Cruise to Kidlington

We were up early as we wanted to get on the water point before all the hire boats had returned on this Bank Holiday weekend. We let them all get out of the way before we started the engine for the first time for days.. This worked to a degree but with Derwent6's tank it took an hour to fill and the boats came flooding back.

Once full, it was lovely to be cruising again, we miss it so much when we don't.. Al put some washing on and again we didn't need to put the travel power generator on.. This is such a big bonus when cruising as we don't have to pause the cycle on the washing machine when passing moored boats, because the revs have to be over 1200rpm with the travel power..
We got to Dashwood lock.

And then got to Northbrook Lock.

We soon got to Pigeon Lock and it looked lovely with all the trees in flower..

The canal then narrows with reeds and it makes it fun if you meet anyone..

After getting through the busy Enslow Bridge, you get to the Cherwell river section at Baker's Lock. This is a very twisty turns section which is very pretty due to the clear water of the river.. We then entered Thrupp and moored at the services, where we then found out that our CaRT pump out card didn't work in this machine. We made a phone call to the harbour master, but he was having his lunch! We weren't desperate and decided to wait for a pump out on the Thames. We were then joined by Maffi (n.b Milly M),  and it was lovely to meet Susan.. We had a brief catch up and they helped us on our way by lifting up the lift bridge for us.

We should see them later in the year when we have a bit more time..
We carried on to Kidlington and moored up for the night.

Tooty was out in a flash as he had been in for eleven days due to us being so close to the railway and also the rabbits were fighting back..

On the move tomorrow if the weather looks alright!