Much better weather today encouraged us to keep going for a good few hours, and the travelling was most rewarding. For some time we'd been following the River Cherwell down its valley, and at one point the canal joined the river for a short stretch. Here's the attractive bridge taking the canal towpath over the river as the two waterways merge:
And after a very pleasant stretch of deep and winding river, we had to divert back into the canal, which was still very green and pleasant:
Along the way, we passed many more newborns:
and in Kidlington, this large cormorant (we think) spent some time following us alternately diving and surfacing. Charlie was worried it might get damaged by our propellor, but it kept resurfacing safely.
When he flew off as we approached a lock, we reckoned he had about a three foot wingspan.
As we approached the Oxford ring-road, a significant traffic jam was evident. Having had our own queues we felt some sympathy for the affected travellers, but couldn't help feeling that our queues were a lot nicer to be a part of.
Not much further on, we got very close to the centre of Oxford and Lady Barbara insisted that we stop short of the very centre, so the cap'n humoured her and pulled up here:
The residents seemed very laid-back so it felt like a good place to tie up:
Our mooring was just a short walk from Oxford's Jericho district, so after our evening meal, we had a pleasant walk to St. Giles. Despite the doubting crew, Sir Charles led the party directly to a famous old Oxford pub:
This pub has had some other well known authors amongst its past clientele, and as none of us had ever visited it before, it seemed worth investigating:
Sir Charles found Old Rosie was much to his liking, while the ladies emptied the wine cellar and George tried random beer barrels:
Amazingly, we all managed to stagger back up the towpath to the boat. Hic .....
The lock taking us off the river was an unusual lozenge shape, probably capable of taking two or even three boats, but as there weren't any other boats around, we went through on our own.
As we approached the Oxford ring-road, a significant traffic jam was evident. Having had our own queues we felt some sympathy for the affected travellers, but couldn't help feeling that our queues were a lot nicer to be a part of.
Not much further on, we got very close to the centre of Oxford and Lady Barbara insisted that we stop short of the very centre, so the cap'n humoured her and pulled up here:
Our mooring was just a short walk from Oxford's Jericho district, so after our evening meal, we had a pleasant walk to St. Giles. Despite the doubting crew, Sir Charles led the party directly to a famous old Oxford pub:
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