Perfect Harmony

Perfect Harmony
Moored at Huntingdon

Friday 31 July 2015

31st July '15

We're in Banbury and I'm trying to come to terms with the new computer. Putting yesterdays post on would have been quicker if I'd re-written it from scratch and I've decided to add photos to this one before I shot myself!


This is the Jolly Boatman as we are cruising past - we moored the other side of the bridge which was quite good, you can see some of the empty moorings - amazing.


This is one of the two lozenge shaped locks on this stretch. They are both really shallow, under 3' deep so they made them this shape to take more water down from the river apparently. They can be really interesting to get out of because the wind takes you at funny angles.



We've got no idea what these dishes are all about, but we hadn't noticed them going down either time as the hill sort of gets in the way, however they are obvious from the south. Maybe someone can tell us what they are for?


We spotted this newly built house with a stone roof - very unusual. There are a lot of old stone roofs about but we've never seen a new one. Some serious roof joists one imagines.


This beautiful old Tithe Barn at Upper Heyford. Next to it is a matching manor house and Church, so lovely to see them all still in one piece. It's up quite a slope from the canal, hence the angle. Where we moored that night we could actually see the manor house just peeping over the hill in the distance.

Today we left early, before 9.00am and travelled slowly because there was a boat just in front of us, so we had to wait at most of the locks for them to be emptied. In some cases there was a boat coming out, which is always lovely to see.

 
 
This one is coming out of Somerton Deep Lock. it looks a bit foreshortened here, I'm not really that close to the opening!

At one of the locks we found a queue of boats waiting to go down, which we thought was positive since they were likely to have come from Banbury, meaning more chance of a mooring.



Twice today we have gone under the M40, both motorway and canal sort of loop in opposite directions. It does nothing to make us want to be anywhere other than on a canal! In front of it is one of the lift bridges that abound on this stretch. Luckily today they were all of the sort that are designed to stay open and there's a chain which walkers can pull to bring it down for them to cross, then it lifts again. Thank heavens, I lost count of how many we went under today and it would have added hours to the trip to stop, let John off, go through, pull in and pick him up again. Tiring to think about it.




CRT are doing quite a bit of work in improving the tow paths and banks on the Oxford. It's looking good, shame they don't do some on the K&A!

 
 


this telegraph pole, covered in ivy is at the side of Grants Lock, the last before Banbury from the south. You can see it for ages as it's quite high. From a distance it looks like a stylised Christmas Tree!

We stopped and I did some shopping at the Morrison's just before the town and we have moored just before the lock as mooring is a bit tight in town. There are spaces but we've decided to move up tomorrow to be nearer the centre, this is fine for tonight.

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