Back to the heat

Sunday 7^th July; below Claydon locks to Banbury

It was a very quiet night, apart from a pheasant which squawked a bit now and then.  We’ve often moored here, as it’s usually got space and is reliably quiet.  We were away before 9, once more in pleasant summer weather.  At Clattercote Wharf, the scarecrows are now very few, bleached and forlorn, slumped outside the barn.

Although one still stands guard amid the sweetcorn and pumpkins.

There were a fair few boats about; one behind us and boats coming up.  The pound between Elkington’s and Varney’s lock was very low but no-one got stuck. 

It was fairly quiet in Cropredy, though at the lock we caught up with the Calcutt boat we saw yesterday.   I walked on to the shop for the Sunday paper as Dave trickled down towards the bridge, and met him at the facilities area, which luckily was free, so we could stop and top up the water and empty a cassette.  If the sanitary station at Banbury is occupied or out of action, we would have to wait till Thrupp when we could be running out of capacity!

Villages do have some lovely names for roads.

We carried on past the fields where people camp for the festival.  One of the resident boaters seems to have a bit of a problem.  He just can’t seem to hold his water …..

It was getting hot as we gently made our way towards Banbury.  Some locals were cooling off ….

And then we were approaching Banbury.  We knew from other blogs that the car park to the east of the canal had been demolished and didn’t relish mooring by a building site, so were delighted to find plenty of space alongside Spiceball Park.

We found a cool spot under the trees and had lunch, before strolling down to see what was what.  My photo of the heaps of rubble and twisted remains of the footbridge was so blurred it looks abstract, so I’ll have another go tomorrow.  But the restoration of NB Hardy is coming along.  Last year it was on the bottom of the canal.

We strolled round town, picking up a few takeaway menus before taking a couple of tourist snaps.

Banbury Cross

The Fine Lady

But we have seen them close-up before so just zoomed in this time to take the snap.  Back at the boat, we decided to take the Sunday newspaper and our chairs and spent the afternoon lazing in the park.  Delightful!  Though I had to retreat to the shade of the nearby tree.

It’s a shame that Banbury is such a noisy place.  The canal has busy roads on either side which are noisy even at a distance, and the M40 isn’t far away.  We know the factories on the other bank have extractor fans on the go and will start work early tomorrow, but the park moorings are relaxing and pleasant in spite of it all, and at the moment much better than Castle Quays.  Meg thinks so, anyway.

6 miles, 7 locks