Country: England
Distance travelled:
Weather: cold and overcast

It was not possible to top up our water tank this morning since we had passed the water point last night in our search for a mooring spot. Reversing back up the canal to the tap is not done (and I shudder to think of attempting it) but I didn’t think it would be a problem since we will be back at Twyford Wharf in 24 hours. It would be of some comfort if there had been a gauge on the boat to get an idea of how much water we have but I get the feeling the water tank is quite large anyway, so I’m not worried.

Whilst Marion and Allister were finishing their breakfast cuppa, Mark and I walked over to the pub. We wanted to see if there was somewhere to dump our growing pile of recyclables and there is a small shop, inside the pub, which sells various essentials like milk and cereal and so forth. It was a fruitless endeavor as there was only rubbish bins, no recycling, and apparently the pub doesn’t open until about 10am. We did go visit the pigs again though. Cute little buggers….

From Fenny Compton Wharf we cruised leisurely on to Cropredy.

I had read that there was a shop there and we were all out of suitable lunch provisions and we had a few requirements for dinner as well. When we alighted, we decided to head into the village and have lunch at the Red Lion. This is a pub I would gladly go back to. It was everything a small village pub should be with the low beamed roof and fireplaces. The staff were exeptional, going out of their way to ensure our meals were to our liking, and the meals themselves were awesome. Marion had a serve of gammon the size of both of my hands and I decided to try the bockwurst with chips. I am now on the hunt for more. That stuff was delicious. Can’t wait for German delicatessens.

After eventually locating the very well stocked shop and getting our provisions, including a few bottles of Irn Bru to toast the end of our cruise, we headed off. We wanted to get just south of Banbury before we moored for the night so that there would be hopefully less than an hour of travel on Saturday morning. We are back in the land of lift bridges which, luckily for us, seem to be always left up. The only bridge that causes a problem is the one in the middle of Banbury just before the lock.

The council of Banbury have very cleverly made a shopping precinct around a section of the Oxford Canal and it is very attractive, and popular with pedestrians. This means that as you approach the lift bridge, someone has to jump off and, after waiting for all pedestrians to pass, crank it up for the boat, then crank it down again after. Then it’s into the lock. You’d think by now that we were old hands at locks but the audience is definitely off-putting and I think we managed to make quite a few newbie mistakes.

We moored not far from the outskirts of Banbury where we could still some houses across the fields. Tomorrow we have one last lock to pass through and then it’s all over and we have to hand Conqueror back. It has been a great experience. One I would definitely recommend to anyone although I’m not sure about the restfulness claims. The people who talk about how restful it is are obviously not the ones opening and shutting lock gates. But then, I had to work off all the cakes somehow…