Walking around Thrupp

Friday morning, time for a walk.  I’ve mapped it out on my satnav and nearly all the way markers at the footpath junctions are churches ...

First we walk down the towpath past Thrupp wide and over the canal bridge to the Holy Cross Church at  Shipton-on-Cherwell

Unfortunately there was no information inside relating to the church and I couldn’t find anything useful on internet either!

The shields, names and dates are on all the supports and at first I thought they were all kings but soon realised they weren’t.  The one on the right Turner 1804 - I discovered that the artist Joseph Turner lived in Shipton-on-Cherwell Manor house and married Elizabeth Ilott at The Holly Cross Church, so I’m assuming that all the other great and good had connections over the centuries with the area.

War memorial in the church yard

Looking back at Shipton-on-Cherwell church framed by the trees as we continue our walk ...

... over the River Cherwell via this simple but effective suspension bridge ...

... the river is still running quite fast under the railway bridge

The next waypoint marker was this church which was not open to the public and had no information outside to inform what it was called but I’ve since found out that it’s St Giles

Two very pretty gates give entrance to the church yard, the one on the right was padlocked but we were able to use the left-hand one going up the very tight steps

The church has a very intricate wind vane on the tower ...

... and is very close to what I’ve now discovered is the remains of Hampton Gays 16th century manor house - (info below from Wikipedia)

The Barry family built the manor house in the 16th century.^[4] It has an E-shaped plan with gabled wings and a battlemented central porch.^[4] Its Elizabethan form remained unaltered until the 19th century, including original Elizabethan panelling in its principal rooms, but in 1809 it was reported to be in a neglected state.^[3] In the 1880s the house was divided into two tenements^[3] but in 1887 it was gutted by fire.^[4] It has never been restored and remains an ivy-clad ruin. It is a Grade II listed building and a scheduled monument.^[5] Early in the 21st century English Heritage placed the manor house ruins on its register of historic buildings at risk, listing its priority as "A" and its condition as "very bad".^[5

Just look at those mullioned windows ...

... especially the one on the top floor - it’s even still got it’s window frame!
Anyone got a spare couple of millions (££) to purchase and renovate this deserving pile?

We continue to walk - through the fields of horses ...

... towards The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin at Hampton Poyle ...

... via the two more stiles

Again, the church was locked, such a pity ...

... but it does have this interesting bell tower

On our way back to R’n’R now, crossing the River Cherwell again, this time over a very different bridge

Our next way mark ...

.... accessed via this leafy archway into the churchyard ...  The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin built in 1220 in the early English style ...

I thought that the main entrance door was rather bizarre, but no mention of the actual style of this door is mentioned on the website (below) ...

" The outside niche contains a modern figure. This is the work of the sculptor Water Ritchie and symbolises the figure of the Virign Mary with the hand of God pointing down to her. "
(I’m sorry but I don’t like the statue at all, I don’t like the modernity of it on the ancient church and I really don’t understand it’s meaning.)


The Parish Church of Kidlington

Kidlington Cenotaph ...

... and the old priest house

Continuing back towards our mooring at Thrupp now crossing the bridge over the railway line ...

... where in the hedgerow there are the last of the beautiful blue cornflowers ...

... and a single blood red poppy

Bridge 223 over in the corner of the recently ploughed field ...

... from which we can see the Jolly Boatman and home - narrowboat Rock ’n’ Roll - a great walk (without getting wet) of about 5 miles.
Friday evening found us having dinner in the hostelry with lots of fellow boaters and bloggers - Maffi, Bones, Kath and Neil, Val and Bernie of NB Tesla, Mark and Sue NB Dusty (fuel boat) and several of Maffi and Bones friends.  A great evening was had, lots of laughter and chatter - just as boaters do!

At Thrupp

 Leaving our mooring on Monday morning for the short 1.5 mile, 1 lift bridge and 1 lock cruise to Thrupp.  George is walking ahead to lift the bridge and set the lock and I’m at the helm.

 Whoops! There’s a now boater without a brolly on the cut!

 Through Roundham Lock

 Taking on water at Langford Lane Bridge with the bow poking out across the canal beyond the bend - fortunately there was no traffic coming under the bridge whilst we were there.

 Safely tied up in Thrupp on the 48-hour visitor mooring right behind Al and Del and ...

 ... alongside the Jolly Boatman.  We walked along the towpath to dispose of the rubbish and to find Maffi (in Annie’s Tea Room) and arrange an evening in the pub - good job done!

Visitor yesterday during a break in the awful rain - Mark on Dusty Fuel Boat - a good job too as we took on more diesel than we thought we’d need.

Tesco delivery this morning between 8 and 10 and then it’s time to move from these visitor mooring, hopefully to a space on the 7-days but we may have to move through Aubrey’s Lift Bridge to the 14- days - a bit further from the pub - but no problem - we’ve got legs! Looking forward to that.

A good decision!

I am so glad we took the decision to move off the Thames and back to the ditches, the rain has been really heavy - something we’ve not been used to since early June!

The skies cleared however late yesterday afternoon and we had a pretty sunset at our mooring in Kidlington Green - more like what we’ve become used to!

It’s very strange being back on a narrow canal - passing boats come so close it actually goes dark inside - and yes, there’s mud on the towpath!

The forecast last night for the Oxford area was rain for most of today but better tomorrow and rain again on Thursday.  But on looking at the Met Office website a few moments ago, today should be good but windy this afternoon and tomorrow is a complete write-off.  So, we’ve made another decision - watch out Thrupp because here we come!

