Happy Yorkshire Day to all.

We had decided to set off a little earlier to get to Banbury in good time. Before we could set off though Macy Cat had decided that she need a bit of exercise. The next we heard was the frantic scrapping of claws and by the time we got outside it was to see her little head above the water in the middle of the cut. She was not panicking but was swimming with a good strong stroke. When I called she swam towards me and we soon had her fished out.

After her swim Macy was soon wrapped up and dried off. She doesn't seem to be any worse for her experience and her coat is really soft after her wash.

We were soon away and at the first lock. Just as the gate was opening the engine stopped! Yes, once again, we had a chunk of wood on one of the blades. And, yes, it did bend the tip again. I soon had it cleared and tried to bar it back into shape but was only partially successful. Still it seemed to work okay with only a little funny noise at tick over. Nothing for it but to chug onward.

The countryside after Thrupp opens up and it is a lovely bit of cruising. There are plenty of places to moor and despite high numbers of boats moving it was a nice day. The Cherwell is by the trees and the  yellow looked really nice near Lower Heyford.

As the canal passes Upper Heyford Manor Farm can be seen. Manor farm was owned by New College, Oxford, and in 1400 they had the nine bay tithe barn built. It is still in very good condition on the right. In the middle is St Mary's that was new in 1865 except for the tower.

To me this bullock looks slightly embarrassed as we had caught it doing something. 

Somerton Deep Lock is just that a full 12 ft rise. The lock house was lived in despite not having mains power. They were running a generator.

Despite there being plenty of the lifting accommodation bridges the vast majority of them we open. To close you have to grap the chain and pull down. I'm not clear as to how you secure it open if you are single handed. I suppose you will have to tie a knot in the chain behind the lug in the ground.

We stopped at Aynho Wharf to fill up with diesel. I hadn't used quite as much as I thought and took 134 ltrs. At 70p a litre, any declaration that was a good deal I thought. 

Just after the wharf we came to Aynho Weir Lock where the River Cherwell basically comes in from the right and exits from the left. The lock is also a diamond lock as again the rise is less than a foot.

Kings Sutton Lock is quite picturesque with the stone lock cottage on one side. 

On the other side is an old blacksmith's and a stable that has the name board from the closed railway station.

At the top of the lock is this view of the canal bend looking like it is passing from the dark to light.

Helen concentrating on getting in the lock in one piece.

Can there really be 26 new bridges between Oxford and Hawkesbury Junction?

We got to the southern outskirts of Banbury and took almost the first available mooring. Once moored up I popped to the Morrison's over the bridge and could then see that there was plenty of room a little further on. We couldn't be bothered to move on so Helen finished her baking and we sat and rested a wee while. We will pop into Banbury later to get the lay of the land for tomorrow.