The rivers are up again

The Cherwell follows the canal down all the way from Cropredy. It crosses the canal at Aynho and joins it for a mile near Gibraltar. We wait at Baker’s lock because it is up in the red, an indicator warning not to proceed, but despite that some boaters went on down on the river. Another boat joined us at the mooring and waited while it rained. We are feeling a bit apprehensive about getting down on the rivers during this wet weather. Several of our friends have got up to Letchlade and are slowly making their way back with red boards, or orange boards with stream increasing or decreasing flow rates.

Next day we walked down the river Cherwell and back noting that at the top end it was still in the red but at the lower end it was just in the orange. Several boats were on the move including Derwent 6 coming up. After a quick hello we went on down, going with the flow and sliding round the bends. Back on the canal we stopped at Thrupp. It had been a lovely sunny day for the trip. The Thames is in the red again and we wonder if we will ever get on it.

While we wait at Thrupp, ‘Annie’s Tea Room’ offers breakfast, lunch and afternoon teas. Maffy & Mortimer joined us at our table while we had a late breakfast which we enjoyed. Then we set off with the Sat Nav to walk round the fields heading for the church at Kidlington and back. Ended up at Annie’s for tea during a pleasantly sunny day.