Saturday 12th April 2014 Oxford Canal Walk Ramble 6.

Saturday 12^th April 2014 Oxford Canal Walk Ramble 6.

From Priors Hardwick (Bridge 124) to Fenny Compton (Bridge 136) which we calculated to be 5.5 miles

We started off on a footpath, through gardens and downhill for getting on for a mile to the canal towpath. There was a cool breeze and the day became brighter and a bit warmer later on.

There were no locks at all on this stretch and the whole time we were walking alongside the ‘eleven-mile pound’ as the summit level is described in Tom Rolt’s book ‘Narrowboat’. It is one of the most twisted sections of canal in England and the 11 miles (18km) are between two points which are under 5 miles apart. ‘There are water shortages sometimes in dry periods and water is back-pumped and obtained from mines now.

We saw one boat having a fair bit of difficulty negotiating a rather tight bend and seemed to do a ‘three-point turn’ to get around. We watched (gongoozled), of course. The helmsman exclaimed something like ‘the bottom is too high’ or, as I read in a booklet, the canal around here is as shallow as a matinee’s idol’s smile.

  

We found the countryside to be very quiet with open, rolling hills way into the distance and many fields with wavy medieval patterns. There were plenty of grazing sheep and bouncing lambs near to the canal.  In Stuart Fisher’s book ‘Canals of Britain’ it says ‘It is a ruthlessly rural area with very few buildings along its length but the canal seems to go out of its way to visit all of them and search for more as well’ I think that sums it up well.

We saw many patches of coltsfoot (going to seed) and cowslips. Also, I have found out that the brown stems we saw are fertile ones from field horsetails, with cones containing spores. 

 

Maybe, because of the meandering canal, we kept a similar pace for some time, to ‘Fijou’, a smart looking narrowboat (apparently Fijou is a robust, full-bodied and spicy red wine from a region of southern France that overlooks the Mediterranean). There were a few more boats ‘on the move’ compared to earlier in the year and we saw a little ‘jam’ occur when boats passed near to moored boats, (not helped by the narrowness of canal). 

It is proposed that the HS2 railway line will cross the Oxford Canal on its way from London to Birmingham by bridge 128. Objectors to this scheme point out that the railway will diagonally bisect the 10 square mile region of open countryside and pass very close to the Boddington villages and the manorial settlement at Wormleighton (an impressive gatehouse  and cottages survive from Tudor times and were once owned by the Spencer family before they moved to Althrop in Northamptonshire. Later, the land owners were keen for the canal with locks not to go over their hill, so 1.25 miles became 3.5 miles of canal around the hill!) . 

While we were having our picnic sitting around bridge 133 we could see Wormleighton, not far away. Even nearer is the site of a medieval village and a German family passed by/through us having paid that a visit.

We finished at The Wharf Inn, by Sherne Hill Bridge, and although a large building, it seemed to be rather remote and quiet. We went in for a drink and got a surprise. It was packed. Not only can boaters moor up for a meal and drink but they can shop, use the laundrette and even visit the hairdressers and have beauty treatments! Oh, and there is a caravan site and a B and B too. 

So, Hugh, Dot, Margaret, Julie, Clive, Sue, Sue, Margaret, Peter and Jem walked with us and, on the Thursday after, John and Julie walked it both ways.

Thursday 3rd April 2014 Oxford Canal Walk Ramble 5.

Thursday 3^rd April 2014 Oxford Canal Walk Ramble 5.

Starting from  Napton Marina (Bridge 109) and going to Priors Hardwick (Bridge 124)

6 miles (+ about ¾ mile walk into Priors Hardwick village)

Sadly, I was laid low with a cold and was unable to join the walk along this section, but I am going to attempt to write the blog, with Ian’s pictures and information from others (thank you).

I know that Margaret C was also disappointed not to be able to walk too, but glad to hear she is feeling better. That left ten - Dot, Margaret, Hugh, Peter, Sue, Julie, John, Ian, Jem and Sue – to enjoy a rural bus ride from Priors Hardwick through Napton-on-the-Hill village to the marina on the once a week service.

Amusing signs were seen by The Bridge PH, said to be haunted, inviting you to leave husbands there in the pub crèche! I hope that they don’t scare easily.

 

It wasn’t a clear day, but murky, due to unprecedented high levels of pollution combined with Saharan dust that appears as a mist in all the pictures. This must have reduced the visibility of the surrounding landmarks. The windmill near the top of the 120m high Napton hill is something boaters look out for and can just be made out in the picture from near to Brickyard Bridge (No 112). The windmill is a private residence now but it is thought that one has been there from 1543.

A picture of the windmill was stamped onto bricks and tiles that were made (at the rate of 35,000 per day at one time) very close to this spot by the canal. The brickworks (Nelson, Watson and Co.) started in 1910 and closed in the early 1970s. Clay was dug locally and fired in the longest kiln in Europe, before being transported along a small tramway to the canal wharf where boats took the bricks to London, to the local railway station and elsewhere.

Now there are plans to redevelop the area and build homes and smaller industrial units.

Near here today were sheep in a variety of colours from white to black, some of them Jacobs perhaps. Nearer to lock 12, water buffalo were grazing in the nearby field, where they are kept for Mozzarella cheese or burgers? Or both? 

Altogether, I think, three pill boxes (of the Stent FW3/26 type) were seen along this stretch of the canal, all built using prefabrication construction methods. Also, by bridge No. 116, two octagonal anti-tank traps are still in good shape and their huge size is obvious from the picture. These defences were built during WW2 as part of a stop line across the countryside, in case of invasion.

Spring has certainly sprung and more than 13 species of flowers were spotted blooming along the towpath including celandines and cowslips. Plenty of birds were seen too along this rural stretch of the canal, including ducks, a willow warbler and Canada geese.

Now on the southern section of the Oxford canal, where no ‘straightening’ has been carried out, there are some tight bends (boaters are warned by a notice at one). Also, starting from The Folly PH (formerly the Bull and Butcher PH and a farmhouse) there is a series of 9 locks. The canal rises and near here is the short Old Engine House arm where once, in an attempt to improve water levels at the summit, coal was delivered to a stationary steam engine that pumped water back up to the top pound.

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Nearing the end of the walk, more industrial buildings and works were seen at Marston Doles, once a wharf and a boat sped past before we left the canal to walk back into Prior’s Hardwick.