When we left Banbury on Tuesday (10/08/2021) we were making our way back along the Oxford Canal to Heyford Wharf, the home of The Duke, and then home to Watchet. We were going to Lizzie‘s wedding on Saturday (14/08/2021) so it seemed appropriate that we were moored opposite a narrowboat called Lizzie.
It was a shame that this lock cottage had been burned out beside Grant’s Lock..
Some other old houses had been splendidly maintained.
Kings Sutton lock had made use of the old railway station sign for Kings Sutton.
But the lock seemed to have two names. Perhaps it was renamed when the old station sign became available.
We managed to book overnight mooring at The Pig Place but it was not available until 17:00 hrs. so we moored for lunch in the middle of nowhere.
According to their publicity: If you owned a narrowboat, could there be any more crack(l)ing pastime than pulling up to a farm shop on the historic Oxford Canal to pig out on all things pork? Don’t own a narrowboat just yet? Go the whole hog regardless at The Pig Place near Banbury: the range of pig-based products – and pigs – here might make you squeal.
The Pig Place is a working smallholding and campsite next to the Oxford Canal, complete with farm shop stuffed with prime pig products such as traditional sausages, dry-cured bacon and home-produced pork, all from the farm’s rare pedigree breeds of British Lop and Oxford Sandy and Black pigs.
Buy some along with a clutch of free-range eggs for breakfast, or trot along to the catering trailer for a breakfast or/and lunch of bacon and eggs, sausages, roast pork, stuffing and apple sauce, guaranteed to leave you more pot-bellied than when you arrive. The site received a premises licence in 2017 too, so can now sell alcohol for supping on or off site.
A holiday boat beat us to our mooring, but we managed to move them along and squeeze in. They were only stopping for a quick drink, but ended up stopping for the night (£15 with electrical hookup).
There were music festival style toilets but no showers. They suggested that you bought their super organic wet wipes in their shop for £5 for a “Pommie shower” (an Australian expression. The Aussie’s have two showers a day and say that Pom’s make do with two squirts of deodorant, a Pommie shower!). Water was limited as there was no mains supply and the site was supplied from a tank.
As well as narrowboats there were a few camper vans in and a group celebrating a 60th birthday.
The Trough provided breakfast and meals based on products from the pigs, sheep and poultry. Sofas were scattered everywhere with fire pits in front of each. Firewood, kindling and matches were available from the farm shop.
Most of the site was outdoors but there was an indoor lounge for inclement weather.
We chatted to other happy campers who came over to say hello to Vera. Next morning (Wednesday 11/08/2021) we had five locks to get through, including Somerton Deep Lock Number 34, which dropped us down 12 feet.
It was also very exposed to the wind here and on our previous visit in February a gust of wind nearly blew Steve over and made handling the boat difficult.
The landscape was rural with lots of cattle in the fields.
There was some clever carving on this tree converted to a bench, although may be a bit “Blair Witch Project”.
Vera donned her life jacket for a walk along the tow path between locks with Steve while Hilary steered the boat.
As we neared Lower Heyford we passed this tithe barn which was probably built circa 1400 for New College Oxford.
We moored up at Heyford Wharf, having to go bow into the bank because the water was so shallow here, which meant that we would have to get on and off the boat from the bow instead of the stern, which is much easier. We set off to the Bell Inn for lunch.
Sadly The Bell gave the chef the day off every Wednesday so the kitchen was closed and we had to make do with crisps. Steve was impressed by the cider menu and returned with Vera in the evening to sample some unusual ones.
He returned to the boat with an Old Crow. This was cider from the award-winning Welsh cider producers Gwynt Y Ddraig. The company name translates as Dragon’s Breath and they promised “This outrageous cider will blow your tastebuds to bits. Don't be fooled by its pale gold colour, this is one mighty mouthful. Trust us, you'll love it!” https://gwyntcidershop.com/
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