Crowded Cropredy

Our first move this morning was less than a kilometre and resulted in us mooring just south of the footbridge over the canal adjacent to Spiceball Park.  On attempting to moor we discovered why this was the sole vacant slot. It was so shallow the stern was more than a metre from the bank. But we needed to moor in order to shop at Tesco so we used the bow as our exit point.  There wasn’t anything special about Tesco.  We managed to give them £100 and they gave us food.  It’s the first significant food shopping we had done since Newbury and the cupboards were starting to look bare.  The backpacks, shopping trolley and carry bags were all full for the walk back to Waiouru.  The bulk items (flour, UHT milk, beer, etc) will have to wait until we reach Rugby.

By the time we recommenced cruising the number of boats on the move had increased significantly resulting in a queue at each lock.  We found ourselves behind a Black Prince hire boat being crewed by Australians from NSW and Queensland.  They were very friendly and happy, provided cricket wasn’t mentioned.  They had the boat for a week and in their own words slowly made their way from Wigrams Turn to Banbury.

They stopped before Cropredy whilst we carried on to the water point following an Oxfordshire hire boat with a family of eight aboard.  It transpired they had left two of their crew at Banbury intending to wind (turn) on the northern outskirts of the town and go back to the water point below Banbury Lock.  They missed both winding holes and carried on all the way the Cropredy.  It was the first time they had filled the water tank and despite there being good pressure from the tap it took them 90 minutes to fill their tank.  Their water pump must have almost been sucking rust off the bottom of the tank.

The lock cottage at Bourton Lock looks as bad as when we went this way in 2013.  Such a shame!  Our guess is there is no road access and that is contributing to the complexity and expense of refurbishing it.

The Cropredy Festival starts in 8 days time and boats have already started to arrive with the objective of securing a good mooring.  It was a little frustrating to find some boats breasted up forcing passing boats into a one way alternating system.

There is a long line of moored boats either side of the village.  It was slightly crowded at Cropredy Lock with a queue of boats going up and down whilst trying to manoeuvre around moored boats. 

We’re pleased we won’t be attempting to go through Cropredy during the festival.

Last time we were this way Cropredy Marina was a dry basin with a few finger pontoons.  Now it’s a working marina.

A breasted up pair of refurbished working boats were moored on the offside above Broadmoor Lock.

Behind them was an original timber narrowboat which obviously leaks as there was a continuous discharge of water over the side.

Our cruising day didn’t finish until after 6pm.  It’s not that we covered a significant distance, but rather the lost time queuing at the locks.