We left our friends in Thrupp by moving out of the 14 day moorings in a swift move to allow Snowgoose to move in. Smugly moored is what we call it! We headed out to yet another lovely day (this is getting to be a habit!) and easily made the 8 miles, 5 locks and two lift bridges to Heyford, Bella's old home. We found a superb mooring at the south end of the 48 hour slots and had a walk over the fields to the pub. It all feels so familiar! Home to a great fresh broad bean and bacon salad.
We set out the next morning to water at the watering point just south of the bridge, then moored up by Oxfordshire Narrowboats for diesel. NOTE - there is now a fab B&B at Heyford, which, by the way, is over the canal from the train station allowing you to travel to Banbury or Oxford. We were shown around the B&B and it's lovely. Really.
We set out around lunch time and motored up to our next 'old haunt' at NB Acres, just north of Nell's lock, the northern end of another stretch sharing the Cherwell which starts at the south end with Aynho weir lock. We moored up on the towpath side here when we first moved Bella north. And, we were in NB Acres last July, when we first came across this smallholding owned by the residents of narrowboat Per Ardua. Then we met Clarissa, the rare breed Oxfordshire sandy and black pig and this year, we met her newest family and her family's newest family! In the new buildings, we saw day old chickens and ducks, one cracking into new life whilst we stood there. Today, a turkey hatched and another was cracking out as we watched. So many of our lives are so distant from this, it is wonderful to experience it. One brood of pigs was five weeks old, the other five days. We can hear the squeals as we sit here! The weather has been lovely for us, but for NB Acres, rain would be welcome. Their bore hole is stressed and all their 1.5 tonne water butts are empty. Ah well.
As ever, we are taking advantage of the electrics here and are working on clearing the laundry. The pics are the inside of a lock and the lock wall. We wanted you to see all that grows on it!! And we are privileged to be so close to cows as they wade to the water. In our nearly three years aboard, we never cease to be amazed at how close to nature we are.
