Last night we met Graham and Brenda up at the Brasenose Arms for dinner, the place was very quiet but the food was good.
When we went to bed it was blowing a holey again and getting to sleep was bit of a problem but overnight it dropped right away and this morning it was dead calm and sunny. Needless to say as soon as we set off it started raining, first stop was just over the canal to fill with water and then up to the first lock. Above this lock we passed The Village Butty with a small push tug called Lion.
I don’t know if this is the same boat as we saw on the Ashby some time ago or maybe there is more than one with everlasting anodes.
Someone lost their fender in Varneys Lock, I stopped in Elkington lock and removed it from my prop, hopefully that is the last one I will collect this year. I do wish people wouldn’t boat with them down.
We arrived at the bottom of the Claydon flight and a boat was just going up, almost leaving the lock, so rather than chase them up we stopped for lunch below the locks to let they clear the flight. The bottom gates of the bottom lock are unusual in that they are made of cast iron there is also a pair on the Hillmorton flight plus a cracked pair on the bank at Hillmorton that couldn’t be repaired. I wonder how many were tried originally and where that only on the Oxford Canal. Also this lock has a notice on the lock beams.
We carried on up the flight passing a pair of happy fishermen sat under their brollies to moor for the night just above the top lock. Since we have been here the wind strength has been slowly increasing, I wonder what tomorrow will have in store for us.
Today’s Journey
3 miles 9 locks in 3 hours
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