Day 10

20 miles: 13 locks: 1+ bottles of Brasso remaining: 7+ litres of Pimms

It feels like we have made more progress today but that is probably because we made it to Oxford in the late afternoon, and started travelling along the River Thames. It is much wider here, and faster, so it feels like we are making headway and on our way home. 

Earlier in the day, it was still rather busy along the Oxford Canal, we had to travel very slowly past the houses in Oxford, mainly because it was narrow and over grown and there were a lot of boats moored up. Most of the boats looked like they were used as a permanent residence, it is fascinating to look at how people have personalised them. We saw a 'Jolly Roger' black boat, complete with a pirate flag, one which had an army style, lots with many planters on their roofs.We even saw one which had what looked like a lady's bottom sticking out of the roof! Most boats are traditional colours like green, red, blue, cream, but I have been spotting quite a few purple ones (my favourite colour). 

We did complete a few locks, including a Weir lock which is an oval shape - it feels a bit like being in a swimming pool rather than a lock. It's quite disorientating. There was one guy that we passed who was travelling along the canal backwards! It was a bit strange. 

Once we reached the River Thames, we had to buy our visitors licence from the Lock Keeper, The Thames is run by the Environment Agency not the Canal and River Trust. All the locks are now electronic which seems very modern compared to our last ten days. It is easier but doesn't have the charm of the canals. The Lock Keeper did tell us that it is Reading Festival this weekend - not good planning because we have to travel through there. Let's hope that there aren't many festival goers arriving by boat! 

We saw the Oxford Rowing Club facilities, and various different water vehicles, including canoes, motor cruisers, rowing boats, and a couple of people standing up in a canoe like boat and paddling. We have never seen that before. We passed through some towns south of Oxford including Abingdon which was very picturesque. We are moored for the night on the outskirts of Abingdon.