Banbury to Upper Heyford

11.5 miles:    8 locks

Hallmark with Maggie on board left Banbury at 8:00am
We had quite a long day ahead of us. There were eight locks to go through before we reached Upper and Lower Heyford where we planned to stop for the night.
Banbury town centre was really quite as we went under the lift bridge and Banbury Lock.
The first part of the day we went under the M40 twice.  There was also plenty of lift bridges but all of them were up! Here is the M40 and a bridge just before Grant's Lock.  20th and 18th century bridges alongside each other.

Aynho Wharf is re-markedly intact. In the picture below it nestles behind a large willow.
Its original brick warehouse is home to a shop selling provisions and canal souvenirs to passing boats.

The Great Western Arms is just back from the canal have really great food and the service is remarkable.
There is plenty of canal and railway memorabilla to look at too.

It is a day of memorial locks
At Kings Sutton Lock they have mounted the old village railway station sign on to one of the warehouse buildings by the lock.

You also get a stunning view of the parish church.

Nell Bridge Lock  is so close the main road (which runs over the top of the old 18th century bridge)  and everything seems so narrow but as always Hallmark just fit through.

Somerton Lock  is overlooked by an exceptionally pretty cottage.

Here is Maggie pushing open one of the gates.  Hard work!

It is very a very deep lock with a fall of 12 foot.  It is the deepest on the Oxford Canal.
It actually vies with Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal as being the deepest narrow chamber on the canal system.
It is just amazing going down as coming up It is so coffin like at the bottom.

At Allen's Lock a British Waterways man is working the lock.
He says there are water level problems below Lower Heyford and he is using the lock to feed and improve the level.
We see the sign for The Barley Mow just after Allen's Lock and Bridge  204 and pull in to a space after a bit of reversing.  A meal at the pub is planned for later!

Upper Heyford to Thrupp

9 miles:  5 locks


We left Upper Heyford at 9:10am.  What a peaceful place the mooring had been.
The Barley Mow was plain, simple but friendly.

The canal continues to be 'river like' down to Lower Heyford.  At times the tow path is more like a track through the fields alongside. Other times is finds its way through woodland.
Bridge 205 is interesting. It is a lift bridge in style but instead of wood it is made of steel.  The reason is the local miller had a traction engine and the bridge had to bear its weight!

Heyford Wharf looks very much like Aynho.  It is busier as it is the home of Oxford Narrowboats and there are plenty of boats about.  Some are moored in such a way that it makes going through Bridge 206 is really difficult.

Everything was going really well.
Although it was strange that although it was almost 11:00am we had not seen another moving boat.
As we approach the second lock of the day we realised why.
Northbrook Lock was closed and loads, well a dozen BW men were working on the lock.
Emergency repairs to badly leaking gates were in progress and a delay of up to four hours was expected!

 BW were brilliant.  They worked like trojans and go the work
We waited three hours and by then there were three boats waiting to go towards Oxford and 11 waiting to go towards Banbury.
Hallmark was the first through the lock and we had a brilliant run down through Enslow to Thrupp.
the canal on this stretch is stunning. The landscape of the Cherwell valley here is amazing.

After some big wide bends Enslow comes into view.
There are quite a few moored boats and the famous old canalside pub named The Rock of Gibraltar.
I have always wanted to moor here.  Perhaps next year!
After Baker's lock the canal ends for a bit and we cruise for a good mile or so on the River Cherwell and there are three very tight bends.

Finally the Cherwell departs under a large and long bridge and the canal runs on to Shipton where the church is almost in the canal.
It is then a short run to Thrupp.
I have booked a mooring here for two weeks with the Thrupp Canal Cruising Club.
It is back to London to sort some house things!

Elkington Lock to Banbury

7 miles:    7 locks 

The sunrise awoke me through the porthole by the bedroom I did't roll over and got up around 5:15 and had breakfast and did the engine checks which I hadn't done the night before because of the heavy rain.

I walked back to look at Clattercote Wharf.

An early start would be good as I could make up for the short run of yesterday and be in Banbury just boats left their overnight mooring in the town.
It was nine locks down to Banbury.
It was interesting the the two live-aboard below Broadwater Lock had gone.
This is where I left Hallmark for almost a week on my way up the Oxford.
I soon cruising through Cropredy narrows where the tolls were paid in times gone by and the by the old coal wharf there were plenty of boats on the visitor moorings.

After Cropredy the canal links up again with Cherwell and makes lots of twists and turns on the way to Banbury.

There is no longer a mill anywhere Slat Mill Lock and the river, canal and railway trundle along together and by Hardwick Lock the M40 makes it northern most crossing of the canal
Then suddenly Banbury is upon you and there area couple of miles of ring roads which really alter the peace of the canal.

There are plenty of moorings above Tooley's Boatyard in the 'shadow' of the immense Castle Quay shopping centre.

So by 10:45 I am all tied up and do a bit of cleaning and polishing in anticipation of Maggie's arrival.
I also trundle the toilet down to the BW facilities and walk up to Morrison's to stock up with food.
Maggie arrived 5:30pm and decide to take her car to Aynho Wharf so we have the car half way along  tomorrow's route.
Aynho is a great place to eat with The Great Western Arms offer top quality food.

Fenny Compton to Elkington Lock and Clattercote Wharf

5 miles:   5 locks

I stayed on a Fenny to get the engine checked over.
I had a bit of concern about the engine running a little hot on the last two long and lock-less days.
John the mechanic promised to be at Hallmark by 2:30 he arrived at 4.:00 He checked the wed hatch again and ran a few other checks.
The problem was certainly a clogged stainer in the water cooler.
Hallmark finally chugged away from The Wharf just before 5:00

A bit of a challenge to get to Broadmoor Lock,one up from Cropredy before twilight.
The late afternoon was pleasant and there bits of sun about.
The straight and narrow run through what once the cutting and Fenny Tunnel went well.
No passing boats!

Despite thus Hallmark was at Claydon Top Lock with an hour. 

The run had gone well so far.

Then the sky completely changed.

There was no doubt we were in for a storm.

Then heavens opened. 

It was wet. 

Very wet indeed!

This was my third time on the Claydon Five and each time I got soaked.
Lock in the rain are not fun!
At lock 19 I left a top paddle open as I tried to drain the lock idealised eventually as the lock would not empty.  I ended up almost draining the pound above
I did the rest of the flight with no more silly errors.
But it was a long haul five locks in two hours.
Not good going.
The rain was too heavy and the light was fading Hallmark had just pasted Clattercote Wharf although there was no piling I pulled over just up from Elkington's Lock (22).
I had really gone pass the time to stop.
It was a mallet and pins job but the ground was firm.
I had a hot soup and decided I could catch up of the 'missing' locks in the morning and get to Banbury on time!

Braunston to Fenny Compton

16.5 miles:    9 locks


It was a lovely morning. I was up at 5:30am.
I have no idea why.
Hallmark was ready to go at 6:15.
So I sat and had a proper breakfast.
We left Braunston at 6:45 determined not to get involved in the hire-boat turn-a-round at three hire boat fleets around Napton Junction.
The five mile length between Braunston and Napton is a  remote piece of canal with the countryside falling away on one side and climbing to a ridge on the other.

We passed Napton Junction and completed the Warwick  Ring.
What a great trip it was, although it was not part of the original plan.
It was Birmingham and back.
In to Birmingham and Worcester Canal and back out on the Grand Union.

On the run up to the Napton Flight we had a good view of Napton's famous windmill.
There were already plenty of boats on the move.  The canal was crowded with moored boats and it tight when boats came the other way.

I arrived at the bottom of the flight of nine locks at 9:15am,  a little later than expected.
There were no boats waiting and the lock keeper offered to open the gates, wind the sluices and give advice.

Climbing the Napton Nine could not have easier.
I never had to empty one lock and for seven Hallmark went in through open gates.
We were at the top in under two and a half hours.

It was a long run across the summit to Fenny Comption.
It was a good nine miles
At times it was dreamy and at others plain dreary.

It is only in the last few miles you begin to see animal livestock.
I was tired and took a 50 minute lunch break by Bridge 186.
I am sure this helped Hallmark's engine which seemed to be running hot.
Maybe I had been driving it hard for two days?

The weather did not hold and there were bouts of torrential rain.
We met a good number of boats heading for Napton.
Too many of them were going too fast and Hallmark was near to a couple collisions at bridge holes.
We survived!
At last the wharf at Fenny Compton was reached.
The moorings were busy and I had to moor Hallmark some distance away from the pub.
It was actually a good idea as there was a weekend music and beer festival.

Coombes Field to Braunston

16 miles:   3 locks

There is one thing about the Oxford Canal it is never in a rush to get anywhere.
It was 6:45am as Hallmark silently glided under Bridge 26.
I turned the key and the engine roared into life.
I had a long day ahead.  Just three locks and a tunnel and lots of cruising without locks.
Some 16 miles in total.

Once again the canal and railway run alongside each other they seemed to share the same embankment.
But this is not the original canal route.
There were extensive shortings between 1829 and 1834.
So it's a day of bits of straightened canal.
Entrances and exits from old loops are passed morning and afternoon

Another features of the day was the number of places to purchase diesel and homes of hire fleets.
The first of these come with Rose Narrowboats at Stretton Stop.
No one was to be seen at 7:15 and I had to to push open the small swing bridge to their workshop to get through.

At Newbold along cutting leads to a 250 yard tunnel and I keep Hallmark perfectly straight all the way Maybe the multi-coloured lights helped My first purple and pink tunnel.
Near Rugby the Oxford Canal crossed two rivers. First the Swift and the the Avon.
The shortenings mentioned earlier led to a sequence of aqueducts and long embankments.

Rugby and it's factories and out of town retail parks are mostly hidden by woodland.

Then you find yourself at Hillmorton Locks.
Where there are three duplicated  narrow locks obviously built in the canals heyday to speed boats and their cargo.

It's a good run down to Braunston.
Plenty of bridges carrying motorway and railways.
All are in better condition compared with Bridge 80.

You know you are getting near to the magnetism of Braunston by it's church steeple set high above the canal and the lines and upon lines of moored visiting boats.

At last, Hallmark arrives at Braunston's triangular junction with it's twin Horseley Ironwork towpath bridges. It's the Grand Union and Braunston Tunnel to  the left and to the right the southern Oxford and Napton Junction to the right.
I steer Hallmark to the right and soon after Bridge 95 I pull into Friday's night resting place.