As we were walking by Somerton Deep Lock yesterday evening Jan remarked how the abundance of white blossom made it look like a snow scene. I didn't have my camera with me at the time, so I walked back this morning to take a couple of pics.
First the view over the Cherwell valley ...
... and then a wintry-looking canal scene.
Except that the amount of greenery gives the game away.
We got to Banbury at lunch time and waited ages to use the water point, having to hang on to the centre line as there was nowhere to secure the boat. Once watered up and through the lock we tied up on a visitor mooring and returned to the vicinity of the services to investigate Naomi's Café. From the back (canalside) it doesn't look very enticing ...
... but it's a different matter inside. Naomi's Café is run as a "community", not-for-profit, eatery. It seems to have a close connection with the arts scene in Banbury; as part of Banbury Art Weeks there was a painting which anybody could add to. I regret to say that we chickened out! The fry-up I had was excellent; I had to put a "donation" in the jar according to what I felt it was worth.
At one of the locks before Banbury I noticed small - about one inch diameter - brass(?) studs set in the ground in the balance beam pushing zone at both ends of the lock.
The lettering is "EABM" which I guess is "Environment Agency Bench Mark" but I might be completely wrong. It's CRT property, not EA's, and it doesn't look like an arrow-type Ordnance Datum bench mark.
Does anyone know? It looks like my guess was right. The studs are referred to in
this post on a "Trigpointing" forum.
edited to add last two sentences
2 comments:
Did you get the stoppage notice about them replacing a balance beam on a Napton lock, tomorrow I think it was? It says the navigation is open, although how you replace a balance beam and keep the lock open I'm not sure.
Yes thanks, Adam. We should be through today.
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