After spending no more than a couple of hours on our somewhat expensive car parking lot, aka Dunchurch Pools marina, we were off!
Don't get us wrong, as marinas go, this is a good one. Friendly staff and fellow moorers, a great location and ...
It's still a boat park.
Fine in winter, but no place to be when the great outdoors beckons. So we did what we needed to do, then high tailed it out!
We are now heading south. How far we get will be time, weather, but more importantly, water level dependant. We have to be back in mid September, but it's the water levels on the South Oxford that are the major concern. It has always been a shallow canal and the lack of precipitation this summer certainly hasn't helped. There are already restricted opening hours on many of the lock flights and when the kid's go back to school, gawd help us. Because then, the "Silvertops" feel safe to leave the marinas!
(Silvertop definition. Late middle aged, paunchy male, normally. Middle class, shiney boat , excessive bow thruster user. Only leave the security of marinas when the little darlings return to skool. )
Hang about! That's almost a description of me... (Ali - not quite, but close! 😈😍)
But. It's a beautiful canal, largely rural and following the course of the river Cherwell. As a destination in itself, Oxford takes some beating, but it is also a portal onto the Thames, which we love.
So Ta Ta Dunchurch and steer south went we. Dodged through Braunston again and slowly chugged towards Wigrams turn. Had no choice really, as the all male crew of the boat ahead of us set the pace, uber slow. It was still busy on this section, but nowhere near what it was on Saturday.
We passed the junction and were now off the broad canal and onto the South Oxford proper. Almost time for Tea, so we moored for the day near the now defunct Bridge Inn at Napton. These once very popular moorings have lost their appeal since the pub closed, strangely! They are now 14 day.
Next morning we had the Napton flight to tackle. These are not hard locks, but as they climb towards the summit pound, it pays to have the timing right. We missed out there. Although it was not busy, a boat saw us approaching and rapidly untied in order to get to the locks ahead of us. No problem really, as we intended to make use of the services before ascending, whilst they went straight into the first lock near the Folly pub.
Well, we watered up and emptied, took our time and began the up. Within two locks we had caught our companions up! It's not that we were fast, just more efficient. Whilst I closed the top gates after leaving the lock, whilst Ali walked ahead to prepare the next, they concentrated on one lock at a time. It was slow going. We ended up directly behind them at every lock landing. If a boat happened to be descending, did they assist? Nope, they waited, so Ali took the lead and walked ahead to assist. Considering there were two adults plus two children on the boat, they were very disoganised. Turns out they were borrowing the boat from a relative.
Anyway, up we eventually went and onto the top pound for a few miles of lock free chugging. We moored in a favoured spot near Wormleighton, giving uninterrupted views across the valley towards Napton. Bit like walking a coastal path on this canal, spend hours travelling, then look back and see your start point. Being a contour canal, it does twist and turn a fair bit.
Not sure if this bridge is on the maintenance plan
but it should be the cracks are a little disconcerting
this is a new edition, £95 pn self catering with its own wood fired outdoor bath!
The moorings filled over the afternoon and early evening, enough going our way to make Cropredy lock a potential choke point. But next morning, we were straight into the lock as another exited. All the traffic going the opposite way, with three boats queuing in the confined space below the lock, one of which was fellow bloggers NB Chuffed, sorry it was a quick hello & no photo. We squeezed through then directly onto the services. These must have been designed by a committee, the wharf being neither fish nor fowl as it's impossible to moor against the wall. But we secured bow and stern with a hollow in between and got our jobs done.
Ali's leap of death!
After chugging past the permanent moorings, it was out into open country and the slow descent into Banbury. This is the one town you hit on the South Oxford, so we moored up, did a little food shopping in the convenient M&S, then decided to move on. All was hunky dory until we reached Grants lock. The pound below was low, very low. We dropped down and keeping centre channel and going very slowly, we reached just beyond Tywford wharf, before meeting an oncoming boat. We passed, both leaning alarmingly though and carried on. There must be a leak in this pound. The canal runs close and above the river Cherwell. Locals say it has been low for some time, whilst the rest of the canal has decent water levels. Time will tell!
low pound
After Kings Sutton lock, the levels were again fine. We bimbled on, calling it a day at Aynho Wharf. Not a boat on the visitor moorings opposite the Great Western, so moored up and booked into the pub for a meal. Not cheap, but worth it.
Next day we ploughed on south. Down Somerton deep lock was slow going and the bottom gate refused to open fully, making exit a tight squeeze. The canal is now becoming very overgrown, both by overhanging trees and expanding reed beds. The hops balancing the trees are very common now. In places, the overgrowth makes the channel very restricted and so it was a good job it wasn't busy.
Exiting Dashwood lock has always been tricky. The lock mouth almost faces a high overgrown bank on the port side and until the full length of the boat is out of the lock, you cannot turn away from this. Normally the bywash assists in making this manoeuvre, pushing the boat away from the bank, but low water levels meant this was a mere trickle. That's my excuse anyway. Before I knew it, in turning out, the boats stern swept under the overhanging tangle of briars . My head took the full impact and my scalp and face was torn by the thorns as I struggled to steer the boat out. But worst of all, this caught our ancient and much annotated Nicholsons guide, sweeping it into the murky depths. Many a good mooring marked, now gone. A sad loss.😢
After tidying myself up and the ministrations of nurse Ali, we carried on, finishing the day in a rural location, above the river Cherwell near the village of Tackley. A great spot on a good day, but the clouds gathered and it rained during the evening. A lot more overgrown here since our last visit. Now we are not CRT bashers, but the signs on locks stating clearance work to be completed by August are clearly wrong, unless they mean August 2019!
We are into the final push now towards Oxford, but not just yet. We aimed to stop at Thrupp. This was not very far from our overnight stop, but included a beautiful stretch dropping down onto the river Cherwell . It was great to have some water depth under the boat as we twisted down this meandering river section. Even here though, branches and overgrown bushes impeded the passage. At the oddly shaped Shipton lock, we came off the river and back onto the cut. One lift bridge before Thrupp. Unless this has some serious remedial work soon, it will collapse and no lengths of warning tape will alter its fragility. It was with not a little trepidation that I passed under this as Ali lifter this twisted contorting structure. But we got through and we need our way into this iconic hamlet.
After making use of the services, a quick right turn under the now electrically operated lift bridge brought us to the moorings. And there was space aplenty, even on the 7 day stretch! Unheard of here and especially at the start of a bank holiday weekend. We settled in as it was still just about morning, then walked to Annie's tea room for lunch, very nice it was too.
We are now in "Morse" country and the books and the tv series have been set or filmed here. As are a series of crime fiction books I have recently completed reading , by a local author, Faith Martin. The main character in these, lives on a boat in Thrupp. Not seen her yet, but strangely when out for a walk, we did see an actor leaving a boat. One of those, know the face but not his name chaps.
Sunday was predicted as wet and miserable all day. We sat tight. A short walk to the pub later seems a plan, but until then, we will keep warm and admire the tenacity of passing boaters.
Thrupp is always good for a bit of yarn bombing,
this is great and the detail amazing.
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