As the map on the “What’s New” page is getting complicated I have added, where possible, individual weekly mooring maps.
Monday and it’s moving day.
We like Banbury and hope to return some day but right now we must move on. The plan is to go to Cropredy as we missed it on the way down as we could not find a mooring anywhere. There is a Fairport Festival each year in Cropredy fronted over recent years by Fairport Convention that was advertised as "going ahead” which is why, we were told, that the moorings were so full. Although at the last minute the festival was cancelled but the pubs having laid out a great deal of dosh on food, extra alcohol stocks etc., carried on regardless with their programmes which, our source told us, was a great success.
Sadly things had not changed on the way back, we did manage to stop for a couple of minutes (virtually blocking the entire canal in the process) to get a black pudding ring but that was it. No spaces nowhere, so we continued to the public moorings at the bottom of the Claydon Locks. This flight of five locks, as a water conservancy measure is at the moment locked off between 6.00pm and 8.00am with the last entry to the flight at 4.30pm.
We got underway bright and early Tuesday morning and were soon through the locks and by lunch time we had done around six miles and stopped for the day in a very quiet rural spot where two other boats were already moored. After lunch both the other boats got underway and we were left totally alone. The aloneness sadly did not last and by the evening every space was filled.
Wednesday was to be a lay day as we thought, wrongly, we were near the ruins of a medieval village that was abandoned when plague made it a dangerous place to live. Not being able to visit the village we had to be content with a walk along the tow-path.
Our luck improved at evening mooring time. Not a single boat stopped to disturb our peaceful solitude.
Isolated mooring - fab!
Continuing our journey on Thursday brought us to the nine locks of the Napton Flight. The top two locks in this flight are also locked off at night from 6.00pm, last entry 5.30pm till 8.00am. This measure is according to the CRT “ . . . intended to reduce the potential for water losses overnight and allow back pumps more time to transfer water from the Braunston pound onto the Oxford Summit . . . “ speaking to a CRT volunteer he said that as the evening wore on and tired boaters looking forward to an evening meal and drinkies regularly left gate paddles open, thus exacerbating low water levels. We have seen a boat climbing a lock flight at 10.30 at night perfectly acceptable and legal but . . . . . . .
As we dropped down the locks we again saw the Indonesian Water Bufallo in the adjacent fields. We have found out where we can buy some of the burgers and sausages produced from the meat and will look to get some tomorrow.
Friday was declared another lay day which enabled us to visit the Napton Village Store and get some Water Buffalo sausages and burgers (which we had been told were delicious but will be able to give you our opinion next update), as well as the Napton Ciderey where we stocked up on some bottled cider.
Just before the second lockdown we had been taken to The Kings Head at Napton for what was an excellent meal and our plan for Saturday was, after going through the last lock of the Napton Flight and topping up our water tank at the water point, to carry on for just a very short distance (less than a mile) and moor as close to Bridge 109 which would, within a five minute walk, take us to the Kings Head where we could have, hopefully, another excellent meal.
We got to Bridge 109 to find the moorings virtually empty with just one small boat moored. We moored behind it got everything ready for an overnight stay but quickly got fed up with car drivers leaning on their hooters before going over the humpy back canal bridge. I can never understand this tooting nonsense, if you have to hoot you are going too fast. Rather than put up with the constant toot toot until it got dark when lights made hooters unnecessary we moved mooring to a pleasant rural section of canal close to bridge 103, not far from Braunston but sadly a long way from the Kings Head. Shortly after mooring pal Paul Smith went past on NB Orient and asked if we would be there Sunday morning. We said we would to which he replied "OK I’ll speak to you then". Paul was taking a client on one of his “Discovery Days” Sunday morning but stopped partly to provide coffee for his client and partly to have a quick chat with us and get us up to date with all the latest Calcutt Marina gossip. Later that afternoon there was a knock on the side of the boat, when we went out we found a couple who lived on their boat in Calcutt Marina. As they passed they recognised our boat and stopped to say “Hi”, we spent a very pleasant hour or two with them Sunday evening and again Monday morning before we went on our merry way.