And it was all going so well.. 12.3miles down today.. almost into Thrupp.. Arrived at Bakers Lock to find that the River Cherwell has a strong stream warning and red lights for “do not proceed”.. so were forced to wait until tomorrow.. with luck we can continue tomorrow morning.
So we settled down and.. once the night had closed in.. a light in the distance.. coming up the Cherwell.. and getting closer.
Grabbing windlasses, we all went to have a look, and yes.. a boat was travelling upstream and into the lock. The lights were still red, the depth board was well in the red.. but there was a boat!
It seems that there was a pair of gentlement on a “night cruise”.. after helping them through the lock.. on they went. So we decided that if they can come up, in the dark, when the stream was well in the red.. we would be able to go down, after an evening of no rain and the levels have dropped overnight.
Update:
And that’s what we did. The water flow was strong, but taking it gently we got down to Shipton Weir Lock OK without issues.. where we found a guy camped out next to the lock. Tent, supplies, clothes line, water tank.. everything he needed – and it looked like he wasn’t going far anytime soon!