Marston Doles

Today's Canal : Oxford

Today was very pleasant, sunshine, blue skies and fluffy clouds. It was warm enough but not oppressive. Just right for springtime. We had moored as soon as we cleared the Claydon Flight last night - this is the bridge just above the locks and where we moored.

The summit pound from here to Marston Doles is one of the stretches most characteristic of the early contour canals era when minimising the costs of constructing embankments, cuttings and tunnels had a greater priority over the  boaters' working day. The canal followed the contours on level stretches and this summit pound does so for over ten miles. (Much less for the crow!) As we set off we had some splendid views of the productive farm land alongside.

Canals need water. Right now after one of the driest springs on record, boaters are well aware of this with numerous closures and reduced depth for boats. Water comes from a number of sources and the original surveying engineers sought to capture as many as possible. However, this was usually not enough and the southern Oxford depends on three reservoirs: Boddington, Wormleighton and Clattercote - the largest is Boddington, five times the area of Wormleighton. Clattercote comes in between.

The feeder from Boddington comes in at this towpath bridge, bringing water from about two miles away.

Boundary Bridge is the only lift type between Cropredy and Braunston. It gets its name as the boundary between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire is close by.

The East West Junction Railway was one of several in this are that sought to connect rural towns and villages to the existing main lines. This one linked Stratford on Avon and Towcester and passed through Fenny Compton. After passing Kineton it followed the GWR route from Fenny for about a mile before crossing the canal close to the Wormleighton Reservoir. The only remaining part is the short section from Fenny Compton to the MOD establishment at Kineton. This site was developed in the Second World War as a munitions depot, now the largest in Western Europe and holds today around 60% of all MOD's munitions.

Just after this bridge it is possible to access Wormleighton Reservoir on foot. We did try to come alongside the towpath just for a quick look and to update our rather dated photo. Alas, there was no depth and we had to carry on.

It is now Cygnet Time and we saw several pairs of proud parents carefully guarding their brood. Alas, not all will survive predators.

And so to the narrow Fenny Compton Tunnel section. Originally built as a tunnel it was later opened out. It was then possible for two boats to pass easily, apart from one short section at the southern end. alas, the rapid growth of vegetation now makes passing a little tricky and best attempted are carefully chosen spots. We had not seen another moving boat so far so, of course, we met two here! We concentrated too hard on avoiding a collision so we failed to take a photo.

We called at Fenny Marine, principally to fill up with diesel as we had heard that it was the best price for some while. It is now under new management, from last year, and they seem to be doing quite well. The chandlery had been very much run down (it was once one of the better ones around) but this is work in progress to build it back up again.

Bridge 130, Knotts Bridge, was demolished last winter - we saw preparations in hand when we came through in October. It is said that it was in a dangerous condition. As it was a listed building, will it be replaced?

We stopped for a lunch break on the popular mooring overlooking the Wormleighton Radio Mast. Often quite full, today there was only one boat moored as we arrived with another joining us later.

We have passed the site where HS2 will cross the Oxford Canal on several previous trips. There is progress each time but still plenty of work to keep construction workers in business for some time yet.

To facilitate the works, a temporary haul route was constructed alongside the permanent bridge. We saw plenty of heavy vehicles crossing today, mostly shifting earth from one spoil heap to another.

Hill Farm Glamping, started in 2016, is still in operation - looks as if it is occupied this bank holiday weekend. They have three different units - the tipi starts at £132 a night. Water for the outdoor bath can be heated but the website warns it make take up to an hour!

The obligatory photo. Even Robbie Cummings' drone operator could not resist the temptation!

We moored at the last known spot about 15 minutes away from Marston Doles. Although this was because we have found in the part that the signed Visitor Mooring above the locks can be fully occupied, today we have not seen one known place full and several completely empty. 

We have read several reports of boaters having a lot of difficulty on this summit pound in the past week or so/ Most of the Southern Oxford is known for its shallowness and it certainly was noticeable back when we moored at Lower Heyford several moons ago. Prepared, we started at lower revs than  might otherwise bet he case and, good luck or skill, who knows, but we did not run aground once today, but we did slow right down to tickover or idle when passing an oncoming boat. OK, so there were not many anyway.

We had two problems - on one of the very tight bends typical of this pound, we did find that the navigable depth was so narrow that a 60ft boat could not keep within  its bounds and one end or the other was bound to catch, but we still managed to keep going. Finally, as we came into a long piece of Armco mooring to stop for the rest of the day, we became wedged a short distance from the water's edge, sitting at an angle on a pile of rocks which someone had kindly deposited there. Enough depth before and depth after but not just here! It took a bit of effort to free ourselves and we only had to move a boat length on to find a suitable spot. So, overall, it was no more difficult than every other time we have transited the pound. It was not always obvious if the level was actually much down. In many places the vegetation and structure signs were that it was not far off normal. So, folk who found it difficult must have encountered the bottom too near the top rather than the top too near the bottom! 

10.5 Miles - 0 Locks