Tuesday 20th September
Overcast at first, dull but thankfully no rain, we set off from Banbury in good time and head north, reflecting on the very fine waterside, newly pedestrianised old centre - but the tortuous back street route from one to the other. Perhaps they ran out of money .... though that doesn't explain the lack of life in the evening in the centre. Has the huge shopping centre, so busy during the day, sucked the night life out of Banbury?
On and up, under drawbridges, past gardens that border the canal, and now with the sun on our backs, yesterday's dampness squeezed out of us.
We stop in at Cropredy marina for a pump-out which appears to confirm that we can go longer than a fortnight without needing to pump out, though without a gauge to measure accurately we are not much further forward. Cropredy is a huge posh marina, but we push on, up the old Oxford with its quaint lock-keepers' cottages ....
And before we know it we are at Fenny Compton, at "the summit" so from tomorrow we start heading downhill.
Fenny Compton is packed with boats and we're lucky to find a place 1/4 mile from the Wharf Inn. There are more than 50 boats lined up here and the pub is very busy, but food is good and very well priced.
10.5 miles 12 locks
Overcast at first, dull but thankfully no rain, we set off from Banbury in good time and head north, reflecting on the very fine waterside, newly pedestrianised old centre - but the tortuous back street route from one to the other. Perhaps they ran out of money .... though that doesn't explain the lack of life in the evening in the centre. Has the huge shopping centre, so busy during the day, sucked the night life out of Banbury?
On and up, under drawbridges, past gardens that border the canal, and now with the sun on our backs, yesterday's dampness squeezed out of us.
We stop in at Cropredy marina for a pump-out which appears to confirm that we can go longer than a fortnight without needing to pump out, though without a gauge to measure accurately we are not much further forward. Cropredy is a huge posh marina, but we push on, up the old Oxford with its quaint lock-keepers' cottages ....
 |
Fenny Compton is packed with boats and we're lucky to find a place 1/4 mile from the Wharf Inn. There are more than 50 boats lined up here and the pub is very busy, but food is good and very well priced.
10.5 miles 12 locks
No comments:
Post a Comment