This little piggy "spotted" beside the cut

Sunday, 17 October 2010 16:50

Nell Bridge on the South Oxford Canal

As we approached the old Nell Bridge with its topping of new main road, I was hoping that no one was going to shut the gate that the narrowboat coming down had kindly left open for us. It would be so easy for a descending crew not to bother to cross the main road to check if another boat was coming up!

Lock gate (shut, taken on way down!)) from under old Nell Bridge

John spotted that the ground paddle gear had a slight idiosyncrasy - can you spot it too? (answer at the end!). The bottom gate is very heavy, one of the reasons being the double paddle gear.

I wondered why there were chains in the lock side, not something you see very often in a narrow lock and certainly not needed by many narrowboats I would have thought. It is certainly not the deepest lock we encountered on this section - only 8 ft 8 inches.

The cottage beside the lock has seen better days but in the sunshine it was still an attractive lock. Not so attractive is the yard above the lock sited at the old Nell Bridge Arm. High and dry were two BW tug work boats, one in old livery and one in the "new" blue.

The smallholding at Nell Bridge (not so small actually) beyond Haddons Lift Bridge had some interesting animals - the juxtaposition of this sign was rather unfortunate and here is my spotted pig, doing what pigs do best!

Amongst the narrowboats moored here is Rosamund the Fair. This restaurant boat is for sale - all enquiries to Tooley's Boat Yard. A little bit of TLC and she would make a very attractive floating eatery.

Rosamund the Fair at Nell Bridge

So we continued on our way towards the next lock - King's Sutton ......

Oh, and the answer? A spike has been welded on to the ratchet stop to help lift it up and down, without getting grease on your fingers - and it works, Maffi!