Change of plan ...

We’re off!
We had planned to stay at Dorchester (Days Lock) until after the weekend and spend the promised sunny Saturday checking out the village and generally taking it easy.  But, the weather forecast for Sunday and Monday was threatening lots of heavy rain and the last thing we want when nearing the end of our Thames summer cruise was to be stuck behind red boards (making the river unnavigable) until the water subsides.  So we decided that Dorchester will be for another time and sunny Saturday should be spent cruising ...

 The view from our mooring at 07:20 as we try to decide to stay, or go ..

 ... we’re going - 09:20 leaving our snug mooring ...

 ... and Days Lock behind us.

 Clifton Hampden was clear, so no hold up there today.

 The cut above Clifton Lock is rather narrow with its overhanging trees, it’s a good job we’re only a narrowboat as it would have been an extremely tight fit if we’d been any wider.

 Long Wittenham Church Spire with the three towers of Didcot Power Station behind it.

 The approach to Culham is lovely in the bright sunshine

Rowing for charity from Abingdon to Maidenhead in two days ... the hilarity and screeching coming from inside the lock as the water emptied made us smile - good luck to them especially on Sunday in the rain.

Looks like a very large sardine tin in the lock cut above Culham!

Archimedes returning downstream - we saw him going up last week

Passing Abingdon Marina just south of the town ...

... and loads of rowers to make the cruise more interesting!

 The beautiful riverside at Abingdon ...

 ... where the town cryer was doing his ‘Oh yeah’ bit and ringing his bell ...

... and where there’s plenty of free moorings when you don’t need one!

Approaching Abingdon Bridge under Molly’s supervision

Half an hour after lifting through Abingdon Lock we pass Culham Park Motocross Track where an event was in progress ...

... and a couple of rather desirable properties ...

... this one on the hill being Nuneham House.

 The views are stunning ...

 ... and the river edge is clothed in the autumn flowering Michaelmas Daisy (Aster)

 Approaching Sandford Lock, the deepest on the Thames above Teddington

A Pod, a very modern summer house ...

... in the garden of a very traditional house!

A different way to travel in a canoe

 Approaching Iffley by far the nicest lock on the Thames (in my opinion)

The notice says ‘Self Service’ (lock keeper otherwise absent) but he had returned by the time it was our turn to enter.

We shared the lock with a Thames River Inspector in an Environment Agency boat

And pass the very elegant balustraded bridge above the lock.

The reach (stretch of river between locks) above Iffley was busy with rowers ...

... and ‘girly’ punting ...

... and people generally enjoying themselves on Christ Church Meadow.

Folly Bridge can be bypassed by two different passages - one through the arch you can see alongside the trip boats, or to the side of the house ...

 ... down here.

Looking back under Folly Bridge at the pub The Head of the River

The startling autumnal red of aVirginia Creeper draped over the skeleton of the tree

Osney Lock ...

... and Osney Bridge which severely restricts vessels larger than narrowboats and small cruisers from navigating the upper reaches

The cows are sheltering under the trees from the warm sun

I love the expanse and use of Port Meadow.  Today as we rounded the corner under Medley Bridge we see these two sailing dinghies tacking (?) around the bouys; we had to put the engine into tick-over until they’d finished their manoeuvres ...

... but we can see ahead around that next bend that our cruising will be challenging to say the least!

but looking back towards the bridge, there’s an open view for miles

They appear to ‘know’ what they’re doing, I just wish that we did!

 We’re safely through them now - I can count 17 sails in this short distance.

The wild horses on the meadow today are over on the far side

But we can soon see Godstow Lock, the last push-button operated lock that we shall pass through on the Thames this year ...

 ... where there’s the most fantastic bed of ...

 ... pink and white Cosmos flowers - I love them, they look good, flower for a long time and make great  cut flowers for indoors.

Godstow Abbey ...

... an unusual wooden boat ...

... and a boat with a fitted carpet!

 Kings Lock - the lock keeper here operates the sluices by brute force and a long pole and opens the sluices by winding a very large wheel

 Above Kings Lock we turn immediately right ...

 ... and leave the River Thames behind us.

We turn into Dukes Cut which connects the River Thames to the South Oxford Canal ...

... is narrow with the trees encroaching on both sides and above us.

Through Dukes Lock and under Dukes Bridge where we turn left to the water point ...

... where we see this paraglider taking off and up through the thermals - I waved to him and waved back with his foot!

I was on my own at the helm from here, George going ahead to open Drinkwater’s Lift Bridge and Kidlington Lock.  Just through Kings Bridge is a small boat yard and as I passed a lady in work overalls came to the fence and called to me - ‘Great blog’ she said!  Amazing indeed - I was so surprised, thank you!

We are now moored at Kidlington at the same spot as we were on the way down to the Thames on 26th June with Geoff and Mags - when then, like today (Sunday) it is absolutely bucketing it down.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our 3-month summer cruise on the Thames and were very sad to be leaving it.  The weather, apart from the first couple of weeks cruising the very upper reaches of the river when the river was high and red boards stopping us from cruising, has been spectacular - sometimes a little too hot (for me) but at least dry and warm unlike the weather some bloggers have experienced further north.

We love the diversity of this great river, its meandering, its historic sites, its good moorings (albeit sometimes expensive), its wide open water and amazing houses (no two alike) along its banks.

We’re now planning 2013’s cruises - can’t wait!