Oxford Canal (South):Aynho (Br 189)

An even more miserable cold wet day today.  So much so, with all this rain, we are conditioning ourselves to find the Thames closed on red boards when we finally get there.  Nell lock was showing levels well on the yellow so the river section after Bakers Lock might well be closed even before we get to Oxford.    In spite of the rain we made the usual swift progress down Clayton Flight followed by the separate locks to Banbury.  Broadmoor Lock’s weir culvert looked blocked and the walkway over the top gate was under water with water wearing over the bottom gates.   There was evidence that the lock had overflowed at some point as the towpath below was all deeply eroded at the bridge.   After passing Banbury Town Lock we stopped at Samuelson Bridge for access to the nearby Morrison Supermarket.   There is decent piling here.   After Banbury there is a cluster of lifting bridges, all open, but an underwater obstruction on the downstream side of bridge 171 had the boat lifting and squealing on a presumed metallic object.   Probably a shopping trolley.    We had to wait at Nell Lock for a hotel boat pair to negotiate the lock, but no trouble with water levels.    Feeling cold and miserable we stopped at the first evidence of decent sheet piling mooring.