A shady mooring at Thrupp

Tuesday 26^th May; Dashwood lock to Shipton Bridge/Thrupp

We were away before 9 while the temperature was still bearable. 

A cascade of dog roses on the offside

Once through Northbrook lock, which wasn’t far, there is a long stretch to Pigeon’s lock.  There are a few patches of mooring between Old Brighton bridge and the pipe bridge, which we thought we might get to yesterday, but we were so glad we had stopped earlier – we remembered there used to be tall ash trees badly affected by ash die-back between the Cherwell and the canal, and there seemed to be far fewer now than there were.  The armco had several boats on it, all now in full sun.

Jane’s Enchanted Tea Garden looked lovely in dappled shade, but we wondered where the boat had gone – is Jane still around?

Pigeon lock was easy but the sun was now extremely hot and I was glad we were through so quickly.  The canal is bendy as it skirts the golf course.  Several groups were out playing and all were holding their big umbrellas to protect them from the intense heat.

We wound slowly round the long-term moorings between Enslow Wharf and Baker’s lock.  No respite from the heat for the moorers on the towpath side!

Poppies near Baker’s lock

The Satellite Earth Station is quite close to the canal and on the towpath side, although it doesn’t seem so at Baker’s lock

It was lovely cruising down the beautiful Cherwell, with occasional shade from the trees and the fields basking in the heat.  As we approached Shipton Weir lock at the end of the river section we had to wait for a hire boat to sort themselves out – the way to the lock is obscured by overhanging vegetation, but the river is wide and seems to go straight on so they had missed the line.  Easily done.  A couple of boats were waiting to come up but eventually we were all through.  Between the lock and the moorings is a lift bridge which was replaced a couple of years ago.

30 turns up, 20 down

The first section of public mooring, between a few permanent moorings after Shipton Bridge and the start of the rest of the permanent moorings, is on a long sweeping bend.  There were no other boats, so after a deal of shuffling about we not only got a straight (ish) bit of towpath, it was in good shade too.   Our stern was tied to a bit of rope on the piling (no Armco here), and the bow to mooring pins.   

After a lazy lunch we strolled down to the facilities block to take some books to the book swap, and came away with the same number, so made a donation.  Then it was time for an ice-cream at Annie’s tea rooms, and it was so hot we treated Jess to a doggy ice-cream which she loved.  It cost more than either my cone or Dave’s Magnum so will not be a regular thing!  We started reading our books under the shade of the marquee, then got chatting to the older gent at the next table, who also had several books in front of him.  He looked very familiar but we have probably seen him on a boat, or in the area before.  He had just finished one of his books and gave it to me instead of taking it to the book swap, which was a nice thing to do.  Back at the boat, out came the hopper windows and I cleaned a couple more, then made a quiche to eat cold tonight.  But instead we walked to the Boat Inn for a pint in the garden, and ate there.

Highly recommended if you like bitter

We made use of the shore-based facilities before coming back to the boat.  In the Ladies was this painting of a snake bridge (on the Macc I imagine) with the figure on the bridge controlling the towrope as the bow appears under the bridge and the horse walks on out of the picture.  Shame about the reflections from the lights.

So that’s how it’s done

Dave had heard thunder earlier, but although the clouds had built up we had no rain. 

5 miles, 4 locks, 1 lift bridge