Up North.

After settling in on our temporary mooring we walked the short distance into town. We walked up and down the streets looking for where we would spend our money on a meal. I started to walk in to the Exchange (weatherspoon's) but Helen wasn't having any of it so we walked on. In the end we settled on the Old Auctioneer pub. It seems to have a had a bit of a make over and is a cross between a cocktail bar, a pub and a restaurant and actually works quite well. Making cocktails seems to take a long time so an extra member of bar staff and less of the many many table staff would have helped. They didn't have much range of beer but I had something call 'Dirty Beat' that was actually okay but I have no idea who brewed it for the place. In the end we settled on pizzas and they were very good indeed and didn't last long at all.

The 500 year old 'Old Auctioneer on Parsons Street Banbury.

However we went in search of a better choice of beers and ciders and wandered down Parsons Street towards the canal. We hadn't gone far when we could hear a base guitar starting up. The noise was from the Old Reindeer Inn that was on our list of possibles so we entered and ordered a beer. The brewery was Hook Norton so I tried a Gold and it was very good indeed. The music was also very good, nice blues with a lead, and base guitar and drums. They were very good, we learned it was a jam night and we also had a really old feller joining in on base and was also very good and then followed by another drummer who was good. The pub dates from the 15th Century and is all wood and beams and small rooms. They say that during the siege of Banbury Castle (Royalists inside, Parliamentarians outside) Oliver Cromwell used the Inn as his headquarters. They also have the Globe Room that has a plaster relief ceiling and wooden panelling. It was sold off about 1901 and was found in the 60's in a sale room and was bought by the Banbury Council who installed it in the museum etc and then back where it came from. Well worth a look. The music was great and the beer was good too, although I wouldn't go for the Hooky again.

Parsons Street and the Reindeer around the 1900's?

1955 Parsons Street

Parsons Street and the pub in more modern times. It hasn't changed much has it.

This morning we had a could clean through the boat. Cleaned all the traps and awkward spots that get left the longest. Helen went to post a letter and came back with a couple of packs of geraniums and lobellia at bargain prices from the little garden centre just by the entrance to the wharf. We were going to take the primulas from the tub home as they had outgrown the space and these were a timely replacement. I hope they have settled in by the time we get back.

It has definitely been busy passing us today and the boats have been mooring closer and closer to our mooring. Last year when we came we found that the moorings below the lock were usually pretty empty when these were normally full.

We set off at around 1430 and arrived at 1730. We just got caught in the traffic in Hull otherwise we would have done it in the 2hrs 49 mins that the RAC route planner predicted. Mind you I was glad we were travelling north as the M1 had been closed for a junction and the other side of the M42 was standing still. We heard later that the M1 had been reopened at last.