Tuesday 5th June
As you can see we have had a change of plan. There was still an increasing stream warning this morning between Sandford and Iffley and Osney Locks (the one between Iffley Lock and Osney Lock has subsequently been lifted) but as it was supposed to rain this afternoon (and has) and again heavily on Thursday accompanied by gale force winds, we decided to get off the Thames while we could and get on to the Oxford Canal. We had waited a week to get on to the river, we didn’t want to wait another week to get off it, especially as there are no facilities where we were at Sandford, although it is a very nice place to moor. Ken had a chat with the lock keeper who said we should be ok getting to Sheepwash Channel where we would turn on to the Oxford Canal.
The couple who were moored in front of us decided to do the same thing and we both set off together. We made good progress actually and barring a few hairy moments involving bridges and weirs and our centre rope we emerged unscathed through Isis Lock and on to the calm of the Oxford Canal. The other couple went ahead but we found a mooring near Aristotle Bridge and as it started raining and there are not many moorings on this stretch of the canal because it is a conservation area we thought this would be as good a place as any to stop.
From here it is a 20 minute walk along the towpath in to the town centre where, lo and behold, virtually the first pub we came to was The Four Candles, a Wetherspoon’s! It was very busy in there but we managed to find a table. People were hovering over other people who they thought were going to leave soon so they could sit down. Ken was at the bar getting our second drink when a woman, who had a disabled man with her, came up to me and said ‘Have you finished with that table?’ I was a bit taken aback as I still had a drink there and Ken’s coat was on one of the chairs so it was obvious I was not on my own. Also I was showing no signs that I was preparing to leave so I just looked quizzically at her and said ‘No, I am still sitting here.’
Well, she went off on one saying she was only asking and I could have replied a bit more politely! I was, unusually, stunned into silence. There was a chap on his own on the table behind me and he thought she wanted some chairs so he said she could have some of the ones from his table but she said she wanted a table for 4. As he was on his own he got up and stood at the bar so she could have his, very chivalrous. Anyway she and the disabled chap sat down and she phoned the other people she was supposed to be meeting and apparently they were in another pub somewhere, it was bizarre!
As the moorings here are only 24 hours we will be moving on again tomorrow, possibly to Thrupp. Thursday is looking like a no go area weather wise so it will be a bus trip back to Oxford I expect.
