Purples.

So then, September continues as I would have wished May June and July might have done.  The mornings are "Fresh" so much so this morning, I couldn't get out of bed until David had returned from his bike ride and switched on the heating.  We probably need a small child to come programme the heating system....

I walked a short while to get some photos that show the changing colours...

Its been a while since I saw a butterfly, this one was in the bush next to where we watered up at Lower Heyford.   I really like the bridge here, well from this direction I mean, I love the old and new combination.

This is David at his office desk today, as we all know he is only "Semi retired"

This is Peter from NB Futurest   HERE    we are leap frogging each other a bit.

Hire boats are moored three deep here today, so we decided against a pump out here.

I was nervous here too of the bridge not staying up, 

 I sat on it again but even with my leather gloves holding the chain provided as firmly as I could,  the bridge came down with a nice big wallop.

I wish this barn was open to the public

I must go snooping in the car.

Autumn purples

Looks a bit like a dollies bridge after being on the Thames.

But yes WaL did fit.

Think this was a Kestral, it dashed off quickly.

Big blue skies.

Supper was chicken in a chilli ginger and lime sauce with french beans and broccoli moored up on Somerton Meadows which I forgot to photo, but here is one I took earlier, 18 months earlier!!!  The weather today was similar but warmer than April 2014.

Shine on harvest moon....

Now here is a treat for you, the Harvest moon the other night.  You are lucky that I don't sleep so well every night.  This photo was taken at 4:30am so an hour past the optimum time for "Orangeness" but not bad.

We stopped at Thrupp two nights, washed and polished half the roof and one side of the boat plus two bikes and met Peter  from NB Futurest, who is just back from the K&A this summer.  We said goodbye, again, to NB Yarwood Lesley and Joe as they have their own deadlines to meet now.

So waiting out turn to get through the lift bridge and water up we set off northwards.

NB Futurest parked along the way

This boat is parked under a fruit tree of some description, hope the owner knows they are all over his boat and starting to rot....

Oh gawd!

The church here which is lovely inside remained unvisited this trip but looked fabulous today.

I don't remember this lift bridge being down previously but it was easy to operate....  Well I was nervous of it falling down.

So I sat on it.

Purple is a favourite colour of mine, plenty of colour still in the hedgerows in late September.

Round the corner and on a bit is the first lock of the day.  One of the odd shaped ones, I had it all explained to me by Maffi, but I have forgotten it, but something to do with the river and water....

We fill this lock completely, but today no tinks.

The River Cherwell looking pretty good.  I even did some driving on the bendy bit.

Definitely something missing form behind there...  Oh yes, a power station has gone.

Cute little back garden.

Erm the canal goes where....?

I had received a nice message from Linda and Richard, Linda keeps a blog too.  HERE  It was so nice to meet a fellow blogger and chew the fat.  Linda and Richard are on their way  back to their winter mooring on the K&A.
Lovely to have met up both.

And "Muffin" makes three

A beautiful sky followed last evening, more pinks from nature.

Supper was sausages with roasted  Mediterranean veg in a thick tomato sauce

This was the moon the night after the Harvest night, still huge but no longer orange.  Taken from the back deck.

How can you forget Oxford one asks?

In all the excitement yesterday I forgot to include Oxford, actually we stopped there.
When we arrived at the last lock of the day, there was a bit of a bun fight going on caused by dare I say it..... a narrowboat who had filled up with water somewhere and then to turnaround  had gone down through the lock and then held up two of the large trip boats who had parties on each off to a wedding, we were waiting way back down the river hovering mid stream waiting for our turn.  Finally when we got on the end of the lock landing, I went forward to work the lock, this being the only lock we had encountered on the Thames that had closed for lunch.
The cruiser crew you can see just sat there.  But when the gates opened they came in, there was a lot of faffing as he tried to get into position, it occurred to me that they were novices, they I realised that they were not English speakers, so as the faffing continued  now with a pole held up to me, but no rope on it,  finally I asked for the rope to be thrown up, behind were Yarwood and WaL waiting to come in, the rope was thrown up to me by the lady which was fine, except it wasn't attached to the boat....
Oh how we laughed, later.

Lesley holding the boat and had been doing so most patiently.

Both boats mored up above Osney lock with spaces to spare.

A spaghetti of bikes here at Oxford Train Station

Supper was Lamb Rogan Josh with lemon cheesecake with extra thick cream with the Yars.

The balloon's gone up!

So we left the lovely Days Lock moorings pretty early today, at 7:30 and what a GLORIOUS morning, so glorious I took quite a few photos of the sun and the mist.

Sun peeping over the horizon.

WaL pulling away

Lesley saying good morning

Looking back at the Whittington Clump.

Type 28A Pill Box at dawn.

Joe disappearing off into the mist.

Beautiful autumn colours.

Most attractive bridge south of Abingdon

Clear blue skies  and clear reflections with only the ripples from WaL

Beautiful.

Bet these old step in Abingdon could tell some stories.

Wild students still out the morning after..... I've read all about them in the Daily Mail.

A house full on character on an island in Oxford.

This bridge in Oxford has a narrow approach with trip boats moored alongside and hire mini boaty things the other way, David had to reverse and wiggle through.

Joe came around in one go in a most controlled fashion.

Out of Oxford and look at those water meadows, 

Then we turned into Dukes Cut to be met by crazy moored boats, most unoccupied.

Jeepers this feels a bit non-wide

Out of Dukes Cut and onto a canal proper.  The first in a long while.

Lazy boaters leaving their rubbish at a dog bin.

Up through three locks and one lift bridge and into Thrupp and after a LOT of fannying about getting the boat into position between two trees in a field, we were in a biggish gap and as we moved back and forth boats arrived from both sides and it was filled with most of the moorers wanting the same thing, TV coverage for the England v Wales rugby match.... less said about that the better.

Off we scuttled to one of our favourite places, Annie's Tea Rooms, where we shared delicious sandwiches and carrot cake.