Saturday January 10th. Fenny Compton.

No locks today, just 5 miles of winding canal through lovely countryside. At one point we found ourselves in the middle of a pheasant shoot, with the guns in a field on our left and the beaters in the wood on our right and the gamekeeper on the towpath shopping all the action while we passed by. A little later we passed this boat marooned in its own puddle a sheep field.

 

 

There were lots of grand farms and country houses. Clearly this is where the well heeled of middle England have their country pads. Very nice too.

 

We made our way to Fenny Compton boatyard where we purchased diesel, coal and gas and turned around. Jo needs to go home for a few days this week and Robin and Scooby are going to potter back along this nice stretch to the top of the Napton locks (fishing and boat washing are both on his list). After the weekend we'll retrace our steps and head towards Banbury. This is as near to our final destination of Oxford as we can get until the level of the river Cherwell goes down enough to make it safe to go on the bits of the canal close to or fed by the river.