Oh Dear! We overslept this morning by 90 minutes. Never Mind. We still got to Banbury. The first mile or so was very shallow making progress very slow and showing signs of bad bank erosion due to the inevitable turbulence as the boat moved. Really this section needs piling and dredging badly because it can only get worse now. Further on there was a lot of rush growth, narrowing the channel to single line only. However, once past Nether Heyford things improved as did progress. Thanks by the way to the boater who opened Nether Heyford (correction thanks Sue Lower Heyford) lifting bridge (Mill Lift Bridge) for us.
Somerton Deep Lock was no problem. The cottage always reminds me of the Local Shop in League of Gentlemen. Further on,
Chisnell Lift Bridge was down but was easily managed with the chain from the towpath side. The three lift bridges reached after re-crossing the motorway after Grants Lock, 172,171,170 are all usually up, but for some reason the last one (170) was down. There appeared to be no chain on the towpath side which meant crossing and pulling on the balance beam. It took my whole weight dangling on the chain to move it, depositing me in a heap fortunately not under the falling beam. Likewise to lower it again took a great deal of strength to get it over the balance point. Not right. However, we did arrive in Banbury in good time 8 and a half hours as predicted by the canalplanner. Our usual moorings for the station were all taken and an alternate got no TV signal, so we moved up through Town Lock to Castle Quay, but no better. Maybe we would be better off further on by Spiceball Park, but its just further to walk to the station.
Lower and Upper Heyford Mike.. Vic always calls the place Nether Heyford too!
Posted by: SueNoProblem | October 11, 2015 at 21:25
Thanks for the correction Sue. I had always wondered where exactly the American Airbase was.
Posted by: Mike | October 12, 2015 at 08:05