Date - 13 02 10 Day - Saturday Start - 10 30 Lower Heyford End - 1500 Kings Sutton
Last night we ate at The Bell, both the quality and the quantity was of their normal high standard. We had a table for 7 in the restaurant, with an imitation open fire burning gas so were nice and warm. Funny Old Day. This morning Magic decided that he would like to go out for a wee at 6 am. at that time everywhere was wet and it was drizzling. He then decided that he would like a drink followed by early breakfast. Once this was all out of the way we were allowed back to bed for a few hours.Next time I surfaced it was white with frost outside, so I hate to think what the roads were like. It was gone 10 when we set off, me steering and Diana working the alloy lift bridge,she had just lowered it and crossed back to the towing path when a boat came the other way. BW have piled the towing path to the north of the bridge for a couple of hundred yards so I decided to come along side to check the depth,it was fine and would provide a much better and quieter mooring for visiting the Bell. Thanks to meeting the boat the next lock was with us, but after that it was a bit hit and miss, some full, some with us and some half and half. We only met a couple of boats today but there were moored in places like Aynho than when we came down. At Aynho Wear Lock there was a full flock of sheep around the lock with only a couple left in the field. A foot path joins the towing path here and someone had failed to fasten the gate. Diana did excellent service as a sheep dog and soon had them back through the gate where they belonged, far better than some of the 4 legged varieties on One Man and his Dog. We decided to moor just above Kings Sutton lock as we didn't want to be to close to the motorway overnight. There is a well piled edge along here, but it is well used for dog walking with lots of evidence left between the canal edge and the path,the bit you step onto as you get off your boat. O I forgot to mention yesterday that I bought coal and diesel from Dusty, who plies the canal from Oxford to Cropredy selling such things from his working boat, so we can have the boatman's stove alight again to keep our legs warm as we cruise along, I will just have to try to get some more fire lighters in Banbury tomorrow. You will find our latest position at http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route -- Brian
