Cropredy with Alice Cooper & 10cc

Our next target was to get to Cropredy in Oxfordshire for the annual Fairport Convention festival on the weekend of 8/9/10 August.  This entailed going back to Braunston via the Coventry and Oxford canals, along the Grand Union to Napton junction and then south back down the Oxford to Cropredy.  A total of 51 miles and 22 locks.

 
Here we are setting off from Crick:

 
My dad came down from Yorkshire to join us in Braunston for a couple of days and Polly (my youngest) and Chris (my eldest) came up as well.  My dad (at 86!) was really keen to have a go in our kayak - here he is with Polly:

 

We stayed at Napton for a week or two at the end of July:

 
We stopped at Claydon top lock for the last night before the final cruise to Cropredy.  A gorgeous morning it was too:

 
We made it to Cropredy a couple of days before the festival and decided to moor about a mile away from the festival site in the village.

 
And this was our evening view:

 
We used the kayak to get to and from the festival site.  Alice Cooper and 10cc were the highlights on Thursday and Friday and we didn’t even bother going to see Fairport Convention on the final night.  The two village pubs had their own fringe festivals which were more exciting to be honest.