Napton Locks to Banbury - Tooley's Boatyard

Over the next few days, we ascended Napton locks.  This is a flight of 9 locks taking you up to the 11 mile long summit pound. 

There are CRT facilities at the bottom of the locks, so after emptying the elsan and rubbish etc, we started our ascent.

Napton lock 10

At lock 10, there is a pill box from the Second World War.  It is a lovely flight of locks, very picturesque and thankfully only shallow in one pound due to the lack of rainfall over the last few weeks.  Luckily, some boats were making their way down the flight, so we could be savvy with the water.  

A couple of days later after some much welcomed rain, we cruised from Marston Doles to Fenny Compton which is a very wiggly section, with lots of tight bends (thankfully Coventina is only 55 ft long). It takes you through beautiful countryside and past the site of the medieval village of Wormleighton, spotting this wonderful carving on the way.

On this section, we also passed some of the mighty HS2 railway project, currently under construction.    

We moored overnight at the visitor moorings at Fenny Compton. There are mooring rings here.  From the moorings, it takes approximately 30 minutes to walk into the village where there is a handy Co-op.

Fenny Compton

We enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Wharf Inn in the evening which is next to the visitor moorings.  Fenny Compton Marina, a little bit further along the canal, has diesel, rubbish disposal and you can empty your elsan for £3 which is handy.

The following day, after filling with diesel at the marina, we cruised through the section where the Fenny Compton Tunnel, constructed between 1775 and 1777 and later demolished in the 19th Century, used to be.  We then started our descent down the Claydon flight of 5 locks.  The friendly volunteers were in the process of sending water down the flight as it was shallow further down the canal and they helped us down the locks. 

 

After 3 more locks you reach the lovely village of Cropredy famous for its annual folk festival. What a lovely quaint village this is. 

Cropredy Lock 

We had a look around the church which was really interesting (mainly 14 C).  Once again, the visitor moorings are great, with mooring rings just above Cropredy Lock. 

The following day after using the CRT facilities (just below Cropredy lock on your right), we cruised through to Banbury and moored on the 48hr moorings next to Spiceball Country Park just before bridge 164 (Tom Rolt bridge).

There are plenty of visitor moorings in the Castle Quays development, with restaurants, shops and leisure facilities, you are really in the heart of it.  The new moorings actually in the centre of the development, have electric charging points for up to six boats - eco-moorings. These were installed to improve pollution and air quality, so boats don't have their engines running, generators etc.

   

Tooley's Boatyard

Tooley's boatyard is one of the oldest dry working docks on the Inland Waterways and has been in continuous use since 1778. Here of course was where Tom Rolt and his boat Cressy began their epic journey in 1939 cruising the rapidly declining canal system. It is wonderful to see this piece of history  retained, despite the Castle Quays development that was literally built around it.  

It was really interesting to have a look around the boatyard, the chandlery and museum and learn about the history and see the working forge.