A short stop in Cropredy, then on to Banbury

On Friday our mission was to get to Banbury and check out the moorings as near as possible to the station with a bit of luck, to collect my eldest daughter Lisa and her husband Rob who are arriving by train Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.  We'll then go back up to Cropredy for Saturday night, so we thought we'd see what was on offer there and how long the journey would take us.

There were a few locks once again, 14 in total today, and a distance of 7 miles.  Supposedly to calculate the time a journey will take, you add up the miles and the locks and divide the total number by three - it took us about five hours in total so I'm not sure how good that calculation is!  It wasn't too busy, but there were a lot more boats going towards Banbury than away from it, which didn't bode well for moorings later in the day!  However there wasn't too much of a hold up at the locks - we know that in a couple of weeks when the schools break up for their six week summer holiday we're going to be overwhelmed by the number of hire boats - but we'll cross that bridge as it happens and try not to let it cause any stress or distress.

      Gate paddles raised and ready to enter                     Adorable working boats

Amazing cotton wool sky to accompany a very hot day

 Locks and cottages - everywhere looks magnificent with a bright blue sky 

Arriving at Cropredy just before 1400hrs, we wanted to visit the two pubs there to see which would be the best one to eat in on Saturday night with Lisa and Rob.  From the Nicholson's Guide, the Red Lion sounded lovely, but when we went in, delightful as it appeared from the outside (appearances can be deceptive they say!) we were given short shrift by the young man who eventually came to the bar and told us that no there was no food now and anyway they were closing at 1430hrs.  We'd entered just after 1415hrs, and would have been happy for him to pleasantly inform us that the kitchen was closed now, sorry, but you're very welcome to have a drink before we close at 1430hrs.  Maybe they don't need the custom, or maybe they are particular about who they have in their plush pub?

Entering the charming outskirts of Cropredy

Lots of thatched roofs around here, complete with the thatcher's signature - the fox and pheasant

Tombstones in the local churchyard

Either way, we beat a hasty retreat and found the very friendly and extremely welcoming Brasenose Arms.  What a difference - like chalk and cheese!  The most charming pub, with a congenial barman, open all day until midnight and serving food.  So we had a couple of drinks and a baguette and chips and booked a table for Saturday night for four.  Fortuitously they have a live band on too (The Sarah Warren Band from Worcester), as apparently the Landlord used to own a club somewhere in London (I think!) so has many contacts in the music world.  The entertainment is all free so we're very much looking forward to that.  Much more pleasant than a snooty restaurant round the corner I think!

        The Red Lion pub and ...                               ... The Brasenose Arms

Inside the Brasenose

Cropredy is famous for the band 'Fairport Convention' and there's a festival held annually here (see 'Fairport Convention') when around 20,000 people descend on this small village for three days, many of them families who return year after year so there'd be a very happy atmosphere.  This year it'll be held on 12th, 13th and 14th August - there's also bands on at The Brasenose from the previous Sunday and all free of charge - amazing!

Derelict lock keeper's cottage, though it does look like someone's working on it

We carried on to Banbury, which only took two hours, and got a fabulous mooring almost in the town centre.  Another boat had warned us that it was unlikely we'd find a spot in the town and recommended we moor before getting in, but there were loads of empty spaces in the 48 moorings. 

Banbury makes me think of my grandma who lived with us when me and my three sisters were growing up in Walmley, Sutton Coldfield - she would hold me on her knee and jump me up and down singing the nursery rhyme 'Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross'.  She died, aged 88, when I was twelve years old bless her.  So I'm looking forward to having a look around the town over the next few days, having not visited before (as far as I can recall!). 

In the evening, we took a stroll into the town - we loved the 'vibe' of it, and there's many grand old buildings that work well alongside the more modern structures.  Banbury Cross lies next to 'The Fine Lady', though it isn't the original Cross which was taken down around 1600.

Very modern and striking footbridge over the canal moorings

Very old building in the town

The Town Hall clock tower and church           

No mistaking what they sell/sold here

More towers - the one on the right is St Mary's Church - 'an architectural gem a few yards from the cross' and open daily 1000 - 1600hrs

Very ornate frontage

  Building from 1537 - now a wine shop

 

  With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes ....

