Continuing Cruising alongside the Oxford Canal Trek (NOT Oxford Canal Walk

We have decided that the Oxford Canal Walk which is on all the signs along here should be renamed Oxford Canal Trek.........the path is very overgrown in many places and in some places resembles a mini Amazon Jungle!!!!   Parts of it are no longer a pleasant walk.   Our guide book does show parts where the path is not considered good but I have always taken that to mean it may be a bit narrow or the surface uneven, not that I would be eaten alive by overhanging branches and other vegetation

Good....I have got that rant out of my system!!!!!

Yesterday was another day of visitors and a very short trip.   Ann & Keith came to visit for lunch and kindly took me to the nearby Sainsburys in Kidlington to do some shopping.  We were moored right outside the Rock of Gibraltar pub which was very handy for the shopping and for our Sunday lunch.   The lunch was excellent although the interior of the pub looks a little tired and grubby.  Despite that we can recommend it for food.

The weather was indifferent with occasional showers but that stopped people sitting out in the garden so our mooring was relatively private.     It did not stop a large group of people (we were told mainly boaters) who were performing some sort of medieval dance routine in a circle which involved a lot of beer drinking and pouring beer over heads........we didn't think we would join in........

After lunch Geoff and Keith  went to check the mooring availability below the next lock.  When we received the go ahead phone call Ann and I proceeded ahead.   Handy though the mooring by the pub was, it was very claustrophobic as the canal is very narrow there.   We also had a narrow escape yesterday evening when a hire boat with about 10 men (stag party) on board tried to get in behind us.   Luckily they could not fit without blocking the canal and had to move on!!

So we had a short trip to below the lock which is just before the river Cherwell joins the canal.

Later in the evening that same hire boat appeared.  They had turned around and now had a rudder problem........so once again they moored behind us.........luckily (again) when someone came out to their aid they had just pulled the rudder of it's hinges (or whatever they are called)  and he lifted it back on....so they were able to continue their journey.
Total distance:0.43 miles 
Elapsed time:0h28m20s 
Locks:1
Bridges:1 
Average speed:0.91 mph (3.03 lock/mph)