Watching the workers at Somerton Meadows

Thursday 28^th 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. 

Pigeon’s lock was baking

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!