We received a call on Friday evening, the Canal and River Trust had completed work on the Watford locks and had re-opened them early. Kevin and Carol from NB Dunslavin took advantage of this and were on the way earlier than expected and with an early start the next day and the locks all their way we were expecting them to arrive at Cropredy on Saturday at lunchtime. Unfortunately they were delayed just outside Cropredy helping a boater who had broken their hip. They arrived just in time for a late lunch together.
After a lunch and a good chat we decided to head off on the two and half hour cruise down to Banbury. We went down the lock and waited patiently for our turn to fill for water before departing. The water point at Cropredy is in an awkward position at the CRT Services and right on a winding (turning) hole, a busy little place. With no other option I waited patiently under a bridge, thus blocking the canal, while one boat completed their water fill and another completed a turn. Serafina was soon filled with water and we were off again.
It was a nice afternoon for cruising with three locks between us and Banbury. The gates on these locks were lovely and balanced, helpful when you are trying to move 2330 kg. However, lifting the paddles was tough! Rachael couldn't budge them and so I was off the boat and on the windlass for all three of them. If you are not sure how a lock works have a read here.
We moored just outside Banbury central for the first few nights. Not bad moorings, only a five minute walk to Castle Quays Shopping Centre so the ladies were happy. It was a little further to Morrison's, the closest large supermarket, about fifteen minutes walk. The low hum of the flour mill across the canal went on 24 hours a day but we got used to that quite quickly.
Off for a stroll the first evening we caught up with Michael and Silvie, a Walsh/Canadian couple from NB Chartwell, a couple we had met and chatted for some considerable time with, while in Cropredy. They were moored in the centre of Banbury and heading for Oxford the next day. They do a similar thing to us where they holiday here on the boat for some of the year and then return to Canada for the rest of the time. It was another long chat before we left them to get back to our boat.
We also met some friends of Kevin and Carol's who were heading towards Cropredy and were staying a couple of nights in Banbury. So, apart from the odd drink or two it was also BBQ night on the canal on Monday night!
Kevin and I managed to do a little bit of fishing while we were on these moorings, not that we caught anything! We have moved around to the Banbury moorings in the city centre for the last night, no fishing allowed here! It was less than a five minute cruise today for the move to different moorings but as soon as the job was done the boats were locked up and it was shopping and sight seeing time. First must do was Banbury Cross. Not the original but it will do for now, the three originals being destroyed long ago.
We strolled around the old part of Banbury snapping a few pics as we went. The Reindeer Inn was built in the early 1600's
And finally, our mooring for our last night in Banbury, only fifty metres from the front door of the shopping centre (as the crow flies).
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