Arriving In The Big Smoke
Leaving Eynsham on Tuesday, the fourth of June, our first aim was to follow the Thames past Duke's Cut to turn up the Sheepwash Channel and join the Oxford Canal at it's starting point through Isis Lock. Just beyond there we would find College Cruisers, who still do sell diesel, although at Monopoly prices. Our hope was to find space on the two day visitor moorings on the opposite side of the canal.
The trip up to King's Lock, just beyond the Duke's Cut Junction, was a stretch we had covered on the way up but from there on would be new to us, as on our last trip, coming up the Thames from Brentford, we had left at Sheepwash Junction again. King's Lock was on self service and operated mechanically by spinning a big wheel to raise or lower the paddles and pushing on the balance beam to open and close the gates, the same as the others we had been dealing with. The next lock, however, Godstow Lock, while also unattended, had been electrified so that these operations were managed from a console by pushing buttons. The assumption would be that this would make the whole thing easier but the experience was that, by regulating the speed of each operation and building in regulated delays between them, it slowed things down enormously and it took us fully half an hour to get through.
We Had Plenty Of Time To View Godstow Abbey Beside The Lock
As you emerge from Godstow Lock the landscape changes dramatically, as the river here is much wider and very shallow at the sides. It is bordered by the huge expanse of Port Meadow, wide open flood plain almost at the river level and grazed by cattle and horses.
Port Meadow Flood Plain
It all closes in again as you pass under Medley Footbridge and along a stretch lined with liveaboard boats before taking the sharp left turn into Sheepwash Channel under a very low railway bridge. It immediately feels very dark and constrained as you move up the narrow, overgrown channel to Isis Lock, the first single lock we had seen for over two weeks, looking impossibly narrow as we prepared to enter it.
Just beyond the lock we passed the hoardings for an exciting new urban regeneration development of the area, called Jericho Wharf. However, these seemed to be the same hoardings we had seen here five and a half years ago, looking that much more dilapidated and there was no sign of any activity anywhere on the site other than the silently growing weeds. Presumably the endeavour failed but it does contrast with the amount of building going on around the rest of the city.
An Exciting Development That Has Not Materialised
College Cruisers were right there just beyond this site and we filled up with diesel. Now that we were here, we could see that we still had a fair amount left, probably a third of a tank. As we usually like to fill up once we get down to three quarters of a tank, however, it was still nice to have it full again. It had just started to spit with rain as we arrived but nothing too dramatic or prolonged. While we were there, we were advised that the two day moorings at Aristotle Way, ten minutes further on, were probably nicer and quieter than those opposite the wharf. That proved to be true and having checked that there was space available, we moved on and tied up there.
Circling The City
Of course, Oxford is a beautiful city and endlessly photogenic, just point the camera anywhere and click.
Oxford - A Photo Opportunity Round Every Corner
It is also horribly crowded. The one leads to the other, of course, including the brolly-led packs of eager tourists following their loquacious tour guides. One striking feature was the sheer number of shops purporting to be some variation on a "wizard emporium", most shying away from any, potentially actionable, direct reference to Harry Potter. It seems incredible that there could be such an appetite for the generic and derivative tat being purveyed but several establishments actually had regular queues outside.
We did visit the Visitor Information Centre in Broad Street, which we found a bit odd. A fairly narrow frontage went back a very long way to a counter, where we were greeted pleasantly enough. One imagines that every square foot of retail space in Broad Street comes at a considerable premium. Here, however, all the space on the way to the counter was mostly empty with a few small displays of Oxford sweatshirts, tea towels etc. scattered around. As far as materials available to inform the Visitor went, all that was really on offer was a free cartoon map and a five pound booklet. On later examination, apart from another map of the city, the content of the booklet was largely made up of information about other tours of various kinds that you could undertake, each for a handsome additional fee.
We enjoyed shopping and sight-seeing under our own guidance over the next few days and it is fair to say that every time we went into the city we found new things to enjoy. Our first mooring was close to Jericho and we worked out this was the best area to find food & drink.
Technically we were on a two day mooring. There were other mooring spots further on but they were ridiculously overgrown and we took the bold decision to overstay a third night and risk the extra fee, an uncomfortable decision for a couple of inveterate rule followers but we got away with it.
Eventually, the need for water and other services forced us to move on, past some spectacular canal art at Frenchay Street, which we assumed to be a graffiti deterrent. So far, it seemed to be successful.
