light and the one repaired last night) is in poor condition and will need replacing - probably sooner rather than later.