Banbury

Another 0600 start but we only got through three locks before we met the first boat and from then on in we went into each lock after a boat and left the lock open for the next one coming up.



We reached Banbury by 1000 and found a spot to moor up. We had intended only to do some shopping and then travel on but decided against it which was the wrong decision. There is a noisy band playing in the Club outside and it's 1030 already!!



Caroline phoned today to wish me a happy birthday. She had tried the day before but we must have been out of signal reach. So all is forgiven and forgotten.



I had an accident at the lock in Cropreedy (not sure of the spelling but can't reach my Nicholsons to check) - the piece of metal that locks the paddle up slipped while I was trying to put it in and the windlass swung around until the paddle went down fully - unfortunately for me my hand was in the way and I now have a big lump on the back of my right hand. I'm not blaming BW, but why is it when they sell off the lock cottages they sell off all the land too and you just get about 1 ft to negotiate along the edge of the lock. In this case the hedge was overgrown and I could not get a proper position for winding the paddle up. Well that's my excuse anyway.



We were amazed at all the boats in and around Cropreedy, especially below the lock. Mostly "stayers" and "long termers" even on the 14 day spots with stuff all over the towpaths and even a couple breasted up.

Hi there tiger! Isn't he cute. He's a stamp from Australia. I stamped him onto watercolour paper and coloured him in and then mounted him on black and gold card. The paper behind is tiger print tissue paper.