A mixed day, weather-wise, but only a couple of very short light showers. The main feature, however, was the wind which consistently made steering more difficult but at least it was blowing us onto the towpath at each lock landing. Was this the remnant of another ex-hurricane?
Thinking that we had a little easier schedule today we did not set off until almost 10 o'clock - and also stopped for lunch! We set off on the long level cruise through Fenny Compton to eventually reach the top of the Claydon Flight, the start of the long descent of the Oxford Canal ultimately to reach the River Thames (Isis) at Oxford.
Footbridge 131A is inscribed Wedding Bridge MMIX but, despite searching on Google, this time and on various other occasions we have come this way, we have found no explanation for this title. Other bloggers have asked the same question without yielding an answer!
OK, so there was some sunshine this morning - just not a lot!
The mile after Fenny Compton is known as The Tunnel - it was originally built that way but subsequently opened out to reduce the delays. Some parts are little wider than a single boat and the rest is a tight squeeze to pass. Hence we were amazed to see that someone thought this a good place to moor!
As we approached Boundary Lift Bridge Mike could see it bouncing up and down in the wind, somewhat alarmingly. Fortunately he could see that it was well restrained by a locked chain so he would not have to test out John Slee's claim to be able to stop it falling on the boat.
see http://nbepiphany.co.uk/2594-lift-bridge-no-more-twas-not-us-guv
The Claydon flight was busy - almost as busy as Napton was yesterday but at least all the locks take much the same time so that queues do not build up in the middle pounds. As we waited at the top lock, two other boats joined the queue.
Below the flight we stopped for lunch - not something on our agenda for the past few days! As we finished we looked through the hatch to see three visitors. Not sure what tufted variety these are?
Just above Varney's Lock is the old boat that caused us some delay when we left Cropredy a few weeks back when it sank across the top of the lock. Whilst it is still full of water it looks as if it is better restrained and resting on the bottom. Rumour is that it is waiting to be restored. Let's hope for everyone that it is successful - soon!
We did a 'splash-an'-dash' at Cropredy Wharf. Just a little later at the rural moorings, we spotted this cruiser. At least its owner has a sense of humour and knows what they have got! (If you are not a narrow boater you need to know that this is a reference to a term of abuse used about plastic boats! Sure that they have similar descriptions of us)
It was clear that continuing to Banbury was not sensible as moorings this late in the day are unlikely. As a result we pulled in below Little Bourton lock. Not an ideal stop - no tv signal likely, railway close by (don't mind that too much) but the motorway nearly a mile away is rather audible.
11.6 miles - 11 locks
No comments:
Post a Comment