South Oxford Canal Part 1

Because the weather was atrocious, Brian was ill, and there is a lot of canal to cover we will split the canal into part southwards passage and part 2 northwards passage.

We started in heavy rain that lasted all day. We got soaked and frustrated at following a single handed hippy boat up the Napton locks, a hire boat that almost stopped on the bendy section of canal at every bend, (we forced our way past him), and queuing at the locks down the Claydon flight.

We would not have normally travelling in such bad weather but we had a deadline to be in Oxford by Friday to meet Claire and so we had to keep going.

And we needed to get to a doctor to get antibiotics for Brian’s gums that had swollen due to an infection, and was in agony (and a bad mood). It’s not easy getting to a doctor when you are travelling on a boat and spend long periods away from “civilisation”.



Progress was very slow all the way due to queuing at the locks, inept, ignorant and once abusive hire and private boaters. I pity anyone who had come on the canals for the first time this week; they would have gone away with completely the wrong impression of canalling!!! All very frustrating! It is an extremely pretty canal but we vowed to come back out of hire boat season if we ever do this canal again to avoid the congestion.

Very wet at Napton bottom lock










An old wartime bunker 4 locks up just in case the Germans invade by narrowboat!!!






It’s still raining at the Claydon flight. (Now thoroughly wet through). The water proof gloves and hat weren’t, and Brian’s feet had turned black form the shoes and socks dye.







An old horse boat left to rot near Cropredy. One careful previous owner, the other 20 were mad b”*!*^s. We threaded our way through 2 miles of moored boats that had gathered for the annual Fairport Convention (who?????) music festival.





The modernised insanity of the centre of Banbury. The canal goes through the middle of a shopping centre!!!








The historic Tooley’s boatyard is preserved in aspic after much protest when the scheme was planned. It is the boatyard where Tom Rolt prepared the narrowboat “Cressy” for his pioneering tour of the canals in 1939 that started the movement for canal preservation for leisure use.













The contrast between the new motorway bridge shadowing the old lift bridge from another era is clear







The Shipton wier lock where the river Cherwell crosses the canal. No one is sure why the lock is diamond shaped but it could be due to balancing the amount of water with the other much deeper normal locks.






The river crossing just above the lock







These posts marked “DIS” are a bit of mystery. They are clearly not mileage markers and research on the web indicated that they were used by horse boaters to claim the lock ahead by cracking their whips when they passed them to signal other boats approaching from the opposite direction. Later horns were used. Try doing it these days and the other boat will just ignore you and take the lock from you anyway and waste water in the process.


Ayno wharf, our halt for the second night on the South Oxford. Several beers at the Great Western pub helped Brian gum pain but the prices were very high and food even more costly. The pub really supports the nearby railway in style rather than the canal.




Somerton deep lock purported to be the deepest narrow lock in the country at 12 ft 2ins. We'll have to check the Huddersfield canal locks to see if they are the deepest
which we suspect is the case.



















We found an adrift hire boat at Lower Heyford. We had to nudge it out of the way further into the bushed to get past. The hirers returned while we still in view and we could see them wondering how to get to back? Perhaps they will moor it up more carefully next time.




How’s this for a veranda? Is the “craft licensed??







Canal side cottages in the local stone at Thrupp.







A boater with a political paint scheme







The Dukes cut leads to the River Thames above Oxford.








Pathetic moorings at the canal terminus in the centre of Oxford. The banks are broken away; there is no depth to get into the bank. It has been like since we came here first in the early 1990s. Why doesn’t BW do something about it instead of wasting money putting useless bollards at all the locks and signs on the lock gates warning about the top gate cills when we have all managed for countless years without them? It is as if Oxford doesn’t want visiting boaters!!!!


Oh yes we did get there in time to meet Claire, she got the wrong train and arrived an hour late!! Brian did find a doctor nearby and got the antibiotics which regrettably preclude the intake of alcohol for a week: bugger!!!!!!