Another two days worth as we are unbelievably back at Thrupp.
Oxford by canal was one of the most disappointing trips we have made to date. It was horrible, the journey there was bad enough but where you end up is not quite what you might expect from such a famous city.
The closer you get the more encampments of what we know or knew as "New age travellers" build up.
Row upon row of boats that are so far past their sell by date most will never move again and have been turned into a mess. I know these are peoples homes, but why turn them into junk heaps?
This lady was trying as she painted her boat with what looked like white emulsion, but a broom tied on for a tiller? not just a broom handle but the whole broom!
We should have turned here when we were faced with this workmens lifting bridge. This has been put across the canal while they build a new main road flyover.
A very sullen workman called a "Banksman" takes a good ten minutes to get this bridge into the air and allow you to pass.
Once the road is finished this elaborate structure will be removed, the thousands that this must have cost will all go on the bill though.
A glimmer of hope as we get closer are these fairly new builds, but no, at the other end is another encampment.
Fed up by now we went to the end turned at Isis lock and moored at what seemed to be the only available space in a row of boats. This turned out to be next to the marshalling yard of Oxford rail station where we now know that they run the huge diesel engines in the trains all night long.
With very red and bleary eyes we headed away from Oxford with a will. Once clear of all those boats, the canal takes on a normal appearance again
Some people have even set up areas even though it is outside of their garden and over the path.
This one has been turfed, gravelled and seating provided even though they do not seem to own a boat, what a difference in attitudes.
It is good to be away from all that, should we go there again it will be straight through and onto the Thames in one go.
Back at Thrupp and the sun is out once more.
Until next time........................
4 comments:
It might be useful if you put your pictures in the correct sequence
I thought the broom was ingenius, although I see you don't agree! Why ruin a perfectly good broom when you can use it in its entirety on the tiller while you wait for your own tiller to arrive? Did you go out onto the Thames at all and see that side of the City? The canal into the city isn't to everyones taste, but I like the variety of the boats, and the gardens are beautiful as you wind your way into the heart of the spires. I find it remarkable that one can travel into the city and not know one is actually there!
Indeed you are right. I met a chap once, on the towpath on the arm, who never knew the canal was there and he had lived in Oxford for nigh on 50 years.
Hi Mortimer,
Thanks for your comment.
I think broom heads are fairly easy to remove and replace with out ruining the broom, should the need to do such a thing arise.
We did not enter the Thames this time around as if we had of done our option would have been the Kennet & Avon for the winter and we are saving that canal for later.
There is certainly a variety of boats on the canal, of that I cannot argue.
The gardens, well, that will have to be a matter of opinion. I dont know how far you have travelled around the system but there are many better. (In our opinion)
Regards Chris & Debbie
Hi Maffi.
Regards Chris & Debbie.
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