Cropredy and beyond

We spent Thursday and Friday sitting out the worst of the winds,our weather station registered winds of 35 mph and we were sheltered a bit. Ray braved the wind and rain to walk to the village shop which is about a mile each way from the canal but I stayed on board.

We had planned to make an early start this morning based on the weather forecast for the day but Treat (the kitten) decided to go missing last night so we had resigned ourselves to another day at Fenny Compton. she reappeared at about 8.30 this morning so we then got on the move.

From Fenny Compton it is a little more than three miles to the top of Claydon locks where we begin our descent down towards the Thames at Oxford, although we aren't planning to go onto the Thames on this trip.
The three mile stretch take you through Fenny Compton tunnel but I didn't think Icoould count it as it was opened out into a cutting in 1870. There weren't many other boats on the move today so we had the canal pretty much to ourselves.

Our later than planned start meant that rain I was hoping to avoid caught us as we were working through the last couple of locks before Cropredy. We stopped in Cropredy for some groceries then carried on until we were in sight of Slat Mill Lock for the night.

Today's journey 7 miles and 9 locks

This year we have travelled 160.8 miles, 170 locks, 5 swing bridges and 1 tunnel

In 2012 we travelled 876.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2239.4 miles, 1930 locks, 116 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 72 tunnels