A Full Day Cruising

It was a lovey day for a change so we thought we would just cruise..

We made our way through Thrupp and back out in to the countryside.

It had rained hard over night and we soon got to Shipton weir lock where we meet the River Cherwell.

 The flow was strong but we were into stream so it just seemed like a bit more hard work.

When we got to Baker's lock we met Chas and Ann on n.b Moore2life so we stopped for a quick chat.

We then pushed on through Enslow, Lower Heyford and Aynho where the weather had got a lot worse. As we approached Aynho Weir lock we noticed two boats in there. As we got closer we noticed that both boats were jammed. As we moored up on the lock landings it started to rain. The guys wanted us to ram the boat that was half out the lock, to try and push it back in, "but that wasn't going to happen", Del said. First all five blokes tried pulling it with Al on the engine flat out in reverse, but that didn't move it.

Then we tried a hire boat pulling it, but that didn't work either. So it was a call to The Canal and River Trust.

There were now seven boats waiting to come down. CRT turned up after half a hour with a winch and cable and rigged it up to one of the bollards. It came free within seconds, amazing.

By this time it was pouring down and we decided not to move, and Al had got the dinner on anyway, so Del helped the seven boats through. We ended up having a late night watching a film on telly