A straightforward descent of Claydon Locks, only one opposite direction boat at the bottom in our favour. Pat was as usual working ahead and me with leaving the lock as single handed, closing the mitred gates on my own was no problem without too much delay. They can be acessed from the roof in the tail of the lock. Below Elkington's Lock moored boats attending the Cropedy festival were evident and a solid line stretched down from there to Slat Mill Lock, a distance of about 2 1/2 miles. Some were breasted up which made passing the few opposite direction boats tricky. Excavators were seen busy tidying up the new Cropredy Marina, now in water but with the dam still in place. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of service facilities yet though. Past the village, the festival site was packed with tents and caravans and the towpath from there back to Cropredy was very busy with a stream of people going back and forth like a load of worker ants all going about their business. Once past all this we were soon in Banbury and found a mooring opposite Sovereign Boats. There were spaces opposite the shopping centre we discovered later and there seems to be quite a rapid turnover on the moorings there. We expect to be here for a few days.
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