To date : 516 miles, 286 locks
Just a short trip today... with fingers crossed for a mooring at Oxford. We had a couple of boats go past late yesterday and at quite a speed. It put a strain on our pins but no harm done, we were still in the same place this morning as when we went to bed.
Everyone was up early this morning and ready for the trip into Oxford. It's a city I've always wanted to visit and what a way to get there! We were just before Iffley Lock and yesterday evening I told myself I must take a photo of the lock entrance and weir. It's the prettiest we've encountered so far. But, somehow in the preparing for the off I forgot all about the photo until it was way too late and I was standing on the bow with rope in hand and no camera. The lock cottage and garden were also the prettiest of those we've encountered and I did get a photo of that. From there it was only a mile and a half or so to our destination.
Of course above the lock there were heaps of moorings and much more accessible than where we'd spent the night. If only we'd gone for a bit of a walk to check it out. It had been getting late in the day by the time we arrived last night and nobody was much in the mood for scouting out a better mooring.
As we saw Folly Bridge in sight we were all looking for a gap in the line of moored boats. Why, oh why, do people insist on mooring with half a boat space in front of them and half a boat space behind. There was a big widebeam and the space ahead of them looked like it might do. Only just, but that's all that matters. Carol raced forth to measure the gap after the next boat but it was no use to us so we breasted up to nb Winton's Folly. I'm afraid we got the better end of the deal this time. There's quite a few walkers along the path beside the river and they'll be the ones with folk peering in. We have a lovely view across the river to a field of cows. Who would have thought there'd be cows grazing right here!
We headed off into Oxford for a walk. What amazing buildings... everywhere! We didn't know where to look first or which way to walk. We just went as we pleased and stumbled across a farmers market.... we enjoyed the browse. Barry had told us about the covered market and we went and had a look. We also found Curry's and I bought the new camera and when we were hungry we tried out Wagamama for lunch. By then the crowds were building up and Mick was beginning to trail behind. I know that means he's had enough so we headed on back to the boat.
There's been a group of drunken lads having a get-together and making a racket from across the river and finally they're dispersing. One has decided to climb a tree before they leave and another just urinated on the next tree in full view of passersby.
It's been a relaxing afternoon of people watching with a constant procession of people on the riverbank opposite. We've seen dogs being washed in the river, people cleaning bird droppings from their heads, and plenty of duck and swan feeding. What a fabulous mooring this is and I haven't seen a sign saying how long you can stay but I'm guessing it's better than 24 hours. Excellent!
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