'Twas a bit draughty!

After an overnight stop at the 'Jolly Boatman' it was time to move on.

'Constance' moored by the Jolly Boatman

 The morning was bright and sunny but it was very windy. The four hire boats that shared the few hundred yards of towpath all moved off fairly early. I waited to see what the wind was like as I was single handing.

Thrupp - main street

 Eventually I plucked up courage and set off towards the Thrupp Lift Bridge. The wind by now was pretty much a broadside (left to right in this picture) howling gale.

Thrupp - lift bridge

 I arrived to raise the lift bridge just as another boater kindly offered to do it for me. Thank you!

Thrupp - 'facilities'

To get to the 'facilities' at Thrupp required a sharp left turn and lots of power from the engine. I am sure the waves were much higher than the picture shows. It certainly felt like it anyway! Drinking water containers filled and loo cassettes emptied it was time to set off into the wind.

Into the teeth of the gale

 Setting off along Thrupp wide towards Shipton-on-Cherwell was straight into the wind. One needed a bit of speed and power to steer a straight course but once into the trees things calmed down.

Shipton Weir Lock

 Shipton Weir Lock is one of the diamond shaped locks. The wind (now blowing right to left) across the lock makes entry and exit a little more difficult than normal.

River Cherwell

 The 'tide' level on the River Cherwell was quite low and the (almost a) mile of river passage only took about 15 minutes.

Cherwell ahead, canal round to the right.

 Once the right turn ahead was made it was back onto the canal at Baker's Lock.

Baker's Lock water level marker

 Baker's Lock marker showing that the tide level was quite low, almost at Summer levels.

Enslow Marina

There did not seem to be anywhere to stop at Enslow so Constance chugged on past the Enslow Marina and found a nice quiet mooring a little further north.