Long Itchington

Today's Canal : Oxford and Grand Union.

Another hot day although the sky remained generally hazy. Nevertheless we were awake and off in good time as we wanted to make sure that we reached our meeting point with the Windsor Crew in good time.

The plan had once been to meet at 12 at Gibraltar Bridge where there seemed to be plenty of room to park a car whilst transferring luggage. Alice is joining us for a week and will be bringing plenty of books to read, including some rather hefty tomes.

Time young one to find your own breakfast!

We then received a message late yesterday to ask whether we could make it 1 o'clock as they had a party to go to in Oxford on the way back. They also mentioned lunch so we suggested that there were several popular canal-side pubs in the area and we could all adjourn there. Seemed a good idea.

It was just over two hours cruising during which we left the Oxford canal at Napton Junction, turning left onto the northern section of the Grand Union.

Napton Junction / Wigrams Turn

Suddenly the canal was not only much wider but also had long straights. Just before the junction we passed the Napton Narrowboats hire base. Their boats had been passing from very early this morning in their final dash to beat the return deadline. By the time we passed they were all lined up, being serviced for this afternoon's waiting adventurers.

Calcutt Top Lock

Before long we arrived at the three Calcutt Locks which we shared with a boat arriving just behind us. The couple are liveaboards and he conducts a CAD/CAM business whilst travelling on the boat. let's hope he gets a better mobile signal they we have had today. (It may well be that this blog is not uploaded until tomorrow)

Former Narrow Lock

At its height, the Grand Union Canal had both a wide and a narrow side by side. The narrow locks were gradually allowed to decay and have long since been turned into weir and are not passable. However, they are often still quite visible.

During the morning a further message reported that the Windsor schedule had been thrown awry by forgotten hair washing and they hoped to be with us for about 1.40. We then discovered that the pub where we were waiting finished serving food at 2, leaving little margin for error! Hence the final plan was to meet at the Boat Inn, Birdingbury Wharf which meant that we needed to bridge hop just a short distance (probably not enough to satisfy an Enforcement Officer if we were planning to stay more than 14 days!)

We arrived a little before 1.30 and moored very close to the bridge. After locking the boat we wandered up towards the road and as we did so we spotted them waving from the bridge.

We found a large table to seat all of us - Adrian and Jessica were also with Joanna and Alice. Eventually we decided on lunch with the boat people also eating their main meal now and postponing the planned pizza to another day.

Lunch provided an opportunity to sit and have an extended chat but eventually we returned to the boat and off-loaded Alice's mighty library - and a suitcase.

Stockton Top Lock

A boat arrived looking as if it was going to go down the locks ahead of us which made up our mind to set off. We had been dithering in the heat for a while. Although it turned out that that boat was winding before the locks, another boat set off as we passed it - four quite hefty men!

As a result we dropped down the eight Stockton Locks in a very respectable time, efficiently working turns at setting ahead.

Stockton Bottom Lock

They were heading for the Blue Lias pub for the night which left us to complete to last two locks on our own. After the efforts of the previous eight, no problem!

A short run then brought us to our planned overnight stop close to bridge 26A. This gives us the option of church in the morning but other factors may intrude. Dear reader, you will just have to wait until tomorrow's blog to find out!

Old Railway Bridge

Former Railway Track

Blackberries for dinner

After some time sitting and reading, Mike and Alice went for a short walk up to the next bridge and along the track of the railway that once ran this way. We picked just a few blackberries - they are only beginning to ripen - which Alice carefully carried back in her hands to have as part of her 'snack' dinner.

7.0 miles - 13 locks