Tuesday 27 July

It started to rain before we were up this morning,so we didn't hurry ourselves, when it eased we visited the shop at The Wharf Inn to get a few odds and ends. There were quite a few boats on the move and about 1030 we set off, by now the rain had virtually stopped and I didn't need a coat all day.

I had to wait for three boat at Fenny Compton tunnel, one of them was a Canal Club and the steerer asked how I was and then pointed out I didn't recognise him, it was two fellow members of the IWA Ipswich branch. We arrived at the top of the Claydon flight at twenty past twelve and were third in the queue and two pulled in behind us, but we moved on surprisingly quickly. We met a few boats in the flight, but not at every lock.
Just above Cropredy lock we saw Narrowboat "Minervois" moored, we passed them yesterday when they thought they were in danger of sinking with water coming over the floor boards.
The plan was to moor before Cropredy, but once passed Clattercote Wharf we found than any decent mooring was already taken so it was on through Cropredy, the second part of the plan was to fill with water at Cropredy Wharf, but there was one boat on the wharf, the one we had been following down waiting to get onto the water point and one coming the other way waiting for the pair of them to get sorted before filling up, as we still had half a tank we carried on. All visitor moorings were taken in Cropredy and the first bit of decent bank with room for us just prior to Slat Mill Bridge 156 moored behind Narrowboat Ariel which has been moored here for years and looks quite deserted. We are within 2 feet of the bank and hard on the bottom, the level is fluctuating by about 6" as boats enter and leave the pound, so we go from even keel to a fair list to the right.
The canoe club is out in force tonight with a large group of them going by, but with us being on the mud we don't even feel them, canoes normally make the boat move quite a bit for some reason, being light and small you wouldn't expect that.