Saturday 23/5 Twyford Wharf to the Wedding Bridge

After yesterday's enforced idleness I thought L. would want to put in a big day, and so we did 8.00am to 7.15pm with lots of locks so very few pics again today. FYI each lock is estimated to take 15mins to complete.

One of the things that intrigues me about England is the delineation between town or village and farmland - it is really sharp. The houses you may be able to see in the background are on the outskirts of Banbury. The houses are down one side of the road and on the other productive farmland.

A bridge on the outskirts of Banbury. The sign says welcome to Banbury - very encouraging for a boater seeing a sign like this on the approach to a town

Another horse chestnut, this time with white blossom. I do find them very attractive

First stop was in the centre of Banbury for a quick food shop in the Marks and Spencer 'food hall' (really just an expensive supermarket, but their quiches are tasty!) in the building on the right. We weren't allowed to linger, but we did get seduced by the freshly cooked cinnamon dohnuts which we took back to the boat and had with a cup of coffee before casting off and heading out.

I don't know if you can see the first cygnets we have seen this trip. Spring seems much later here this year. At the same time last year there were lots of ducklings, goslings and cygnets. And the hedgerows had a lot more colour in them.  Mind you, it was also a lot warmer at this time last year.

I also saw my first stoat like creature today. We startled each other at one of the locks, and it shot off into the hedgerow. Looking it up the closest I could come to with identification was an American mink. They have gone feral here, so maybe it was.

That's it folks, a shower and bed for me.

15 miles, 14 locks, 1 lift bridge in 9 hours