26th June 2011 - Hot Hot Hot

A bit of a lie in and off at 0930, a number of boats having gone by already. The sky was grey with grey bits so I scoffed at the forecast of 29 degrees and sun, sun, sun. We trundled along the Oxford summit pound, boats behind and boats in front and boats coming the other way. It seems I was mistaken, the previously reported missing boats weren't in Stratford, they are all on the South Oxford canal!!

Typical Oxford canal lift bridge:

On we trundle and the sky becomes bluer and bluer until there are no grey bits at all, it gets very hot, I can't even touch the boat! We reach Claydon top lock and the cottage where I want to live, but Penny's against it, too many problems apparently! I can't see why you need access by road, but there we are! Smooth passage through the first two locks, then it becomes a bit congested for the remaining three, lots of waiting about and boat crews scurrying for any available shade! On through Cropredy, we'd both like to live here too, the mill cottage we looked into is still derelict! Eventually the heat become too much and we tie up just above Bourton lock, another cottage we took a look at, but even more problems than Claydon.

A look at the interweb reveals Dave Dunning has been playing with his Christmas present and I get to look at pictures of canal weekend trips from 1989 and 1990. Uncanny as we have just covered the same ground as these two trips in the previous four days! And some very good looking lads if I may be so bold!

Today:   10.5 miles -   10 locks -     6 hours

So Far: 253.5 miles - 243 locks - 134 hours