From Oxford Canal On To Thames (Or Isis)

(posted by Alan)

Another swan's nest in an unusual location.

Not making a particu- larly early start seems to have been a theme of this trip so far, and today was not particu- larly different.  In fact it is possible we did get away a little bit earlier than some days, but being low on supplies, and knowing where we were heading is so rural there will be precious few villages, let alone shops, we stopped again very soon to walk to a Co-Op in Kidlington.  (We were almost out of one of our most essential supplies, namely ground coffee, and whilst we can live without most things, that would be going too far!).

Last true Oxford Canal lock before turning on to Duke's Cut

There is a total of just 4 locks to get from the Oxford, and out via "Duke's Cut" onto the Thames, (with somewhat curiously the last lock being uphill ).  It actually took longer than we expected to be on the river, perhaps because there really are lines and lines of moored boats on what are really quite narrow and shallow bits of the canal. So we plodded along very sedately, to ensure only friendly waves, rather than any shouts to slow down!

Turning on to Duke's Cut

Unusual paddle gear at, and bridge over, Duke's Cut Lock

Duke's cut always seems an odd thing.  The lock is under a bridge, for a start, and although now just "uphill" as you leave the canal onto the river, clearly shows signs of having had double gates at each end in the past, so presumably once upon a time the Thames could actually have been lower at this point on occasions than the canal ?  Presumably it's this history that causes it to have highly unusual paddle gear for the exit gates onto the river ?

Now at last we were on to new territory for Chalice - we have gone down river from the Duke's Cut towards London, in the past, but never turned right onto the upper reaches towards Lechlade.

Despite apparently little flow on the river, progress is slightly slower than I might have guessed - we are generally bettering 4 mph, but not by a lot, although it is clearly deep enough.  Perhaps there is more flow than there appears - we will see when we come back te other way.

Chiswick & Chalice in Eynsham lock

We knew the "Big Woolwich" ex working boat Chiswick was ahead of us, but spotted it tied to a lighter before we entered the Thames.  However by the time we reached the first lock, and had completed the lengthy transaction to buy a 15 day Thames licence, (at under £100, better than I feared it might be!), Chiswick was ready to lock through with us.

..... and again.

I was very surprised to see it steered by James, who is normally with the coal boats Archimedes and Ara, but also does commercial river work, I believe.  Knowing James doesn't exactly hang about, (to put it mildly!), and with consideration of Chiswick's classic Lister JP2 engine and big propeller, I suggested he went first - a good move, as they quickly drew away from us!

David goes into "self service" mode at next lock.

However, he wasn't going far, and we actually had to hold back at the next lock, as he turned Chiswick to pass back down river.  The locks are meant to have keepers during working hours, but most are displaying the "self service" sign, and you never quite know if a "locky" is going to appear or not.

Although we had a target of where we wanted to get to, we also had an idea we fancied yet another pub meal.  However the power of the Internet comes into play at times like this, as it is often possible to look up menus, and even whether pubs are "dog friendly".  What looked like best choice locationally, ("The Trout" at Tadpole Bridge), was quickly ruled out as being an expensive and pretentious restaurant, rather than coming close to "pub grub".  So we stopped much short of plan at Newbridge, as one of the pubs there, the "Maybush Inn" looked more like we wanted.

In practice we had a very nice meal, although for what we were paying, I felt main course portions could have been more generous.  Bitter at £3-80 a pint, and a decent Pinot Grigio at £5-20 for a large glass quickly inflated the bill though.  I know the pub trade is suffering, but prices like these rule it out as a regular thing for many families.  In a way they are doing themselves no favours - a bit more reasonable, and we would probably have stopped there on the return, but that's now unlikely.

My party piece was to open up my head on a light fitting projecting from one of the low beams, (I knew the beam was there but not the light).  It bled profusely fopr a few minutes, and got me much attention from the staff and landlord, but Cath is a trained first aider, and decreed that other than pressure to stop the bleed, I was fine - she proved right, of course!

Not content with that though, the pub had it's own entertainments in the form of Oliver, a very poshly spoken young man who's family apparently breed race horses - he was most keen to show s pictures of a "potential future winner" born just that day.  The evening got more surreal when his brother appeared - near identical, other than being dressed smartly in a suit, versus Oliver's casual.  People always seem genuinely to want to know about the boat, how we use it, and where we end up.

Quiet mooring - lovely old bridge as background

A very quiet night on moorings presumably owned by the nearby farm, although they made no effort to collect the £3 overnight charge that was displayed on a sign nearby.

Thrupp (Oxford Canal) to Newbridge (Upper Thames)
Miles: 14.7, Locks:7
Total Miles: 116.9, Total Locks:76