Day 25 - to Banbury, and not by cock horse either.

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4 locks, 113 in total.







A cold dull morning until the sun broke through about lunchtime, by which time we were moored on the outskirts of Banbury, a couple of hundred yards from Morrison's and about ¼ mile from the laundrette. We had motored to the background drone of the M40 and went under it twice.







We stopped at Haddon's Farm shop – real diversification here with the shop, free-range pigs, camping facilities and also a set of moorings with water and electric hookups.







We also made two children and their parents very happy by inviting them on board as we motored into a lock and then they were raised up. It was a win/win situation – they were really happy to be part of it all and we didn't have to close the lock gate behind us.







I have an insect bit on my wrist – had it for 2 days and it's driving me round the bend. John looked in the first aid kit that normally travels in his car and produced some cream for the purpose – manufactured May 1989, expired May 1992 – can't thnk why it was ineffective.

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Photos

Goose behaviour....
The whole family were lying down. One adult lifts it's head and stands up, closely followed by the other adult. Then all the goslings get to their feet and a line is formed as they all walk down to the water. I saw this in Reading too.

Rescuing Hattie's tennis ball....
.... Hattie is attracting a lot of admirers this trip.

Aynho Weir lock - the other hexagonal one!
The idea is that 4 narrowboats can fit in at once although 2 of them would have to be very small and anything over 55' has to fit in diagonally anyway. Money is saved by only having a single gate at each end. The drop is only one foot but this is just enough to prevent flash flooding of the River Cherwell - see next photo.

As we leave Aynho Weir lock.....
.... the R. Cherwell crosses the canal at right angles almost, coming in from the right of the picture and going out over a weir to the left. The canal towpath actually travels across the top of the weir.

Nell Bridge, built 1787.
The original bridge has been incorporated into the wider new one.

Extra help for the Lift bridge
Many of these bridges are left open as they are used only occasionally by walkers. It would seem that the balance wasn't quite right on this one and bricks were piled on the beams to keep it in position.

At Hadden Farm.....
an MG something but it did look good.

A lot of water.....
.....overflowing the lock when full.

Kings Sutton church.
We kept seeing this in the distance as the canal curved round the village. This was taken at about 20x zoom from one of the locks.

Comments

[amanda]

Hello its me again!
Hello Helen, hello John, Sorry have not sent you a msg this week, the week has flown by and just had time now to drop you a line. Further adventures I see, what with getting stuck, the speed merchant and having to pay an exorbitant amount for a four pinter, commercial enterprise at its best! It was good to see John looking fit and well this week, unfortunately I was rushing around 'dusting' after the builders and that was a bit of a task I can tell you. All done now though, and looking forward to finally finishing the works lets say within the next couple of weeks. What a bind the weather has been, last week was lovely and this weekend promised so much, 'Friday hottest day of the year'....well where did that disappear to? Well wishing you an exciting but not such an eventful week this week, and lets hope flaming June gets her finger out and starts living up to her reputation :) Have fun and look forward to hearing more from you in the coming days. love to both, and of course love to Hattie Amanda x

[Dunlin]

You must be so pleased the works are nearly over - it's fun to start with and you don't have to dust whilst they're there but it does all catch you up in the end. Hope you have a more relaxing weekend this time and thanks for reading and commenting on the blog. Love to you both, Helen & John