From Stowe Hill, we travelled under Bridge 26 and moored up for water. All the while, we were wondering - do we travel on to Buckby top lock as we thought on Friday, or do we take advantage of the wonderful day and the lovely mooring and the hopeful forecast???? Lines back on board and Bella under way with full water tanks, we, um, decided to travel a few more hundred yards and moor up. By just after 2pm, we were moored here in Weedon on the Aquaduct. After mooring, we took Josie on her lead and all of us had a quiet walk to the Plume and Feathers via the steps down from the Aquaduct to the road and via the shop to get the Sunday paper. The peaceful night is seen from our stern deck after dinner. The bright shot was from this morning whilst walking Josie for her morning wander.
We stayed in Bugbrooke for a day to put on Levi and do some laundry. It was such lovely weather, we were thrown by having to decide to travel as it was wonderful, or to stay moored and enjoy it in situ! As it was, we stayed, Levi and (washing machine) did two loads and Elizabeth did lots of sewing. Having given up on extending the dining room curtains with extra fabric, she made two knitting project bags instead. Pete, meanwhilst, was sitting with his computer, Snowy, and creating a spreadsheet called Bella's Fuel Reckoner. A lovely early evening on deck followed.Sunday dawned lovely and we set out north east again, ready to moor up at Stowe Hill for diesel and a visit with Dom and Helen. Elizabeth made scones during the travel to have hot snacks and fresh coffee on arrival. During the visit with talks of knitting, a moss green suede coat and Pete's amazing "Dom's Deisel Calculator" spreadsheet, we watched a steam narrowbaot pass. We heard it well before she travelled under the bridge, allowing Pete to grab Cassie (camera) and be in time to capture Adamant as she travelled gracefully and nosily by. Oh, and the diesel fill was within a fraction of what Bella's Fuel Reckoner anticipated it would be. Pete loves spreadsheets.
We're moored on the towpath side opposite Stowe Hill Wharf for a bit now, until we decide to move again. It is a lovely country location, the sound of the M1 a distance away and the A5 not too uproarious. The West Coast mainline is not distant, but really only the goods trains can be heard. As you can guess, this position feels quite the centre of much. Northampton is a few miles to the north-east, Towcester is less than 10 miles south with Rugby about 15 miles north west.
Not only does the sound of the roads and rail remind us of all the transport developed since canals, but also this section of the canal system carries a wide range of boats from private to hire boats and some boats from the days when canals were the only way to effectively transport goods. One of these pics is of Pete and Helen in front of the sales room and the other is an old working boat set gently passing by, its butty the end craft and the boat pulling it just seen to the right.
We decided that we didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and so set out on the Friday evening after Elizabeth collected Pete from the station after a working trip in Bristol. As Pete had done the last day in June for setting out after an Elizabeth work day, Elizabeth had prepped Bella for setting out after a Pete work day. By the time 
they both hopped back onto Bella, it was a matter of untying and going! The day was beautiful and the weather held for a glorious glide south. One of the pics shows our new garden arrangement, with the plants much closer to the stern, alowing more visibility. This is now possible as we now have two centre lines. What THAT means is that there are now two very long ropes - centre lines - which connect from the centre top of the boat and, when ready for use, extend from the center to rest on the roof near to the stern and the tillerworker. And that means that the person driving the boat while the other works locks can gently set Bella alongside to wait for the lock, and can hop off Bella and onto the towpath with a rope easily to hand. When on the towpath, the tillerworker then works the centreline, grasping more and more of it into a coil and walking toward the centre of the boat while at the same time, pulling Bella close to the canal edge. Eventually, Bella is cleanly alongshide with no gap at bow or stern and the boat handler is standing at Bella's centre point in control of the boat with only one rope in use (as compared to full mooring with the centre line coiled on the roof and the bow and stern lines tied to the canal edge). AND - when there were 
things on the roof when there was only one line, all that had to happen whilst also watching that nothing came toppling off if caught by the line! Easily solution. Two centre lines.So, the garden is moved.The other pic is the arh harh boater called Pete. Note the pony tail curled under the back of the hat and the earring on the left ear. We suspect that the piratical gene was always there, but dormant. It developed a bit during his years as Executive Officer in the Royal Navy, but uniforms kept this slightly in control. There was much piratical behaviour then, but outward bodily manifestation had yet to show. Almost two years on the water, in command of his own craft, have meant that the piratical gene has been able to flourish. Watch this space for sign of any bandanas...Anyway, this Friday, we moored up just north of Bronney by 7pm.
OK, you have to pay attention. Our dear James lost the will to live in the description. We had a coffee time in Braunston, mooring up there around 10:30, leaving around 12:30 and after passing so many moored boats and travellers, moored up back at Blue Haven just after 3pm. That's the headline. The detail is:- We bought our boat from Oxfordshire Narrowboats
- When we got to Blue Haven nearly two years ago, we met Dom who runs Rugby Boat Sales.
- We introduced Dom to lovely David Dare from Oxfordshire Narrowboats who wanted to sell others of his fleet to people like us.
- Dom duly took on Chalford, a boat very like Bella and took photos of Bella to show what could be done with a boat like Chalford.
- Dom subsequently sold Chalford to a "Woman Vicar" who wanted the boat just as it was to use for parish retreats.
- Skip forward 12 months or so and Elizabeth is sitting in Aylesford Priory in Kent, happily greeting one of the URC ministers in their first few years in post, for whom Elizabeth is to some degree responisible in her work for the URC.
- Said minister excitingly reports that she bought a narrowboat. Elizabeth enquires where it is kept and Jenny replied, with Elizabeth recalling that she knew the marina, having stopped there for fuel on the Paddington Arm.
- When Elizabeth listened a little more, she asked - did the boat come from Oxfordshire Narrowboats? Yes. Was it purchased from Rugby Boat Sales? Yes. Was it the Chalford???? YES - so it was your boat we saw pictures of? Yes!
- So the "Woman Vicar" is none other that Jenny, a URC minister.
And so, of course, the two boats, let alone the two ministers, had to meet on the water. And so we did - Jenny and Clive on Charis (Oxfordshire Narrowboat Chalford) and the two of us on Bella (Oxfordshire Narrowboat Heyford). Jenny and Clive had gone west on the Paddington Arm, south on the Grand Union Canal, west on the Thames and then north from Oxford. They were on their way east back to the Grand to then complete the circle south and looked, despite the rain, to be having a thouroughly grand time. And just to complete the connections, Jenny and Clive have narrowboat friends who moor up in Blue Haven Marina.....
