Advertisement
Published: June 10th 2013
Edit Blog Post
7 locks, 120 in total.
A lot of boats going in the opposite direction to us today which made all the locks easier – there would be up to 6 boats moored uphill waiting for the lock and we would breeze into the empty lock as soon as someone came out. Roles will be reversed at other times so we just enjoy our turn. A little bit of adrenalin was needed when a 'moored' boat started to swing across the canal just as I was about to go past it - makes you long for brakes sometimes.
First thing we motored into Banbury town centre. There is now a huge shopping mall by the canal, good design but detrimental to all the other shops, many of which are looking a little run down. The old High Street is managing to hang on though, with its individual shops but Banbury's history seems to have been sidelined.I have to agree with our little guide book which describes Banbury as having 'a poor record of civic vandalism'. A few examples:
•
The oroginal Banbury Cross was
pulled down by the Puritans in 1602 because the 'fine lady' depicted was obviously in a May Day procession.
•
The perpendicular Cathedral for North Oxfordshire needed renovation so they blew it up as the cheaper option. Strangely the 'unsafe' section survived the blast.
•
The original Banbury Cake Shop of 1608 was demolished for an office development.
•
The canal basin was concreted over for a bus garage.
I really wanted to see Tooley's historic Boatyard, now part of the museum as the new shopping mall stopped access from the canal, but sadly this is closed on Mondays. They specialised in repairing/reconditioning the old wooden work boats. So we moved on.
We're still on narrow locks and going uphill but now the locks are deeper, necessitation 2 bottom gates, rather than one. (Logically there should be 2 top gates also but apparently not.) The water pressure is immense as the lock is filled, however slowly the paddles are raised – the water enters via the top paddles with a whoosh, lifting the bow up in the initial surge before the water hits the bottom gates and comes back – the
boat can be shunted to and fro like a cork if the engine isn't used wisely.
We also stopped today at Copredy, site of yet another Civil War battle. It is a really delightful village of medium-sized sandstone houses, church, 2 pubs and a respectable store – no litter (ok, one can), well-tended gardens and public places and little traffic. It sounds a little like Stepford when I describe it but it was just such a comfortable place.
The hawthorn continues to blossom along our route - the trees are so laden that they look as though snow is lying on their branches.
Interesting sight today - on top of narrowboats are things call mushroom vents and someone had painted these brass domes red with white spots, just like the fly agaric toadstools (Big Ears' house!)
Most tasteless boat name to date -
Bump 'n' Grind We are actually back on my provisional timetable now, after the mechanical problems and the wait at Oxford – but for how long?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0222s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb