All sorted and I was away at 8.00am sharp
The journey up the Oxford contines to be very very rural.
There are meadows full of wild flowers and birds.
At times the canal seems more like a river and there are lots of pollarded Willows.
Then you chug on through a belt of woodland
Today the canal, river and railway were not far apart. At one point British Waterways have erected a big sign to tell railway passengers they are passing the Oxford Canal.
Towards the end of the day the motorway (M40) was across the other side of the valley. It will get much closer tomorrow.
The railway line is interesting. After Aynho Junction the line splits with the line running to London Marylebone crossing over the line to Oxford and Reading.
The lofty viaduct below is where the Chilton Line runs from Birmingham to Marylebone.
It was the day of locks, although there were only five of them.
They were almost all remote today, set well out in the country.
At Heyford Common lock I moored up below the lock as normal climbed ashore and emptied the lock, opened the gate and went back to drive Hallmark in. As I approached the door began to close. As first I thought it must be the wind and the current. Then I realised another boat had arrived upstream and was setting the lock for themselves. I shouted and hooted and made it very clear ‘it was my lock’ having set it and I expected the other boat to reempty it in my favour. They grumbled but gave in! No apologises of course!
I had heard all about Somerton Deep lock.
At 12 foot it is the deepest on the whole British Waterways system along with one on the Tardebigge flight on the Worcester and Birmingham canal. It is amazing to enter into the narrow very deep chamber. I thought I might be a bit scared but it was fine. The steps up were in good condition (as they appear to be everywhere so far) but it was a long climb.
Ayno Weir Lock is not a narrow lock like most others of the Oxford. It is diamond shape and presents real mooring problems for a single hander. Tieing up in not easy………..This lock is about Somerton and was constructed this way to provide plenty of water to service that deep lock. In consequence Ayno takes and age to fill.
The final lock of the day was Nell Bridge Lock has the entrance on one side of the relatively road and the lock on the other. The approach is even tighter than normal as it is through the original bridge which has been engulfed by the structure of the modern bridge.
I stopped at Ayno Wharf for diesel ( I forgot the water!).
Good price and the boater decides the tax split too. What pleasant people run this place. They have only been there four years but they are so welcoming and friendly. The wharf has a resident engineer and workshop and a great little shop with plenty to fill boats’ kitchen shelves, (ice creams too), some really fine hand made cards and a very good collection of narrow boat bits and pieces. They had exactly what I wanted………. a steel cap for my chimney hole to stop the rail going in while the chimney. The owner was on hand to give me some advice about the effective use of the greaser on my stern gland.
They day comes to an end at 1.30pm soon after passing the BW yard (not much going on there) and a very interesting small holding selling meat and veg grown there. I pull in after bridge 186 on a long but empty mooring. A quite and peaceful spot once again! Its two miles away from any village and that is across the river and the railway line and there are no bridges.
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