Thursday 28th May; Baker’s Lock to Somerton
Meadows
The early coolness was deceptive. We met our first boat soon after we moved off
at 8, someone else trying to avoid the heat, but the rest of the cruise was
very quiet. We were passing the golf
course by 8.30, the golfers all out for their game but not needing their umbrellas
sunshades just yet. Dave said they looked
like a parade of Norland nannies, with their golf carts for perambulators. The work was easy apart from the heat, as
most of the locks were in our favour or required very little emptying to open
the bottom gate.
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| Pigeon’s lock was baking |
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| But the Enchanted Tea Gardens looked cool and shady |
Northbrook lock was cool, with shade to stand in while the
lock filled.
Dashwood lock was next and was right in the open.
On the top of the top gate on the offside, on
the white-painted bit, I found this pellet.
Pellets are regurgitated by birds and consist of the remains of food which the bird can't digest, such as bones and insect wing cases. On a lower part of the gate was another which had dried.
What could have produced it?
I though owl pellets and so on were found
beneath roosts.
I broke the second one
up with a stick, but there didn’t appear to be any little bones in it so it
probably wasn’t an owl.
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| The closest I could find was a magpie. I should have kept it and inspected the
contents under a lens. |
I had to operate Mill Lift bridge myself but with the key of
power it was a doddle. Only one house
uses it for vehicle traffic and there were no walkers about, so it was all
quiet.
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| Raised bed envy |
At Heyford Common lock we met a couple of CRT bods checking
the condition of the locks, one instructing the other who was learning on the
job. They said there was a crew dealing
with a reported obstruction behind the gate at Somerton Deep lock, and they
would then be on their way to Dashwood lock where an old boat had nearly got
stuck a few days ago. By now it was gone
midday and terribly hot. We pressed on
to Somerton Meadow where there was already enough shade for a lunch stop. As we would have had to go up Somerton Deep
lock if we wanted to go further today, we decided to stay put. It wasn’t quiet though. On the offside, the grass behind the trees
had been cut, and today was in the process of being baled, so tractors were
working all afternoon.
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| This one was baling.
The grass was collected at the front of the yellow bit and then released
at the back once the bale was complete. |
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| Then the other tractor picked the bale up, positioning it
carefully … |
 |
| … for the whizzy machine to wrap it in black plastic. I guess this was to make silage, maybe to
feed the cattle in the meadow next winter. |
Nearly 9 miles, 5 locks, Mill lift bridge, 4¾ hours – a long
cruise in the heat!
