Banbury to Oxford

Over the last week, we have enjoyed cruising from Banbury to Oxford on this lovely picturesque Canal.

 

It was such a shame on this stretch to see a couple of what would have once been beautiful lock-side cottages, which are now unfortunately derelict.

The first night, we moored not far from Aynho Marina which has a lovely little shop/outdoor snacks and you can purchase diesel here.  The following day, we went through one of the deepest locks on the narrow canal system, Somerton Deep Lock No 34, built in 1787 - 12ft deep.

Somerton Deep Lock

From Banbury onwards, the bottom gates switch from two to one, which can be a little heavier to open.  We then cruised through to a quaint village called Lower Heyford.  It is so pretty, with lovely thatched cottages and no through road, so peaceful.  There are 14 day moorings here complete with a space for us! The railway station here proved very handy as we used it pop home for a couple of days and had a day trip to Oxford which is only 15 mins away.  

View from the top of Carfax Tower

This is the view from the top of Carfax Tower in the centre of Oxford.  We walked up the 99 steps of the tower which is all that remains from the 12th century St Martin's Church.

After leaving Lower Heyford, just after pigeon lock, we saw a very unfortunate sight,  a boat teetering on the edge of the towpath.  We are guessing that at some point the towpath has flooded and the boat has been marooned on the towpath, now patiently waiting until the next flood?

There are some great Elsan/water facilities at Thrupp Canal Cruising Club.  Just after the club, there is a lift bridge (CRT Key to use this) and there are visitor moorings for 48 hours.  We were lucky and managed to moor next to the Boat Inn, where some episodes of Inspector Morse were filmed and where we enjoyed a meal in the evening. 

 

The following day, we cruised through to Oxford.  There are a couple of lift bridges on the way.  We moored up for the day on the visitor moorings (2 days) just after bridge no 240, Aristotle Bridge.  These are really good as there is a recreation park and a 15 minute walk takes you to the suburbs of Jericho.  There are lots of little cafe's, bars and a couple of grocery stores here - it has a real community feel to it.  In the evening, we enjoyed a curry at Jamal's and for breakfast this morning went to TCG's (The Coffee Guild) for a tasty breakfast.

 

Breakfast at TCG's

     We plan to descend Isis lock tomorrow and head out on the mighty River Thames!😀