The state of the Oxford

I AM most pleased that you are 'telling it like it is' as regards to the condition of the canals at the moment, writes, T. Lang.

I too cruised both the North and South Oxford canals this year and can but agree with your Victor Swift about their condition, with the vegetation now over head high, and with the canal a 'V' section construction—or is that lack of dredging?—the few clear places are either taken up with continuous moorers or are unable to get to.

Extremely difficult

I came off the Trent & Mersey which is a narrow canal like the Oxford, and whilst in general the paddles are easy to use on the Trent & Mersey, they are extremely difficult on the Oxford, except as your contributor pointed out where there are volunteer lock keepers working, as I agree they would not attend if they were too difficult.

Your photographs well showed the state of the locks, but here is one you missed on the locks above Cropredy.

Claydon Flight

The Claydon Flight was terrible, the lock gates very difficult to move and the paddles extremely stiff, so as you mentioned, there would be no volunteers at that flight, and I too met that gentleman, possibly the same as you, who was on his normal walk and stopping at the seat at the top lock, where he helped with the lock gate.  I give the flight the award as the worst on the system.

And the visitors where few and far between, and nowhere near the many thousands devised by CaRT, as the state of the towpaths clearly show.

It will be a long time before I tackle that canal again.