Monday dawned bright and became quite warm. Walked Lady over the Castle grounds, a collection of magnificent lumps and bumps in the ground that are all that remains of the largest castle in the county. Came back to coffee & breakfast - thanks Annie! The boat was prepared and we set off on time at 9am. Sadly a miscounting of the locks ahead put us immediately 30 minutes behind! As we arrived at Days Lock our friends George & Isabel were spotted waving - they had cycled over and were waiting for us to come by. Popped their bikes on the roof and they joined us for the day. Moored up at the Kings Head at Sandford Lock for a jar mid afternoon and arrived in Oxford at Osney Lock just after 7pm. Sadly the lock keeper had gone and the lock was 'self service'. Managed to make a meal of the simple arrangement of buttons to press to operate the lock but cracked it in the end and got through. Here George jumped ship to catch the bus home and collect the car to retrieve Isabel and the bicycles. We journeyed on, getting off the Thames onto the Oxford Canal via the surreal Sheepwash Channel. You turn sharp right off a beautiful wide father Thames into a narrow, dark channel overhung with trees. Several ancient railway bridges cross the cutting, including an old railway turntable bridge, left open with deck lying on the bank. On the opposite bank, two railway tracks ran for about 30 metres disappearing beneath a block of flats built over the line.
We moored the boat in North Oxford, an area called Jericho. An incredible place. This former industrial area was going seriously up-market. The canal was bounded by cliff like apartments and penthouses fetching upwards of £700k. On the opposite side of the canal were social housing 'flats'... again cliff like and brand new. As we knocked our mooring pins in, an voluble argument sprang up between two occupants of the 'social side' about what they thought of each others children. Colourful ! :-) This was accompanied by the slamming of windows and patio doors from the 'posh' side. Felt sorry for them - forking out tht kind of cash and having to put up with the entertainment from the other side of the canal a few feet away.
George was quick returning with the car, but a little longer securing a parking space. After a curry, they cycled back to the car, leaving us to our watery divide between Oxford's social strata.
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| George & Isabel |
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