Aynho to Cropredy

At last we had a few days to get some uninterrupted boating under our belts. We drove to Aynho and parked the car on the verge by the wharf. We didn't get there until the evening and decided to treat ourselves to a meal in the pub rather than start cooking.

The Great Western Arms served a good meal of steak pie which we enjoyed. Sadly the Hook Norton Ales was not quite up to scratch, it was a bit cloudy and tasted flat. Not off exactly, just not tip-top. Neither of us could be bothered to make a fuss about it although when we got the bill and realised they had not charged us for a round we didn't say anything. It meant the beer worked out at about £1.50 per pint rather than three quid: we reckoned that was all it was worth.

When we got to the boat we realised someone had kindly re-tied our ropes for us, putting the mooring pins down the side of the piling rather than into the ground, a much more secure arrangement. Maybe the boat had come loose. Anyway we thanked the mystery person for their consideration.
The weather was not too bad in the morning and we got off to a fairly (for us) prompt start. We had an enjoyable morning pottering up to Banbury where the canal goes right through the centre of the town. We decided to stop and have a nose around the town. We liked the centre of Banbury very much, it has some interesting buildings and a wonderful Victorian postbox dating from 1856. We had some lunch in a cheap and cheerful pub and then headed off to Morrison's to get some provisions.

As we were crossing the road to the supermarket we narrowly missed being run over by a large 4x4, if we had not jumped out of the way he would undoubtedly have hit us. We watched him turn into Morrison's car park.
"He's not going to get away with that," said Mick.
He strode over to the car just as the driver was getting out.
"You fool!" he shouted. "What do you think you are doing?"
"You shouldn't have been jay walking!" the driver, who looked like a retired colonel or something, retorted.
"There's no law of jay walking in this country!" said Mick. "And even if there were, do you think that's a good enough reason to run us over?"
The altercation continued for a few minutes, and people began stopping to see what was going on.
I had just begun to wonder whether it was going to come to blows when Mick threw his arms in the air and strode off.
The rest of the shopping trip passed off uneventfully and once we had completed our shopping we headed back to the boat. Time was getting on and we set off pretty quickly. Banbury lock is right in the middle of the shopping centre and there were a fair few gongoozlers watching us. They were also watching us go through the swing bridge which was a shame. The bridge must be slightly lower than the other swing bridges on the Oxford Canal. With our bikes on the roof, we normally cleared the bridge with a good two inches to spare. On this one, however, I realised, too late, that the bikes were not going to clear the bridge. They collided with the bridge and I watched helplessly as they slid off the boat and into the canal.
"Oh well, they needed a wash," said Mick as he fished them out with a boathook.

As we waited at the next lock another boat came up behind. It was hire boat with half-a-dozen middle aged men. Two of them strode up to the lock and began opening it up for us. We went in and one of them fully opened up the top paddles to fill the lock. The trouble with this on a narrow lock is that the water surges backwards and forwards, rushing the boat against the top gates. I glared at him but said nothing. At the next lock the same thing happened, they took over the lock and rushed about like idiots.
By the third lock we were thoroughly fed up with them.
"Could you not open the paddle fully?" said Mick. "We prefer to fill it gradually."
"Well that'll take too long," said the guy. Mick pointed out that as there were two boats in front of us, it wouldn't really make any difference.
"They should let us go in front then."
"Are you late taking your boat back or something?" asked Mick.
"No, but we like to get a move on."
"In that case," replied Mick, "you've chosen the wrong holiday."

Oh dear. Two arguments in one day! This was not good. We reckoned they had all fallen out, they certainly all seemed stressed and impatient.We arrived at Cropredy in a bad mood after all the aggravation of the day. The village was busy with boats and the water level was very low. Several of the boats looked like they would have trouble moving anywhere at all. We went through the lock and managed to squeeze into the last remaining space above it. No sign of our friends in the hire boat, for all their impatience they had got no further than us or anyone else that day.
"I can't be bothered to go to the pub," I said.
"The way today has gone we'll only have another row. Anyway I expect the hire boaters will be in there."
Mick agreed and instead we stayed in with a glass of wine and a game of cards before going to bed exhausted.