Smells and planes in Banbury

 Saturday 17^th August; Cropredy to Banbury

Sunshine as we woke up!  No rain! Though it was rather cloudy at times, it was a relief to have dry weather.  I took Meg for a wander round the village, dumped some rubbish and bought the paper and some milk before we set off.  Though the moorings were pretty empty, we still managed to be behind a boat at the lock, with a boat coming up behind us – and it was still only 9.30.  We stopped at the facilities block to empty a cassette and top up the water, and then off we pottered past the permanent moorings and the sparsely populated towpath side till we were out in the country again.  What a lovely day.

The canoe club at Cropredy was out and about.  We were startled as this group shot past us – we had no idea they were there till the first ones overtook, lightly splashing us as they sped by.

Before we were at the lock, they had turned, there was a shout of ‘Go!’ and they were off again.

Then it was a gentle morning’s cruise, with a few boats coming up and a few going down.  From miles out, we could smell the ‘burnt’ coffee/chocolate cake smell from (we imagine) the Fine Lady factory.  By lunchtime, we were mooring at Spiceball Park in Banbury and the factory smell had changed to bread.  As soon as we had eaten it was Meg’s time for a good play in the park.

We took her right round the wilder parts of the park, with a break at the river for a drink.  We went a bit further than we had before, as far as the underpass under the main road which leads to a little car park, where we found a touching memorial to a faithful friend.

Isn’t that a thoughtful thing to do?  When we got back to the boat, we dropped Meg off, refreshing her water as she had drunk it all, and went for a wander round the town.  I was pleased to find a sewing shop as I need to replace the elastic in my tracky bottoms!  Mission accomplished, we walked up to St Mary’s Church, the one with the huge Doric columns on Horsefair, the main road.  Unfortunately it is only open for a few hours each day and we were too late for today. So we spent a bit of time admiring the fossils in the columns.  From what I can find out, the stone is

‘Hornton Stone or Banbury ironstone [which] is an iron-rich limestone up to 10 metres thick, quarried from the Middle Lias (Lower Jurassic) of north Oxfordshire.

It weathers to a distinctive golden orange/brown colour …. It contains abundant shelly fossils, usually clusters of brachiopods.’

There were certainly abundant fossils in the orange-brown, well-weathered stone, though a lot of them have fallen or been picked out.

As we wandered round the side of the church, we were delighted to hear the Carillon, which plays ‘Victorian tunes’ several times a day.  As it played, we marvelled at the huge plane trees surrounding the church.  They are magnificent.

 and have lovely bark

The path leads round the back of the church and back through to the town streets.  As we returned to the canal we passed this interesting artwork – not a Banksy, I think, but amusing nonetheless.

We cut through Castle Quays back to the boat and for the first time ever (we tend to dash through) we found the entrance to the museum.  So in we went, and up the stairs and over the canal, passing some canal-related displays, mostly targeted at children.  I didn’t think to take any pictures.  The main part of the museum was local history, focusing on the Civil War.  The poor folk of Banbury had a pretty miserable time of it by all accounts.  We left by the other entrance, on the quiet road on the other (non-Tooley’s) side of the canal.

We returned to relax on the boat, and ate on board, but Meg still managed to wheedle another good walk in the park.  The aroma of white sliced was still in the air come evening – a bit too much now, thank you very much.

4½ miles, 4 locks