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<\/a>We passed an enormous motocross track that we subsequently found is called Culham Park and holds championship races.<\/p>\n We were just about spot on time at 10 am to meet Rosemary and were, of course, delighted to have a third crew member join us.\u00a0 The day was really starting to warm up now.<\/p>\n It was too hot for this heron to bother to fly away as we went by.<\/p>\n We took the Port Meadow\/Duke\u2019s Cut route to join the Oxford Canal and greatly enjoyed the very different scenery this provided.<\/p>\n The Lock Keeper at Godstow managed to confuse us by saying he had heard from Sarah that we had some very tasty cookies.\u00a0 He meant Sarah from the previous lock at Osney who had phoned him specially to make sure he was at the lock to get his cooky and not out mowing grass!<\/p>\n Although we were pleased to have chosen this route all the wiggles and sharp bends, some made extremely sharp by the placement of red buoys, meant we travelled pretty slowly after Godstow.\u00a0 The numerous moored boats, some in a dreadful state, and a tree three quarters of the way across the river made the journey \u201cinteresting\u201d!<\/p>\n Duke\u2019s Lock added two additional features.\u00a0 A fox calmly walked across the lock gates while we watched and the lower gate would not open fully so we had to have fenders up to get in.<\/p>\n It really was HOT and it seemed to take an age to reach the outskirts of Thrupp where we started looking for a mooring.\u00a0 We took the first one after bridge 244 but it was a bit scrubby and within yards of the busy A4260 so not very desirable.<\/p>\n Out came the bike and Peter peddled off along the tow path.\u00a0 Things looked rather unpromising as there were long stretches with signs saying permanent moorings permit holders only.\u00a0 The places where there were 2 day or longer moorings were all full.\u00a0 Richard and Jane had suggested trying the Cruising Club to see if they had any spaces that we could use.\u00a0 Peter found their office and an extremely helpful warden found that they had two spaces that were large enough for us.\u00a0 This enabled us to move on to a delightful mooring just past the lifting bridge 221.<\/p>\n We met Toby and Sarah here later in the evening, divested ourselves of the anchor and had a very convivial dinner at The Boat Inn.\u00a0 Thank you Toby and Sarah for dinner and thank you Rosemary for your company on this somewhat hot and tiring day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wednesday morning and another early start as we were scheduled to meet Rosemary at Sandford Lock.\u00a0 Abingdon Lock took a little longer than we expected as, even though we had discussed the workings with the Lock Keeper the previous day, the lights were a tad confusing and we were all on our own.\u00a0 A steady … Continue reading Meeting the locals<\/span> <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>