BRAUNSTON TO BANBURY

 

Old Working Boats

Well Swan Lane to Banbury actually. Its a trip of 50miles and 25 locks. Including the Coventry, the North Oxford and the South Oxford canals.

We didn’t set off from Swan Lane as early in the week as the Captain would have liked, but there were jobs to do and shopping to get, so we eventually left on the Thursday morning.

We were followed later in the day by Keith and Andrew on steamboat Hasty, they were off to the Braunston Historic Boat Rally.

https://braunstonmarina.co.uk/historic-boat-rally-2022/?category=sold

We moored up in the MONW for the night, the canal was very busy with people heading to the rally, or just out for a cruise.

After a late start we didn’t go far, and moored just before the junction at Braunston. Before long we were passed by Hasty and had a quick chat with Keith, and his crew as they passed by.

Steamboat Hasty

We knew it would be fun and games at the junction and we managed to get there whilst the parade was going on. The boats in the parade use the junction to turn round and return to the rally.

We were instructed to wait by one of the stewards, whilst a couple of the old working boats turned and then she waved us through, and on to the South Oxford canal (we had joined the North Oxford at Hawkesbury Junction stop lock).

Now we were truly on our way, well as far as Napton, where next day Col and Mags were coming to visit us.

At Napton is a very good canal side pub called the Folly, and we have visited on a few occasion. We popped in for a couple on the Saturday, but much to the Captains disappointment they had no darks on.

Col and Mags met us in the Folly the next day, well this was the plan, but the pub was shut, but praise be the Potting Shed was open and serving beer. The Potting Shed was built by the landlord of The Folly during lockdown and the restrictions that followed, and is an amazing place. Really quirky and full of knick knacks. Col was most impressed, and almost speechless, which is totally not him.

The Potting Shed

http://follyatnapton.co.uk/

Luckily we hadn’t planned to eat at the Folly, I had organised food on the boat, as I knew their hours were subject to change due to staffing problems.

We had a great time with our friends, and hope to see them later in the year.

Next day and the 9 locks of the Napton flight. These raise the boat 49ft in just under 2 miles, so good exercise for me. The locks were busy with boats going in both directions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napton_on_the_Hill

We stopped at Fenny Compton for the night, and of course had to try the pub, The Wharf, it was ok but no darks on for the Captain once again, it does appear the further south we come the lighter the ale becomes.

https://www.facebook.com/TheWharfInnFennyCompton/

9 locks next day and this took down and through Cropredy, but we didn’t moor there and continued on to moored in the MONW for a peaceful night.

The South Oxford canal is a very rural canal, and in many places the towpath is very narrow and overgrown. This impacts on moorings, as the vegetation has been allowed to run riot, meaning it is impossible to see were the bankside begins, it is also quite shallow. We always find somewhere to moor, but at times they took some finding.

The canal was built in 1790 and is 78miles in length (both north and south), it was built to transport coal from the Coventry pits to Oxford and London. It continued to be used for transport until the 1960’s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Canal

It is 7 years since we last cruised this part of the system, so the changes in Banbury came as a very nice surprise. The town has embraced the canal, and visiting narrowboats, and there is excellent mooring right in the town centre were a new entertainment venue ‘The Light’ has recently opened, giving the area a continental feel. There are moorings on both sides, and new charging points for electric boats have been installed on the offside. The offside houses the Castle Quays Shopping centre. There is also a Lidl about 3 minutes walk away a definite plus for boaters.

https://banbury.thelight.co.uk/

We were lucky and found excellent moorings right outside The Light, and decided to stay for a few nights.

Of course we had to try the local hostelries. A micropub called The Apothecary caught our eye, so that was the first port of call. A quirky place with a very friendly owner, and an even more friendly dog. A bit to pricey for our taste, at around £10 for 2, 2 thirds not even pints but great beer.

https://www.theapothecarytap.com/

We tried the White Horse next, much more to our taste and pocket. They had a very interesting tapas menu on that night.

http://www.whitehorsebanbury.com/

We walked back through the shopping centre and stopped to peruse Lock 29, which as well as being a real ale bar, it also has a selection of street food vendors, with a large open area to sit and enjoy your beer and food.

https://www.lock29.co.uk/

Next day we explored more of Banbury. We visited the museum, which has a display about the Oxford canal. The main exhibition is the history of the town from the English civil war (1642- 1651) to the present day. Well worth visiting.

https://www.banburymuseum.org/

After a very weak pint of Hooky mild in Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn we ventured again to the White Horse. Change of menu, now 2 meals for £15 including fish and chips. The Captain was definitely interested and checked the price of the same in Wetherspoons (their app is very handy for checking things out). Good thing he did, they were completely sold out of fish, in fact they were sold out of a lot of things.

We didn’t eat at the White Horse as they didn’t start serving food until 6pm, and it was only 4.30pm and I was starving.

So we ended up at Lock 29, and it was amazing, I tried the Greek food, it was delicious and good value for money, whilst the Captain had a burger, also very nice.

Yummy

We decided to stay put on Saturday as the weather forecast wasn’t great, and had a surprise visit from little Chris our boat painter, his wife Lucy and William their toddler son. We chatted for a while and caught up.

Unfortunately our final night in Banbury was marred by some very noisy teenagers who congregated outside The Light (after it was closed), and continued shouting and banging things until around 2am.

I reported this to The Light, and also followed up with an email to Castle Quays outlining what had happened, and expressing a hope they would nip this in the bud before many more youngsters decided to join their friends to cause a nuisance, and maybe some vandalism to the venue or moored boats. As the Captain said, it only takes one to be egged on by their peers to jump on a boat, or start throwing things.

On to Oxford in the next instalment