The lift bridge before the lock in the town centre

Of course Banbury is famous as the place that Tom Rolt, author of the book 'Narrowboat', had his boat fitted out prior to his honeymoon cruise in the late 1930's on then then decaying canals of Britain.  He was subsequently instrumental in setting up the Inland Waterways Association so is understandably an iconic figure in the canal world.

 

             The historic Tooley's Boatyard                            Our mooring at Banbury

Reflection of the 'Castle Quay' shopping centre

The tranquil view from the bow of the boat late evening

 Some of the flowers decorating the footbridge

A visit to Napton-on-the Hill - but we missed Fenny Compton completely!

Barry was in two minds as to whether he wanted to cycle up to the windmill on Thursday morning - he had to repair yet another puncture on his fold-up bike, there are too many Hawthorn bushes along the towpaths!  Luckily he decided it would be worth the effort and off he went.  I stayed on the boat catching up with emails, before the poor laptop shut itself down as it was too hot - I must've been typing too quickly and wore it out! 

So I left it to rest and walked up the hill too, getting as far as the windmill.  Unfortunately (though I'm sure it's better for the upkeep on the building) the windmill is in private hands and you can't get a good look at it close-up.  It's a 19th century tower windmill with an old miller's cottage next door containing the remnants of the original bread oven - according to the AA 'Book of British Villages', but as that was published in 1981 anything could've happened to it by now!  It all looked very well cared for though, as far as you could tell, a smart red sports car (typical woman, I know it was red and a sports car but heaven knows what type it was!) went through the electronically controlled gate while I was standing staring.  Still, I'm sure they're used to that.

 

The view of Napton Bottom Lock from Napton Hill

Barry continued through the village and got to see the church and other buildings, taking a different route back to the boat, whereas I walked back the way I'd came otherwise I'd have got lost!  It's quite a steep climb up to the windmill, so that was sufficient exercise for my poor old legs.

"The Bayntons' - I think this must have been the vicarage for the church

 St Lawrence's Church at Napton-on-the-Hill

The church gate with a row of lovely trees either side of the walkway

  Religious or not, most churches are stunning buildings to look at

Lovely thatched cottage next to the pub

  Napton Bottom Lock

Looking from the other side

Through the first lock for the day - only eight to go!

We bumped into one of our blog readers, Andy, who we first met in Stone last year

 

The windmill is visible for some time yet 

A hare spotted - very rare              A BW working boat takes over the lock for a while

Lots of sheep about

             More fields of barley                                              Looks like the Eiffel Tower!

The canal is quite twisty in places so you see bridges appearing to be in the middle of paddocks, only to curve around and through them

Through 'Fenny Compton Tunnel' which isn't a tunnel anymore

 

 

 

We're heading south but there are still plenty of signs that it's not ALL posh down this way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some interesting sites

We planned to moor up at Fenny Compton, about six miles and nine locks away from Napton, but after a late start and a fairly busy canal with most of the locks against us, by the time we reached it there wasn't a mooring to be had anywhere near to the tiny settlement - sad really as it looked lovely.  It was after half past eight in the evening by the time we found anywhere suitable to tie up for the night, two and a half miles further on - it was a little rocky on the edges and the boat became 'beached' so we wouldn't be going astray in the night, but it was getting far too late to be moving and if we went much further we'd be at the next set of locks -  and we were hungry!

The last golden sunshine for the day

The Oxford Canal so far has been quite a winding waterway, and from what we've heard and read much of it is, so it takes a lot longer than even normal narrowboating, at 3 to 4 miles per hour, to go shorter distances.  But that's OK, we're not in any desperate rush, festina lente.

The weather has been glorious for a while now, of course there's the looming concern of drought warnings but so far they're more in the north than the south concerning the canals.  But a challenge for the last few weeks has been the abundance of horse flies - and boy do they bite if they manage to get hold of a piece of your flesh!  I've had red wheals up my legs from the nasty little critters!  Thursday was the turn of hay flies, those teeny weenie crawly things that just irritate the hell out of you, and when you're already hot and sweaty it doesn't help.  Ah well, it's a pleasure to have the rare warmth and sunshine in England, so I guess in the scheme of things it's not a lot to put up with really.

I think a type of lilly - outside the church at Napton - fresh, bright colours