TRIP REPORTS

AUTUMN CRUISING 2006

The Upper Thames to Birmingham

Part 3 — Thrupp to Banbury

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We resume the story at Thrupp on the Oxford Canal.

There was obviously some excellent hunting here for the cats. I had to spend several days in London, and Wendy went there too for a day for her regular doctor's check. There is a sparse but possible 'bus service to a big Sainsbury's. The pub food is quite good, and the pub car park has a bottle bank (but no other kind of recycling).

During this period, I caught a bad head & chest cough which I passed on to Wendy. I did a big Sainsbury's shop, as Wendy's arm wasn't up to doing it.

We set off at 12:27. The BW facilities list didn't show a pump-out at Thrupp, but did at Enslow. When we got to the latter (Kingsground boatbuilders' wharf) we found it ought to have been the other way round, so we became fairly desperate to get to Lower Heyford before the boatyard there closed for the day. At the tail of Baker's lock we had to wait about three-quarters of an hour for emergency repairs to the lock. The local BW team were replacing a broken balance beam, and letting boats through as and when their progress allowed.

We reached Lower Heyford wharf at 17:15, just in time for a pump-out and to take on water. Then we went on to moor on the 14-day visitor moorings just past the boatyard and close to the station.

I was in London for much of the time. We'd hoped to move on during the Saturday in the middle of this period, but Tilly was determined to stay out at the crucial times, so we didn't. When I went back to London, I forgot my medication, so Wendy had to come there with it. There were no Sunday trains, so she had to come on the Monday. She complained at Paddington that the timetable at Heyford was misleading, and was promised that something would be done about it, but nothing had been by the end of the week.

She found that the pub in the village is quite good, but its food portions are too big. She walked into Steeple Aston, which proved much further than it looked on the map. A resident walker told her of a village club, but didn't make it clear where it was. I'd hoped to travel back on Friday evening, but was delayed at the museum so decided to leave it until the morning.

The cats were in and the cat-flap closed before I arrived, so we were able to set off very soon afterwards, at 10:21. Our first stop was at Aynho Wharf. There is no pump-out facility here, and the boatyard shop had closed for the season. While we were taking in water from a very slow tap, I visited the Great Western Arms, right next to the wharf - very pleasant.

We went on to Banbury where at 17:03 we found a convenient mooring close to the station and I went back to London for more work at the Museum.

Wendy found the shopping here uninspiring, with a choice between Somerfields and M&S. It was a grey, stormy day with some very heavy rain. I was able to come back earlier than expected because the activity day at the museum was poorly attended so they packed up early.