We took the boat up to the Duke's Lock and Duke's Cut, then left rather than right to come down through King's Lock again. This time, instead of taking the Sheepwash Channel, we carried on through the low Osney Bridge and moored up on the East Street moorings before Osney Lock. This was a tip from our conversations with 'Barley Twist', whom we passed again on the way past the sailing club. We were very glad of it as we later explored further and saw the situation further down river.
You have to pay the Lockkeeper to moor here for more than twenty-four hours but there is a nice wide verge before the road and it was very peaceful, once the construction crews had packed up for the day. One might have thought Oxford had had plenty of centuries to become a finished product but during the day, round every corner was a noisy, dusty work in progress.
Downstream to Abingdon
We had a couple of nights at East Street but on Sunday we set off further South through Osney Lock. Below the lock was a fairly long stretch with nowhere to moor at all until you approach Folly Bridge, which is in two parts spanning a small island with a channel on either side. On the island itself are a couple of elaborate buildings decorated in all sorts of styles and deliberately built as a folly in eighteen forty-nine.
Folly Island
We had seen this arrangement from the shore and looked, in vain, for any indication as to which channel downstream navigation should follow. It seems either side will do, so we took the narrower, right hand route, avoiding the wider water that passes the Head Of The River pub and is complicated by the operations of Salter's Steamers.
Emerging from the cut under Folly Bridge the river takes a fairly straight, wide course past Christ Church Meadow and several University boat houses on the left bank. Opposite, it is possible to moor against the bank most of the way along and we had done so five years ago, coming upstream, although there had been only a few spaces available. It would have been virtually impossible to find a space this time though. The whole bank was lined with liveaboard boats nose to tail. Many of these were in appalling condition and seemed unlikely to receive any care and maintenance in the near future. Every now and again it would appear that there might be a boat length free but in every case, closer inspection would show that the space was occupied, it was just that the boats themselves had now sunk, with just random parts of their superstructure visible above the surface of the water. The carefully tended grounds and buildings across the river obviously served to accentuate the unsightly mess opposite.
From here down to Abingdon was a straightforward, Sunday morning cruise with just Iffley Lock and Sanford Lock on the way, both manned today, so less work for us. At Abingdon Lock things got a bit more interesting. We needed to use the services immediately above the lock but just as we arrived, a very young-looking couple were hauling a very old-looking boat onto the water point. They clearly had no idea what they were doing. They struggled to find their hose and attach it, then fiddled and faffed about for ages while we and "Shady Lady", a cruiser already waiting behind them, stood by. We had nowhere to go but the end of the lock landing and as we stood by, a large group of children in canoes arrived and started having a picnic on the lock side. At last we were able to get onto the water point and filled up. We were just set to cast off and head down to the lock when the flock of junior canoeists suddenly jumped up and started getting into the water. At the same time "Golden Tern" came steaming down the river also heading for the lock. At this point none of us knew what was going on but we gradually sorted order out of chaos and we found ourselves coming out of the lock ahead of the canoes. A general sense of Sunday driving continued as we headed for the mooring area and we had to go around a couple of times to avoid a number of meandering boats and find a space we could use.
Despite its considerable size and prominence, Abingdon has no railway station. When we had met up in Buscot and discussed our plans, George and Sharron had kindly offered to meet us in Abingdon and give us a lift to the nearest station in Radley. True to their word, on Monday morning, we met at the agreed time and having enjoyed a cup of coffee and an excellent bacon roll at the not entirely dog-friendly café by the bridge, they drove us to Radley in good time for our train and onward connection to Leamington Spa station, from where we were able to walk to the local Renault dealer.
Some may recall that, when we set out in April, we had had to wait for our car to be collected and taken to a local garage in Leamington Spa to have a faulty alarm diagnosed. We had phoned them for an update a week or so ago. Just as I had feared, in the weeks we had been away, the alarm had gone off seldom, if at all and they had been unable to get sufficient diagnostics to clearly identify the fault. Nevertheless, they had elected to install a complete new alarm system and to do so entirely at their expense, as a gesture of goodwill. When we arrived the vehicle was freshly washed and ready to go so that we were on our way in a few minutes. This has to be a brilliant service. I only wish that praising Sutton Park here would bring them more business but of course, they are too small and remote to benefit.