6th and 7th of January 2016. To Napton on the Hill.

The weather has continued to be wet and rather miserable for boating so we have been making short hops only. On Wednesday we went three miles to moor just past the Wigrams turn, where the Grand Union heads off to the north and the Oxford (and us) continues to the south west. We went past Lower Shuckburgh, whose church was neatly camouflaged among the brown hedges and trees.

Lower Shuckborough church lurking in the undergrowth.

 After we moored we walked Scooby. The towpath is very muddy and slippery almost everywhere; in between the puddles anyway.



Robin negotiating the muddy towpath.

We had a look at Napton on the Hill, which is a really pretty village built, as the name implies, into Napton Hill and overlooking miles of farmland and lots of (rather dirty looking) sheep. There is a windmill on the hill too, with sails, which looked very smart in the sunshine on Thursday afternoon.

The Windmill at Napton on the Hill

On Thursday it poured with rain all morning and we stayed inside reading until it eventually let up and we saw blue sky for the first time in days. We walked Scooby and then took Harold round the curve of the hill to near the bottom of the Napton lock flight where we moored for the night and dinner at the Folly pub. The locks are single boat width, as we are on the Oxford canal now - much easier than the big doubles on the GU. Tomorrow we'll use the facilities - water, loo emptying and rubbish dumping - before the lock and then head up the flight. We need diesel, gas and coal and so, whatever the weather, will get to the boatyard at Fenny Compton before 4pm on Saturday.