Can't stop...I need milk!

Another bright start to the day, I cast off at around 9:30 and headed through the countryside to the first of the nine Napton locks, a descent of 55ft 3ins in total, the top lock (16), is tucked away just around a bend and you can’t see it from the landing area, so I tied up and went around just in time to close the bottom gates for the couple exiting the lock. That favour was returned to me by the couple running behind me.

Qunquireme disappearing into lock 16

And that was how it proceeded through the next two locks.

Watching lock 15 fill

At lock (14) the water buffalo were in the adjacent field, there’s supposed to be lots of these on the route of the Oxford canal but these were the first I’d seen.

Water buffalo busy doing little, look at those lovely clouds.

Not a bad life.

Leaving the lock there is a short run down to the flight proper, 6 locks forming this final approach to Napton-on-the-Hill.

The work was fairly even with me usually closing bottom gates, filling the lock myself, then being joined by the crew of the following boat who would close the bottom gates as I left, that was until I reached lock 10, the third to last, where there was a lock volounteer, so it was stay on the boat and graciously allow him to operate the gates and paddles J assisted by a painter who was working on the white areas.

At lock 9 another volounteer so the process repeated but they left me to do the final lock (8) on my own which was fine. 

Approaching the final lock of the flight, the services are in the building with 3
little windows and the water point is through the bridge and on the left.

I then pulled onto the services and emptied the cassette and found a Windlass laying on the ground, always handy another spare, that’s 3 spares now. I then moved across and did a very quick top up on the water point before proceeding around the sharp bend to moor on the 48 hr visitor moorings virtually where I stopped on the way down so no mooring photos.

Then as the title suggests I nipped to the store which is handy and bought my milk.

Totals today : 3 miles : 9 Locks