The first walk of the LDWA weekend was along the canal routes into Oxford and we boarded a train to Tackley railway station.
The station is on the Cherwell Valley Line which runs from Banbury to Didcot Parkway, although the station here was added to the line relatively late, opening on 6 April 1931.
Andy gave us an introduction before starting the walk, although he likely could have done without someone keep asking when lunch was.
A lock and old bridge a short distance away from the start of the walk in Nethercott.
There was lots of pleasant canal walking, although at first the path was a bit ropy and I did wonder if someone would fall in, but there were fortunately no incidents. We saw a grass snake, or it might have been a rattlesnake, gliding across the water. This annoyed me, I wish they’d stop letting snakes out unattended.
Wild hops, I don’t often see those, although that’s mainly because I’m usually looking for blackberries.
Beautiful surroundings and we were fortunate with the weather, it was warm with no rain, but there was also a pleasant breeze.
Sarah, blazing a trail.
A rather lovely little church by the river, this is the Church of Holy Cross at Shipton-on-Cherwell. There was a medieval church at this site, but it was mostly rebuilt in 1831 when it was all reworked and a new tower was added by William Turner.
The lunch spot at Thrupp.
This bridge pivots up and can be operated by just one person, but there was nearly an incident here when a car tried to drive onto the now rather vertical bridge. Shortly afterwards, a pedestrian tried to do the same thing.
A rather clever piece of engineering.
An old stone bridge near Kidlington. It’s number 223 and known as Sparrow Gap Bridge
A heron.
We waited here for Sue to join us.
Walking into Oxford.
The Toblerhome river boat.
Into the city centre and then a quick pub stop before I traipsed to my thrifty hotel which was nowhere near the centre of Oxford. Memories of the dangerous snake we saw swimming in the canal had faded away, with me looking forwards to the pubs in the evening (which I’ve already written up….).