Washford Quarries

 Today's Navigations - River Thames, Duke's Cut, Oxford Canal

A day of two halves: in the morning we completed our return down the Thames and in the afternoon started back up the Oxford Canal. After a discussion yesterday we have decided to abort all of our plans for this year (main objective was the Basingstoke along with the Wey Navigation and the Kennet and Avon) We thought about doing some of this, making the rest of this trip down to Reading or the start of the Wey, before finding a place to leave the boat and come back in September and October for further exploration. However, life back in Cornwall has become a whole lot more complicated than we could have imagined back in the winter when we started to plan the year. As a result the 'sensible' thing to do is to head back to Droitwich as soon as we can (too far for this trip but we should do quite a bit of it)

Today's forecast promised a much better day and indeed with just a few cloudy spells it was bright sunshine and much warmer. The above was the view out of our back door as we prepared to leave. As luck would have it, no-one came to collect the mooring fee - there were only three or four boats overnight and spread over some distance from the bridge, perhaps not worth the effort!

And here, looking back at our mooring location as we made a start.

Very shortly afterwards we passed under Newbridge with its narrow arches. Surprisingly, the Thames does not mark which arch to use when their is a choice to be made. At a guess we would not have made it through either outer arch!

Northmoor Lock came and went - all of the locks today had a keeper on duty. Must be that someone expected large numbers of boats out on Bank Holiday weekend. Although there were many more than on the way up, it was far from busy. None of the keepers had to cram boats is as can sometimes happen to avoid long queues.

Several of the locks normally have campsites attached to them but there are generally signs that they are closed because of the pandemic. However, there was a good gathering below Northmoor and we could sense the preparation of outdoor cooked breakfasts.

On the way up we commented on the substantial size of the mobile home holiday park at Bablock Hythe. The Ferry looks quite substantial - most of its trade must come from people staying in their holiday homes.

There were many more canoeists out on the river today - in places we had to keep a good eye on what they were doing. At least on the river they generally seemed to know how to do things, in contrast with later on the canal where there were large numbers of people who were evidently novices, perhaps just out for an hour or so. This group pf three (one had already ported around the lock) were on a trip from Lechlade to London.

At Eynsham Lock we filled with water on the approach landing - this did not delay us as we had to wait for three boats to be locked up and by the time they were ready to leave we were full. The other services has to be accessed from the lower lock landing. As we slowly came out of the lock, having to negotiate around a couple o boats already waiting to go up, we had a short amusing wait whilst the lock keeper spoke to a couple of 'older' men who were about to go for a swim. Despite their protestations that they have been doing so regularly he insisted that it was against the rules. Later we spotted them on the opposite back, having walked across the weir bridge happily skinny dipping! (no, you cannot see them in this photo so stop looking!)

The rest of our Thames trip was very pleasant and warm - here just coming around Hagley Pool, a wide bend in the river.

We turned off the main line of the Thames and onto the bywater that leads to the Duke's Cut. At the far end, just before the junction with the Oxford Canal is  a stop lock, originally to control the flow of water between the two canals. It does appear as it the lock has been extended at some time but one Google search suggests that it was first built so that the gates could work either way (not sure how that was engineered). In any event, it explains the somewhat odd positioning of the top ground paddle.

We found a good armco mooring just above Kidlington Green Lock and so were able to enjoy a   break. Setting off once more, the next stretch through Thrupp and up to Shipton Wier Lock was a but fraught with a lot of canoes all over the place and hire boats out of Oxford trying to push their way through places already narrowed by extensive inline mooring. At one bridge, Christine tried to warn an oncoming boat that he (sic) needed to wait as she was avoiding a rather frightened looking group clinging to the bank in their canoe! His comeuppance was grounding, for which he was not duly grateful . . .

On the other hand, at most of the locks there were pleasant and interesting people to chat with - socially distanced (as if) - and usually very willing to help. This couple we interested in why this lock looked so in need of a repair!

Shipton Weir Lock is always slow even if there s only a slight rise. Alongside the lock a group of around eight or so people were well into their bottles of wine as the barbecue was cooking well.

At Enstone we saw this boat moored, bearing the name Rev John Manton. We have not yet found an explanation although a couple of people with this name had interesting histories but none specifically related to canals. Anyone know more?

We carried on to Washford Stone Quarries where the space for mooring was entirely empty. Whilst Mike continued preparing the roast meal and writing this blog, Christine went in search of some blackberries that could be made into a sauce for the turkey

20.1 Miles - 10 Locks