Banbury

Thanks to Sue, Kevin, Andy and Andrew for their comments about the DIS markers. It looks like they were used to try and reduce "canal rage" between old working boats who couldn't decide who had right of way at the locks. If you look at Sue's blog post HERE it explains it in more detail.

Last night we visited Banbury Folk Club who meet every Wednesday night at the Banbury Cross pub in Butcher's Row.

It was a good night but nothing like previous folk nights we've been to. The music was much more modern and I can't decide whether I prefer that style or the more traditional folk music.

We'd originally only intended staying in Banbury for 2 nights but when we got back from shopping on Tuesday afternoon this poster had been hung on the bridge railings behind our mooring.

Well it would be rude not to pay a visit don't you think? Especially as we're CAMRA members and entry is free.

It's been a pretty dismal day today and we got soaked this morning taking Chico to one of the local vets for his annual vaccinations.  While we were out we passed Banbury Cross

and the statue of The Fine Lady of the nursery rhyme fame

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross

To see a fine lady upon a white horse

With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes

She shall have music wherever she goes

The statue was unveiled by Princess Anne in 2005 and is quite lovely.

It's a bronze statue and is incredibly detailed

Our 48 hours on the main moorings were up this afternoon so we moved down through Banbury Lock and have moored on the 14 day moorings outside the station. It's actually closer to the beer festival and Morrisons but the 3 mobile internet connection is extremely poor here so I don't think we'll be staying very long.

Shopping doesn't get closer than this!

We finally managed to tear ourselves away from Cropredy, but not before one last gig in the Brasenose Arms.  We had an excellent dinner in the pub on Saturday night followed by almost 3 hours of blues music courtesy of The Wirebirds.

The group were superb but unfortunately the last hour was a bit spoilt by them being joined by a female singer who wasn't very good at all.

We've had some wonderful sunny weather recently and I've re-planted all the troughs on the roof ready for my summer display. Wouldn't you just know it though, the first couple of nights we had a forecast of frost. The first night I wrapped the troughs in plastic bags but that was quite awkward, so the second night I just moved them under the shelter of the solar panels which worked brilliantly and although the temperature dipped to -2'C the plants were unharmed.

All along the Oxford Canal we've seen plenty of these markers. Does anyone know what they are? At first we thought they may be mile markers but on some stretches of the towpath they are too close together for that.

On the days when we haven't moved, we've walked for miles around the local area and along the towpath. Some stretches are in a dreadful state of repair and you certainly wouldn't want to walk down here at night as there are too many holes.

It was so warm and sunny I couldn't resist having a bit of a nap before we turned round and walked back.

This is the lock cottage beside Bourton Lock.

I wonder if it'll ever be renovated. It's such a shame leaving it to rot away.

We're now moored in Banbury, beside Castle Quay shopping mall. It's extremely busy here and there's a warden wondering around who registers every boat as they arrive/leave. I don't have a problem with that though as the 48 hour mooring limit needs to be enforced as it's a prime spot for over-stayers.