A reply to Ian's complaint and a question about an obstruction.

Thursday 16th December

Had someone started an engine last night? Well after 8 pm, that was not acceptable! But no, 4 boats in succession came past, it only registered when FS rocked. Of course a glance out of the window and the shape of a boat made us realise and not one had their headlight on. Blooming glad we had stopped well back from the bridge and pity those moored boats right by it. How many got through without bouncing off the boats, or managed to get into the narrows in one go? We will never know.

We left earlyish this morning. Not sure why, didn't really need to, but with the news on TV so depressing, we decided to press the off button and go cruising instead.

Ian walked to the facility block to get rid of the rubbish while I took FS to the junction for the left turn onto the North Oxford. Gave myself a pat on the back for doing it in one and Ian returned in time to get the lock open. The difference in the canals, such a small rise, no more than about 6 inches...(keep it clean!!!) something to do with preventing the Coventry canal from stealing water from the Oxford canal. Click here to get the full explanation.

This shows the difficulty in navigating the narrow section in the dark.

 

 Wall-to-wall boats above the lock and dismayed to see the majority not displaying a current licence. That's not to say they hadn't got one, some (like us) do the renewal online and not everyone has a printer to print it out to stick in the window.  'Benefit of the doubt' was on my mind. What I did find annoying, and absolutely no excuse for, was mooring on a lock landing!

Always makes me sad to see someone's pride and joy in this state. But it was still useful as a platform.

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By bridge 18 black bags were seen. Fly tipping of the worst kind. Loads of them along the grass on both sides of the bridge and no end had ended up in the canal. All black bags with yellow tie handles, must have been from the same person. This wasn't just confined to the bridge, in fact well over a mile later and they were still seen floating in the canal!

 Not all doom and gloom because CRT have done a lot of offside vegetation removal. What a difference to the canal width.

All too soon Stretton swing bridge was seen. No chance of getting over to drop Ian off, a work pan was taking up a lot of the landing bollards, instead eased FS into the narrow approach where it was easy for him to step off from the front.

A short section after Stretton has a warning notice about an unstable cutting. It was recommended that boaters slow right down. In July 2020, CRT was on scene after a land slip.  I took this photo then,

And this is now,

We very nearly didn't stop at Old Oaks Wood. It was where Ian had marked for tonight's stop. A Zoom meeting with ECP&DA was due at 3 pm and we knew we could get internet here. It wasn't even midday, seemed silly not to continue. But stop we did, the towpath was again a tad muddy, didn't matter because we hadn't really expected to be off the boat after mooring. That changed when I mentioned washing the starboard side. Ian reluctantly agreed.

I should mention that Ian had an update from CRT about the facilities at Sutton Stop.  2 replies came back. The first,

Hello Ian,

Thank you so much for getting in touch. 

I am so very sorry that you feel this way. Unfortunately, I am not aware of the particulars in this case but I do know that contractors had been contacted to attend and check for the fault. I'm afraid the Trust is dependent on them for repairs also.  

I will ask the Regional Team if they can provide an update for you but please contact back if there is anything else we can do for you.

Best wishes,

Clara diniz

Customer Service Advisor

And second,

Good Morning Ian

 Following on from my colleagues acknowledgement, the contractor is awaiting the parts to arrive and following that they will attend site and fit.  They are hoping the parts will arrive this week which will hopefully mean they can get it up and running again this week, this is dependent on arrival and then an appropriate engineer available for the fix.  Thank you.

 Kind Regards

 Sarah Rowland

Customer Service Administrator

 Still awaiting parts?  Ian's opinion was that the valve could be bought over the counter at screwfix!

 And seen on route, 

Trimming had  been done at bridge 11 but why not get rid of that sticking out tree trunk? Another potential hazard.

 

And does anyone know what the underwater obstruction is? It has been here for years.

And wildlife,

Bottoms to the front!