A correspondent sent me some pictures to show that the new jetty at Abingdon Lock is now complete.

Boats go one side,

and canoe portage the other.

A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. It may also be a walkway on water. The word is from the French word jetée, ‘thrown’, signifying something thrown out.

Portage is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land. It is from the French word ‘Porter’ to wear or to carry.

Work on the Grotto at Cosenors House is nearing completion. The work is to bring it back to a safe and usable condition without changing it too much.

Abingdon Lock has re-opened after a winter when the boat layby was being rebuilt. Hooks in the grass can be used as a temporary layby. Boats can now use the lock.

The new layby is nearing completion.

At the lock itself, crowd control barriers have been added to keep spectators away from people operating the lock – for the Covid-19 safety of everybody.

To improve the look of the barriers, children are being asked to print, and colour in sections of a long Narrow Boat.

The new boat house for the Kingfisher Canoe Club has been built and should soon be used, once Covid-19 guidelines allow.

For Covid-19 social distancing reasons, people wait if people are crossing the weir in the opposite direction.

Yesterday, I got a message and two pictures from Michael to say ‘The Swift Ditch Bridge near the old lock is being repaired. It is closed until about March 5th. That means you cannot get from Abingdon Lock to the path by the railway line that leads to Culham.’
The warning notice was still up there today.

The bridge had however been put back together and there were no barriers, today. Some people were walking across.

Swift ditch leaves the River Thames above Abingdon Lock and rejoins the River Thames near Culham Bridge.

Work is continuing at Abindon Lock on ‘Reconstructing of tail layby and canoe portage’. Progress has been held up by the weather.

I will see Michael tomorrow on Zoom at the Abingdon Share a Poem group where the topic is Rivers. One poem I may read is this one by Oswald Couldrey. I found it in the book Local Colour – an anthology of local poems from 1951. Oswald worked and travelled, painted and wrote, in India and surrounding countries from 1909-1919, and must also have known Myanmar (then known as Burma).

A heated beer tent has appeared on Nags Head Island. The Nags Head pub say ‘Oktoberfest in Munich might have been cancelled but Oktoberfest on The Thames hasn’t!’ It is from Friday 16th October to Sunday 18th October.

Scaffolding has appeared round the stone grotto in the garden of Coseners House. The work will make the grotto safe to use. The grotto has two chambers, and an external staircase and lookout. I do not know who or why it was built but my guess is that it was a 19th century folly.

Work is progressing on the new Kingfisher Canoe Club storage and changing hut.

A new information board has appeared at the Wildflower Maze in the Abbey Grounds. The maze has been cut back for the winter. The little stacks give a place for some wildlife to spend the winter.

Work continues on the Route 5 cycle path through the Abbey Grounds.

The narrow, bumpy, muddy track is being widened and evened out and made less muddy.