Enjoying late summer days

This week I travelled from Banbury down to Little Heyford. The weather was fantastic: warm and calm. Apart from the hire boats the canal was quiet and I was able to find some wonderful rural moorings. One evening, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bird land on the bow. When I moved to get a better view I saw, for just a fleeting moment, a kingfisher. Magic. At Heyford there is a station which runs about four trains a day to Oxford and, with my railcard, the fare was only £3.05p! I took advantage of this and had a lovely day in Oxford. I visited the Ashmolean, the Modern Art museum, the unique shops in the covered market and had a good old mooch.

The lift bridge at Little Heyford is really heavy and I couldn't fathom a way to tether it up (You need a crew member to sit on the beam). Luckily I commandeered some cheerful and helpful dog walkers on both the outward and return journeys. I wonder if the Canal and River Trust will ever acknowledge single handed boaters (there are more and more of us) and plan to alter how such bridges work. At one of the locks I found a small queue caused by the gate not closing fully. CRT came out and poked about with their rake which located the problem. Apparently it was a bag full of tools and components. I wonder if it was dumped there or whether it fell off someone's boat.

I am heading northwards again now, making my way to my home patch.