Back to Heyford Wharf

It was raining heavily when we awoke at 06:00 on Monday (27/09/2021) morning. We decided to wait until it stopped and then set off at 09:00, pausing to fill up with water and empty the Elsan cassette at Banbury C&RT Services. We passed the inevitable building site on the outskirts of Banbury which was expanding rapidly in terms of housing.

It was a shame to see the burned out lock cottage at the side of Grant’s Lock.

We passed under the M40 with it‘s frantic traffic and many lift bridges with none.

We passed The Pig Place where the leather armchairs were awaiting todays guests.

They also offer use of their hot tub with a view of the pig sties.

Aynho Weir Lock is diamond shaped and seems a lot of effort to drop a few inches. You can see Hilary with The Duke waiting in the distance under the bridge.

We filled up with diesel at Aynho Wharf and then moored up by the bridge.

We. soon gave into the temptation to visit The Great Western Arms to checkout the railway and canal memorabilia.

Steve and Vera went for a walk along the towpath to bridge 192 where there was a footpath that led to the village of Clifton.

Sadly The Duke of Cumberlands Head was closed on Mondays.

It looks like a good pub for camping as well as for boaters.

It was a lovely evening to walk this footpath across the farmland near Aynho.

There is a long distance footpath along the whole length of the Oxford Canal.

We continued along this footpath back to where The Duke was moored.

A fine sunset was on the way.

We watched TV for a bit before an early night. While we were on the boat we tended to get up at 06:00 and go to bed at 21:00 hrs.

On Tuesday (28/09/2021) we made our way back to Heyford. We went through the windswept Somerton Deep Lock number 34 for the last time.

As with all locks on this canal it is a single width lock of approximately 7' 6" and dropped us down 12 feet in height.

There is a lot of turbulence as the deep lock empties into the pound below.

Hilary had to shade her eyes from the bright sun, but we couldn’t complain after the rain we had had.

We plodded on through rural Oxfordshire.

We went through our last lock which allowed us to descend 5 feet. This was Allen's Lock No 36, which is near to Upper Heyford village. This brought our tally to 998 locks in total since we had been continuous cruising on a narrowboat. A bench made from a tree trunk which has a face carved on it overlooks the lock.

By walking left over the bridge we could do the Heyfords Circular Walk to Lower Heyford. This we did after mooring up for the day just after the lock.

A track became a road and we walked through Upper Heyford village.

Upper Heyford is a village and civil parish about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Bicester. The Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as Haiford, with a manor of 10 hides that was one of the many estates of the Norman baron Robert D'Oyly.

The village had a church by 1074 and we walked passed the current Church of England parish church of St Mary which was next to the old tithe barn which was built in 1400.

There seemed to be another chapel and a reading room further up the hill.

The path took us across farmland to Lower Heyford.

Across the fields and we arrived at the Bell Inn.

As usual there was a good range of drinks available and we had a nice lunch.

Walking back along the Oxford Canal towpath gave us a different view of Upper Heyford church and the Oxford University tithe barn.

In the evening Steve and Vera walked up to the Barley Mow pub, which was very quiet.

They had some beers that I had not seen before. After a quick pint Steve returned to the boat to watch streaming television on the iPad. The Heyfords were a black hole in terms of television reception and 4G but we got just about enough wifi to do what we wanted.

On Wednesday (29/09/2021) morning we chugged through Lower Heyford swing bridge which has an electric motor to lift it, operated by a British Waterways key and push buttons. We had made it to The Duke’s home at Heyford Wharf.