Friday 17 May 2013

Onward towards Oxford


I've had to do a recalculation of the 'story so far' mileages etc. as I noticed I reckoned we had only been through one tunnel this year and we have been through both Blisworth and Braunston which even with today's educational standards makes two. I discovered I had failed to include Braunston tunnel and also miscalculated the number of locks.

On Tuesday we moved from the 48hr moorings down through the lock to the 14 day moorings. A bit more cat friendly, the towpath runs alongside an industrial estate so not very pretty but at least it isn't next to a car park.

On Wednesday I went off to my RCTA and C&RT meeting in Milton Keynes, with the obligatory meet up in the pub before of course. Things went quite well, there was the inevitable 'you can't please all of the people all of the time' situation but overall it looks as if we are being listened to and that there is some progress.

Thursday was a trip into the center of Banbury to visit the market, not very big but a nice one, we might try and catch the Saturday market on our way back. We also did a bit of a supermarket stock-up at Morrisons as it is an easy walk from the canal.

Today we moved on from Banbury heading for Oxford, we are hoping to reach there on Tuesday evening as at the moment the weather forecast for Wednesday and Thursday looks pleasant for sightseeing. There are lots of lift bridges on the South Oxford canal but thankfully most of them are fixed in an open position.

This part of the journey also includes the unusually shaped Aynho Weir Lock. It is a sort of diamond shape, designed so that it holds more water because it is not very deep and the next lock downstream is Somerton Deep Lock which at twelve feet deep is one of the deepest narrow locks and without the extra capacity built into Aynho Wier Lock it would be easy for the pound between the two to be drained. I realised when I looked at the photos on the computer that a shot from the bridge would probably show the shape better, maybe on the way back!


Aynho Weir Lock
Tomorrow is washing day and dandelion collecting for dandelion wine, then on Sunday we will head for somewhere near Lower Heyford, weather permitting.



Tuesday and today's journeys 6.3 miles, 5 locks and 1 lift bridge

This year we have travelled 170.4 miles, 180 locks, 5 swing bridges, 1 lift bridge and 2 tunnels

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 2249 miles, 1941 locks, 116 swing bridges, 62 lift bridges and 73 tunnels

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