Friday 29th May; Somerton Meadows to Nadkey Bridge
This morning was quiet and cool, with high cloud which remained until the afternoon. It was still warm enough for shorts and t-shirts when we set off, around 9. Somerton Deep Lock was less than a mile along the cut. This lock has a reputation for being difficult; the gates are heavy but I can deal with them on my own, and the top paddles are extremely stiff to operate. But I can still do them too, I am pleased to report!
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| Twelve feet deep |
Chisnell Lift Bridge was next. This carries a footpath and is used by the farm as well. Last time we came this way it was still raised by hand, using the BW key to release the catch that holds it closed, and pulling it back into place with a chain before re-latching it. Now it is windlass-operated, very straightforward and easy.
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| Replaced in 2025 |
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| No need for the key now |
The canal was still very quiet as we came through the long-term moorings at Aynho, past the wharf and under the permanently-raised Belcher’s lift bridge.
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| The deck is beginning to twist |
We had to wait on the lock moorings at the diamond-shaped Aynho lock, where the Cherwell crosses the cut above it. A boat was hovering in the slow-flowing stream above the lock as the crew struggled with the top gate, and she was glad of some help. A Kiwi couple, they were on their way to the Thames and were booked to go up the Basingstoke canal later this year! I wished them luck – the Basingstoke is notoriously short of water in the summer. They were soon through and it was our turn. The problem with the top gate is not its weight or stiffness so much as the slippery bricks on the opening arc, and the distance between the rows of bricks to brace your feet against – it’s fine if you have long legs but for shorties like me … well, I had to get Dave to creep up to rest the bow fender on the gate. Not to push it you understand, but to stop it swinging shut again while I adjusted my feet! At Nell Bridge, where the lock takes you back up onto the canal, a boat was on its way down, and with two of us heaving the tricky bottom gate, it was no trouble to open. Once we were in I would have struggled to close it again but for two lovely chaps returning to the ‘project’ boat of one of them moored a little way along. We soon passed under the M40 which is now more-or-less present until past Banbury.
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| Ox-eye daisies at a disused lift bridge |
We paused for lunch above King’s Sutton lock but wanted to get closer to Banbury tonight, so didn’t stay long. Silaging was continuing apace, the second cut of the year. One farm was collecting it with the sucker-up machine which shoots it into a trailer, to stack it all together at the farm, the plastic covers held down by old tyres. Another had the whizzy big bale machine like the one we saw yesterday, though this looked like a different design.
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| Yesterday’s had an automatic system for cutting the plastic and releasing the bale. Maybe this one’s was broken as the cheery driver was hacking at it with a small knife. |
There have been plenty of kites to be seen on this trip, and today we saw maybe a dozen or more thermalling with buzzards above the boat. It’s remarkably difficult to get a picture of both together when both boat and birds are moving!
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| The best I could get |
The strong wind was blowing the noise of the motorway away, so we moored at Nadkey bridge, just before the new housing sprawl of Banbury. Although the boat was now in full sun the heatwave had broken and the temperature was very pleasant. The wind had dropped and the motorway noise became quite intrusive, but the evening was cool enough to be able to close the doors and the windows on that side of the boat.
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| Nadkey bridge, nearly sunset. Pretty, apart from the graffiti. |
5 locks, 1 lift bridge, 8½ miles
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