We got up early to make sure we could get to Cropredy for our date tonight (meeting the crew of narrowboat Iris for dinner at the Brasenose Arms). It was cloudy and undecided about what sort of a day to be. Scooby was recovered from his evening adventure of yesterday - he fell head first into the canal while having a drink. This morning his fur was soft and shining as if he had been to the groomer, but smelling strongly of canal!
We ate toast for breakfast on the move but when Jo came to wash up, she found we had run out of water. Fortunately there is a waterpoint at Fenny Compton so we stopped there for a top-up. While there we were treated to wonderful flying displays buy a large group of housemartins nesting in the eaves of a nearby house. They also came down to the puddle by the tap to collect mud to further reinforce their nests.
We saw our first lift bridge for a long while. There will be many more before this trip is over.
When we arrived at the top lock in the Claydon flight, there were three boats waiting in front of us. We made reasonable progress but it still took around three hours to get down all the locks. The sun came out and the heat built so the locker wilted a bit (she also sunburned her shoulders 😢). However on the upside, there were brilliant blue damsel flies everywhere and assorted butterflies too.
We arrived in Cropredy and, taking the advice of locals we met on the flight, we nabbed the last available 24 hour space before the lock in plenty of time to chill out and shower before going out for dinner.
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