Oxford cruise - Episode 2

I had thought that living on a narrowboat was "laid back" but, compared to cruising it is really hectic.

Cruising on a narrowboat gets you away from it all like nothing else I know. On the one hand, even though you are travelling at walking pace you need to concentrate on steering because the turns are tight and the banks are never far away.







On the other hand you are in open countryside, often with fields that run down to the canal without a fence or hedge. This brings farm animals very close, and you are all the time surrounded by birdsong, and ducks. At this time of the year there are mothers with clutches of tiny puff-balls of ducklings.

Even when you come to a mooring place - for example near a bridge with a pub, or a marina, you are still shielded from what used to be the real world - your world is bounded by the towpath.

So when I stepped up onto the street in Banbury the cars seemed like odd creatures - what are they for? why are they hurrying? where are they going?

While cruising you hardly ever see a car. The only regular transport machine is the train as the railway lines were often built close to the canals.

The village of Cropredy












Banbury Cross and a Squirrel