Yesterday Clare and Shane didn’t write because it was wet all day. Today Heather and Benny arrived at Banbury station. in very decent weather. There have been a few changes in boating life since the last visit, the boat has some improvements e.g ingenious cupboards and locks, and a sofa. a big change is that autumn has set in and so there are lovely colours especially in the sunshine of which there has been quite a bit today. The pimms remains excellent.

Today we headed north along the lovely Oxford canal. We had a short stop to visit Lidl. We quickly emerged into the usual lovely countryside. There is evidence of medieval field systems in this area including hard to work out from this picture some ridge and furrow ends – the ridges show as outward curves of the field into the canal.

The little white bull of the title was having a good paddle as we rounded a corner.

It’s great to sit at the front because it’s peaceful and you are more likely to see a heron.

Shane showed a red fleece to a bull at a lock a bit short of Cropredy. The bull was more worried than Shane was.

We had tomato pasta and salad cooked by Clare – yummy.