On Monday, we made it all the way to Oxford, after rescuing another loose boat called “Scallywag“, drifting across the canal. We had to leave the Oxford Canal onto the River Thames to turn around, as the last turning circle on the Oxford canal is for boats up to 52ft and Life in Slow Motion is 57ft.
We had lunch in a Swedish café called “Skogen” (Forest), that had Schnapps on the menu, so obviously we had to participate in a mini cold table!
We spent the afternoon strolling around Oxford, before going to the cinema to see the latest Marvel film – “Shang Chi & the legend of the 10 rings”
Tuesday, we headed north back up the Oxford Canal, we stopped at the Jolly Boater pub in Thrupp for lunch, mooring up right outside the pub.
On Wednesday, we cruised into Banbury and had a walk around the town, passing ‘The’ Banbury Cross.
Thursday, we continued cruising north, mooring for the night before the Claydon Locks, as the locks are subject to evening closures, to save water.
Friday, we cruised the summit level of the Oxford canal between the Claydon locks and the locks at Marston Dole. When we arrived there at 3pm, there were 10 boats ahead of us waiting for the locks, which had been closed since 10:30 that morning with engineers working on repairs. Thankfully they soon opened the locks, but as they were also subject to evening closures, due to low water levels in the reservoirs, we only just got through before they were padlocked for the night. It is amazing the number of different versions of the same story you hear as you talk to other boaters. All credit to some of the crew from a hire boat behind us, who worked steadily with their windlasses, for a couple of hours to help get as many boats through the locks as quickly as possible, before the padlocks went on!
Saturday morning we went to the local Napton Cidery, Rog was taste testing Apple Brandy at 10:30am.
Sunday we cruised to Nelson’s Wharf, were we had arranged for moorings for a few days, so we could sort the boat out ,and pack our stuff ready to leave the boat on 30 September. Family came and met us, so we could collect a motorhome, for the next adventure. In return for a lift we were to give them an overnight cruise on the boat and dinner out at the Boat house in Braunston. We turned around and headed back towards Braunston on the Oxford & Grand Union canal. As we got to the canal Junction we were informed by a friendly boater that the canal to Braunston was closed due to a tree falling across the canal. So we moored up for lunch and came up with another plan …….. we turned around again and headed down the Oxford canal towards Napton, not very far but with a winding hole for us to be able to turn around there.
| This Week | Total | |
| Locks | 50 | 723 |
| Miles Cruised (approx.) | 62 | 909 |
Travurple 