Dull and depressing day.

Not a sign of the sun today and just hints of a drop of rain but we have stayed dry in the very muggy weather.

It must be warm today as Helen isn't in her normal arctic gear as we start to go down our first lock of the day, Northbrook Lock.

We were soon passing the wharf of a long defunct quarry supplying stone for a cement works on site. The coal and gypsum were brought in by canal as there was no other access and the finished cement taken out by boat too. One day we will stop and explore the quarry site.

On a lovely sunny day it would be glorious down this stretch of tree lined cut. On a day like today I just began to feel depressed.

This old canal warehouse at Enslow could well have been where much of the cement was brought to transship to the railway that you can see in the distance. It also increased my dark feelings as it was the beginning of an extensive length of permanent moorings and tick over for mile after mile does nothing liven life up.

Baker's Lock takes you down in to the River Cherwell that has been a tow path width away from the cut for much of the way today. The bridge over the entrance of the river takes you back to more northern waterways.

The river section was in amber but not much of a flow going on. It has a good few bends in the route to the next lock just to keep you on your metal.

Shipton Weit Lock is another odd shaped lock once again to ensure sufficient water is sent down  at all height of the river. Today it was only a couple of feet so the Thrupp pound would be very low without the larger lock, and the members of the Thrupp Canal Cruising Club wouldn't like that.

A well balanced bridge approaching Shipton on Cherwell makes it an easy task to let Helen through nice and swiftly.

The long length of permanent moorings in Thrupp did nothing for my mood but we saw that the water point was vacant so Helen shaped to go alongside. Just as a boat came through the lift bridge and shaped to come alongside too.. It turns out that he was just turning round and would wait for us to finish so we could work the bridge for him as he was single handed. He had already filled up with water at the tap near the Wise Alderman. We weren't long, just long enough really to dump the rubbish. The services are very well kept so a good mark for TCCC there. The other feller went first and then I followed straight away.

Helen at ease at the controls of Thrupp bridge before starting down another length of moored boats. There was a bit of congestion at Roundham Lock with just room for one boat to wait so I sat before all the moored boats before heading to the lock. As I was waiting a boat came down to wait too and managed to get right across the cut. They managed to get sorted with a little help before we left the lock. We moored up before Kidlington Green Lock and it was ages before they passed us so maybe they had more trouble.

After a bite of late lunch we decided to walk into Kidlington as we had a letter to post and could do with some milk. It wasn't too far and there was a shopping centre with two supermarkets, banks etc etc. Oh, and there were two pubs, but I didn't investigate further. The Polling Stations didn't seem to be doing much trade but it was just after 1700.