All's not fair in Cropredy

Last night when we got back from shopping we found an addition to our solar panels.



After England had beaten India in the test match, I didn't mind another duck.

Today we headed for Cropredy and were very disappointed to find the same boats in the same moorings they were over a week ago. These are 24 hour moorings.

We had to cruise an extra 4 hours well past Fenny Compton to find an available mooring.

We found that the bottom lock at Claydon had metal gates. Quite unusual.



The pounds through this section were really low and a boat coming the other way refused to leave their lock until I had progressed to the lock moorings meaning I grounded not them. Very selfish.



All the other locks had traditional wooden gates.



Just south of Fenny Compton is a cast iron turnover bridge which unusually does not have any way for the horse to pass under it.



Finally we found a mooring.



Very rural but the first available spot in 3 hours.

Banbury Again

We made it through the lowest pound we have had to traverse so far.

It was not quite this low last week.

The overflow illustrates this well.



Some boaters are now really frustrated. Worth zooming in to read the sign.

Aynho

Today we cruised for 7 hours. That's fine when TMS is interesting and sometimes I get too involved in the cricket.

We left nice moorings at Thrupp.



And there is a lovely view of the church as you cruise.



Thrupp has the only stop lock we have seen on the Oxford.



The lift bridges are frequent but ok when they come into view like this.



These are more inconvenient but this one is electric so not as bad as some others.



We came back through the deep lock at Somerton



And finished at the Great Western Arms at Aynho where wasp attacks mean you don't even have time to put both crocs on before you run away.

The Jolly Boatman

Today we left Oxford after a second wander around the city.

We found the low pound not quite as low. It became clear that this was because water was being let down.
The side effect of this was the overflow by the lock was a torrent sending every boat at 90 degrees to where they were steering with considerable force. The boat coming out of the lock got pushed and the grounded. We made it into the lock only because we bounced off the grounded boat when we were pushed sideways.

But we got through that section.





We then moored at The Jolly Boatman at Thrupp.





But walked to The Boat Inn for dinner as it was slightly cheaper but more importantly had a better Gluten Free menu.

Oxford

We made it through the low pound without grounding once. We are heading back through it today as we know we can pass through at the moment.

Enslow

Today we have moored up at Enslow. The famous waterside pub The Rock Of Gibraltar was the attraction. But disaster. They don't do food on a Tuesday evening and we had steaks on our mind all day following this morning's encounter.

Little Heyford

The name is very apt, tiny place with no shops and a pub that only opens in the evening.

That's why there are plentiful moorings.

Today we went through Somerton Deep Lock.







I still think the Hanbury locks are deeper though.

Other than that we just pottered down the canal. An easy day progressing towards Oxford.