28th June 2011 - And so to Oxford

Not such a good choice of mooring last night! We seemed to be about 3 inches from the main line to Oxford, every time a train went by you could feel the boat vibrate! Still seemed to sleep reasonably well, only waking for the 0230 freight and the 0600 to Paddington! So we set off at 0730 this morning in very grey and surprisingly cool weather. Very few boats on the move, not surprising at this time of day, so we trundle through the widely spaced locks, past hundreds of moored boats, gave some advice to a boater on Thames licencing, went by a day boat full of beered up guys at 1030, witnessed BW replacing a lift bridge and painting another, negotiating a lift bridge with boats tied up on both of the landings and eventually tied up on the canal in Oxford at 1430.

Looking at the last lock before the Thames:

Today's wildlife:

We walk into Oxford along the canal and immediately visit Marks and Spencer to replace the broken wine glasses (see earlier post re this incident!) It sure will beat drinking out of the bottle! It's even more difficult from the wine box!! Then to Starbucks for a much missed decent coffee, to the best fudge shop in the world, you wont eat any other fudge once you've tried it from Oxford's 'Fudge Kitchen' We decide to check out a walking tour in the morning then go for an Italian meal to finish the day. Very nice. On the way back to the boat we feed some newly acquired bread to some geese, why do they continue to hiss at you when you're feeding them and are obviously no threat!

Today: 13.5 miles -     9 locks -        7 hours
So Far:  282 miles - 262 locks - 149.5 hours