Another warm and sunny day. We left our moorings at Osney just after 10am, starting late as wew ant to reduce our daily travelling time. Stopping earlier in the afternoon results in colder water the following morning.
After Osney the Thames markedly changes character. Narrower, shallower and more meandering with some very sharp hairpin bends. The locks are smaller and simpler, the second one we passed through, King's Lock, was manually operated without any power assist. After King's Lock our route took us off the Thames onto the very narrow and winding Duke's Cut. At the end of Duke's Cut there is a 7 foot wide canal lock which is followed by the junction with the Oxford Canal. As we were entering the lock another boat arrived from off the Thames that was clearly at least 8 foot wide! Fortunately it was just able to turn around to head back onto more suitable waters.
On the first Oxford Canal lock, Dukes Lock, we were held up for a while as the bottom gate would not open far enough for the boat inside to leave. One of the boaters waiting to descend used the boat pole to investigate the obstruction and was able to clear away gravel and assorted debris permitting the gate to be fully opened.
That problem resolved we were able to continue up the canal ascending two further locks until 2pm when we found a suitable mooring near to Kidlington. I am leaving the engine running for a while as our domestic batteries are showing too low a voltage and so are probably beginning to fail. A long period of charging may help matters.
6.62 miles, 6 locks, 4 hours travelling
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