18 September 2012 Fenny Compton

We set off at our normal 10 am. by which time several boats had passed in each direction, some slowly and some not so slowly, I was glad I was on the piling and not pins. I met a boat on the first bend, as we passed the apex we both straightened and passed each other nicely, the problem was with the one right behind him that he failed to mention. Stopping dragged the bum back into the silt, (I forgot to mention the pound dropped by four inches overnight.) leaving me right across the cut, we both passed on the wrong side.
Diana went ashore to walk to Wormleighton bends, picking a few Blackberry's as she went. I watched as she made her way along the towing path when I could see her behind the tree saplings , I then noticed she hopped over something, once passed and  looking back I could see it was a string tied to canal side sapling and to a wooden pallet laying in the hedge, good job it wasn’t dark. Just south of the bends was a boat with an interesting paint job, he was on his way to Warwick but not sure where he was, he knew he had to turn left somewhere. From the notices on the front of the boat it seems its a towing path take away service. At the next bridge hole there were 4 contractors cutting the towing path so I had a word about the pallet and string, they would reach it within the hour and sort it out. What was the next thing we saw, a boat moored by the centre rope right across the towing path to the hedge. I doubt it was the owner who tied it up like that.
We continued on to Fenny Compton, the long term moorings north of the pub just before the visitor moorings are completely empty, not a single boat in residence. We pulled in on the bend of the visitor moorings and had just finished mooring up when a boat on the straight section moved off, so we dragged forward a couple of hundred foot and are now close to the bank secured to a ring at each end. It was 1 o’clock when we tied up and I have had done a bit more to the rusting roof.

One thing that puzzles me, with a long pound like the summit of the oxford canal how much is the level likely to vary along its length with water being draw off at each end down the locks, it must slope from the centre to the ends a bit, but how much?