Another Early Start.

 Sunday 3rd May 2026 near Wormleighton.

Again we rose early, although there was no dawn chorus in Banbury once the youngsters had finally abandonned their carousing and gone home at 1:00am. We set off at 7:00am once more, intending to reach the summit pound of the Oxford Canal.

 The sun of yesterday was sadly not in evidence and the morning air was cold so we both ended up wearing several layers.

Breakfast was again eaten on the move as rain was forecast later and we wanted to get as far as we could before it arrived.

 

At the middle lock of the Claydon Flight of five locks there is a former lengthsman's hut, which is usually manned by C&RT volunteers and we were delighted to see that today was no exception. Not only do the volunteers help operate the locks, they also keep a tally of "number of boats up" and "number of boats down" on a blackboard.  We were number three going up! 

 

We did the five locks in just under 55 minutes with M walking ahead to set the next lock each time while R operated and closed up the last lock. 

Finally we reached Claydon Top Lock and the start of the long summit pound. Fifteen lock free miles through wonderfully rural countryside - what a marvellous prospect! 

These roses were already in full bloom in the garden beside the top lock.

We passed through "Fenny Compton Tunnel", which is still called that but is no longer a tunnel.  Its "roof" was removed long ago and so it is now just a narrow cutting. Here M got off to walk the towpath, which she has done many times before as it is a beautiful nature walk high above the canal.

 

 

 

 

She passed this signpost indicating distance in both directions but not giving the destinations!  The names had been weathered away long ago. 

There were banks and banks of wild roses already in full bloom. 

 The entire section of the towpath here is a butterfly conservation area.

By this time, the sun had broken through to give a lovely late afternoon and evening.  Finally, we moored up miles from anywhere with fabulous far-reaching views and only the birdsong for company.  Unfortunately, the white bridge in the distance of the photo below turned out to be where the path of HS2 crosses this waterway, as we discovered tomorrow when we had the great misfortune to cruise right underneath it.  Other than that, it was a truly wonderful day's cruising. 

A lovely quiet rural location for the night.

Today: 13 miles, 12 locks and 6.9 Hours.

Trip:39 miles, 29 locks and 20.8 hours.