The Magical Thames is flowing fast..

Today – Kidlington to Abingdon, Oxford Canal and River Thames, 15 miles 10 locks
Yesterday – Moored Kidlington

Had a day off travelling yesterday, and caught up with some bits and pieces of paperwork and generally relaxing.  We have been moving fairly quickly the last few weeks as we need to be past Newbury on the K&A Canal before one of the locks there shuts for winter maintenance.

This morning we made an early start and went through the first lock before tying up again to chop up a huge branch of wood I had spied the evening before while walking Lucy.. With the roof full of lovely beech logs it was on down the canal just a few bridges to meet Jane from the Floating Farm Shop at Kirtlington who had kindly brought me some special baskets full of goodies that I wanted for Christmas pressies.. I did buy one when I was there, and she said to me that she could make me up some more and catch us up on the canal.. she did!

We turned right and went through Dukes Cut Lock and on to the magical River Thames.. it was fast flowing today, well only to be expected, we did have some quite heavy rain last night.. but now we would be spoilt because all the locks would be operated by Lock Keepers.. easy peasy.. The locks on the Thames are always so well kept…

I wonder if they have a competition amongst themselves for the best kept lock!

I did get myself into trouble at the notorious Osney Lock.. a very narrow channel leading to the lock and the well protected weirs.. I didn’t get No Problem onto the lock landing and got taken across to the other side, and fair bumped into the heavy wooden sleepers that protect the weir.  Even had a few books on the floor inside No Problem such was the broadside thud.. It was just past 1pm, and the locks ‘close for lunch’ so plenty of time to recover before the lockie came back to let us through..

Then onwards, in some places we were doing 7 mph, I turned on the gps to see how fast we were travelling, I enjoyed whizzing along, it reminded me of the River Trent which we travelled down a couple of years ago at a much faster speed on the tidal bit.. lots and lots of kingfishers on the trip today, and I got lucky and have one for the album…

Nicely settled this evening at Abingdon.. it’s been a long day today…