Heading south

 Monday morning dawned bright and warm with a gentle breeze so we were eager to get out of the marina and start this short, summer cruise.

We were both had to think hard about casting off and manoeuvring not having done it for a while and the first lock we encountered took some thinking about but we soon got into the swing of canal life and chugged along happily in the beautiful sunshine. We got in a bit of a queue at the Claydon flight due to a slow filler - a broken paddle - but to our surprise the Claydon flight is now manned by 1 or 2 volunteers daily. A little help is always gratefully received.

We were both revelling in travelling again and with the coutryside looking glorious and the the hedgrows in full blossom all was well in our world.

Cropredy proved to be very busy but were lucky enough to find a little gap just Hunters Moon size. The two chaps sitting on the deck of nb Tinker were most impressed with Sid's mooring. He hasn't lost his touch!

The CRT volunteer, Graham, advised us that, at present, Dashwood Lock between Upper Heyford and Thrupp is closed and that there is also a problem on one on one of the lifting bridges towards Oxford. So, we may not get as far as we hoped. We'll keep an eye on the CRT website.