October 2024 - We manage to break away from Allen's Lock

Above Allen’s Lock (Oxford Canal) - Tuesday 8th October

It was time to return to Mary H.  The other boats at Allen’s Lock had left yesterday, including Over the Moon, so we were a little concerned about leaving her any longer. 

We drove up from Devon where we had been for a family get together.  It rained almost the whole way up and was still raining when we arrived at the lock car park.  We donned our wellies and paddled over to the boat.  The flooding was much better but there was still quite a lot of water where we were moored.

We went up through Allen’s Lock and took advantage of there not being any other boats around, to load the boat with the things we had brought up with us.  After mooring up I drove to the Sainsburys Local in Heyford Park.  It was still raining cats and dogs and we all got pretty wet.  Rio had a nice blow dry after this photo was taken!

1 lock


King’s Sutton - Site of Bridge 178 (Oxford Canal) - Wednesday 9th October

We were up and away quite early, as we had a lot to do.  

Somerton Deep Lock was, well, deep as usual 😆 and then we were at Aynho Wharf, where we filled up with water and diesel, emptied the cassettes and bought a new gas bottle, oh and bought a nice coffee from the coffee shop there.  It was quite a relief to get all that done, especially the water. 

When we got to Aynho Lock there was a boat in it who was struggling to get the water level to balance, a very gentle nudge on the gate sorted out the problem.  We had the same problem and really that gentle nudge was the only way.  Not sure how boats coming the other way were going to manage. 

The water level was about 50 cms into the red but the flow of the river crossing the canal wasn’t too bad. 

However we knew that Nell’s bridge in front of the next lock was going to be our problem.  There was a boat being dragged through the bridge and we could see that, unless our roof was cleared, we were not going to get through.  The top box came off then the solar panels which were very reluctant to be separated from the boat!  They had to be put beside the towpath and left.  

Now there was no problem getting under the bridge 🙂  

While we were still in the lock, Richard had the job of retrieving our belongings.  If you know Nell’s Lock you will know that to get from the lower side of the canal to the lock you have to climb some steps, and then cross a fairly busy road before getting to the lock.  We took advantage, once again, of no boats around to put everything back on the roof while we were in the lock. 

We went up through King’s Sutton Lock and moored up where we had stopped on our way down to the Thames.  

We were both shattered, not physically but the stress of the day had been pretty high.

8 miles
5 miles


Below Claydon Bottom Lock (Oxford Canal) - Thursday 10th October

No rain today but it was so grey and dismal, but Rio always cheers me up. 

Up through Grant’s Lock and then we stopped in Banbury so that I could go to Morrison’s.  I didn’t need much as hopefully we will be back in the marina on Sunday.

There was a queue to go to through Banbury Lock but once through we were away.  Banbury town moorings were dark and cold and the wind was blowing through, I was glad we weren’t stopping there.

We couldn’t decide where to stop for the night but knew we should do at least a couple of the locks before Cropredy.  After Slat Mill Lock we dithered about until it was too late to stop!  Up through Cropredy Lock and more dithering - not Cropredy this trip then!! 

In the end we were through three more locks and moored up below the bottom Claydon Lock, not my favourite spot but it was here or going up the flight - 9 locks were enough, thank you!!

10 miles
9 locks