The Oxford Canal - Banbury via Aynho, Islip, Lower Heyford into Oxford.

Oxford Canal Bridges and Locks from the centre of Banbury at Bluebird Bridge across lovely Oxfordshire countryside to it's end at Isis Lock Bridge 243 and Isis Lock 46 in Oxford City.

The Oxford Canal joins the lovely River Cherwell which seems to wander and meander about even more than it's watery neighbour for a short distance but they soon part company again as in the photo on the right. However elsewhere both river and canal are often just a few yards away from each other. In one particularly interesting spot (at Weir bridge and Lock) the River Cherwell actually cuts across the Oxford Canal.
Originally the Oxford Canal was built and used for moving coal to the South but these days it is the habitat of fishermen, cruise boats, cyclists, walkers, herons, kingfishers, fat ducks and a large number of private canal boats. We have often used the canal for our walking trips - it is quite ideal to create lots of circular walks in and around the open countryside especially around the Lower Heyford area of Oxfordshire. One of the nicest things about the canal are the small bridges which frequently cross over it - these are usually simply farmer's bridges used to move stock etc. between their fields either side of the canal. There are quite a few photos of the railway bridges and also some of the what appears to be the remains of bridges as well. Of course in reality these remains are no longer bridges since they do not cross the canal but are interesting so included. The original canal bridges were numbered and where some of the numbers are now missing but bridge remains exist we have made a guess that these were numbers belonging to said bridges.
As you head south out of Banbury the towpath passes quite a few derelict warehouses alhtough the town seems to be busy renovating these buildings and probably one day soon they will all be people's flats. As you walk along the towpath you soon get into really open countryside - as the River Cherwell is often right next to the canal the towpath can be really wet and muddy (due to seep-age).

The Oxford Canal and it's Lift Bridges.

There are quite a few canal liftbridges along this section of the Canal and also you can see some locations where these lift bridges have now been (sadly) demolished.

Shared Waters on the Oxford Canal.

The River Cherwell and The Oxford Canal meet therefore and share their waters through Oxfordshire just south of Bakers Lock at the nicely shaped Horse Bridge - this river/canal comination then continues south as far as the really beautiful area around Shipton Weir Lock where The river Cherwell and the canal part company.