The rain was so heavy during the night that it woke us up. First thing this morning it was quite bright, though, and we set off at 8.20. The summit twists and turns so you can sometimes only see a little way in front of you. It feels really remote too. Before long, the rain came.
We passed a glamping site with a bell tent. The horsebox has a kitchen set up inside and an external shower, and there’s a bath tub with a chimney.
The HS2 works don’t seem to have changed much in the three years since we were last here, although as well as the temporary bridge over the canal there is now also the actual bridge. I read somewhere about the bridge being faced with local stone, but the wall they’ve built so far is underwhelming.
Next comes the moorings after Bridge 129, with a view of the radio mast. We had a Christmas Day here on Debdale way back in 2007.
After a couple of hours the rain died out. We edged through Fenny Compton, and then pulled in while a boat came the other way through the Fenny ‘tunnel’ which hasn’t been a tunnel for a very long time. There are some very narrow sections.
The first of the typical Oxford Canal lift bridges marks the transition from Warwickshire into Oxfordshire.
We’d been behind a Clifton Cruiser hire boat all day, although only catching a glimpse every now and then, and at Fenny another boat got between us. Then we found ourselves behind the Clifton boat again, as they’d stopped to let the dog off and the other boat had gone past; when they stopped again to try to get the dog back on, we were able to go past. Then the other boat moored at the top of the Claydon Flight, putting us at the front of the queue. A boat was coming up the top lock, so we could go straight in. The lock is next to a very nice cottage.
At the middle lock, a couple of volunteer lock keepers were doing their thing, complete with a little hut with a kettle and biscuits.
We had a very quick run down the locks, swapping with another boat at the bottom lock. We stopped below the locks for lunch, mostly because we were at the end of the bread, so it needed toasting! For the remaining four locks of the day we were behind the Clifton boat again. At Varney’s lock, a boat coming up just drifted about below the lock, slightly in the way, and certainly not coming to wind a paddle or push a gate.
As we passed Cropredy Marina we waved at Old Nick and Herbie. The lock is in a lovely setting with a nice cottage alongside, and the church clock struck three.
The Clifton boat had stopped on the water point as they’d run out, and we made a brief pause just to visit the bins. As we left the village the clouds looked ominous. We moored up in a place we used last time, just before Slat Mill Bridge and Lock, and only got a little wet when the rain came back. It’s one of the moorings that not in the books, but is on Paul’s Waterway Routes maps, which shows all the bits of useful piling — which is one of the really good things about his maps.
14 miles, 9 locks. (50 miles, 38 locks)
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