Captain Coracle's ... er ... coracle. Magic.

Arriving at Lower Heyford yesterday I could see a man in a coracle drifting around in front. He got out of the way as we approached and I thought that would be the last I saw of him. We had decide not to tie up near the wharf as the railway line runs noisily alongside, so we stopped a little further on, round the bend. As I was finishing off the usual end-of-day tasks (removing tiller pin and arm, tightening stern tube greaser etc.) I saw the coracle again and got talking to its occupant, me crouching on the stern counter of Jubilee, he gently paddling to stay still. More or less.

What a fascinating chap! James built his coracle himself after attending a course in coracle making in Ironbridge. This is actually his fifth or sixth and looks very professionally done. I don't think I'd seen a coracle close-up before. It seemed remarkably stable with James sitting on its bench seat, but perhaps that was an illusion. For Jamie Jibberish is a "humanitarian magician" who works with refugee children in the middle east, trading Magic for Smiles.

I asked Jamie where he'd come from. Oxford. What, he paddled all the way from Oxford? No, he came by train. With the coracle? Yes. Must raise a few eyebrows.

Jamie said he was meeting his nephew on a bicycle, so he slowly paddled off.

He said he'd fallen in the water only once, and that was on his first go.

And so to today. We had arranged to meet up with Jan's former college friend, Jane, in Banbury, so we pushed on from Lower Heyford and had lunch in shifts on the move. The weather was just about perfect: plenty of sunshine but not too hot. Another beautiful day for being on the boat. Instead of the usual pics of Somerton Deep Lock here are some horses on a hill ...

... and some cattle going for a paddle (but not a coracle in sight).

You could say I was going slowly past moo-red animals.