Down by the River: Abingdon on Thames

With the longer days of summer ahead of us and the warm weather we decided to take advantage of the free parking near the Abbey grounds in Abingdon and go on a circular walk of the area. I've done this circular before first while geocaching although we think that the trail has now long gone and secondly with my new found mummy friends.

On our walk we passed the playground that was full of children enjoying the most of the facilities on offer and headed towards the lock. Had my eldest been awake I have a feeling that we’d have made slower progress around the area for she loves the swings and slide. 

As we got closer to the lock and weir we encountered some ducks. There were two mother ducks, two daddy ducks and several ducklings. The ratio of ducks to ducklings seemed unfair and we wondered what may have happened to one ducks offspring! We witnessed the mother duck with several ducklings have a go at the other mother duck and her baby! I'm sure the ducklings were hungry but alas we had no bread or bird seed with which to feed them so were all soon on our way again.

The walk we took is popular with dog walkers and it’s possible to see the odd squirrel scurrying through the trees. There’s even a bees nest visible from the weir on the end of one of the buildings to be aware of currently. 

I was surprised that our double buggy fitted onto the bridge heading over the weir and the bridge over the canal too and thought at first we may have had to turn back but fortunately it was no problem. Crossing the weir we could hear the sound of the water rushing to escape and it led my eldest to wake up from her slumber. I thought she may wake with a fright but perhaps seeing Mr Tumble on television earlier that day talking about canal boats and the waterways softened things for her. As soon as she’d woken up she was soon keen to get up on her feet and explore.  This she did under the supervision of her dad while I tended to our youngest. Our girls have yet to be taught how to swim so you have to have eyes in the back of your head near the river as it’s not enclosed.

As we headed towards the bridge leading into Abingdon we spied a field of buttercups. I'm not sure what led our French family to speak in Spanish but they called them botón de oro (golden buttons) which is a lovely way to think of buttercups don’t you think? 

Exiting the field was a tad challenging with the double buggy but we managed it and finished the circular walk by passing the old jail, police station and a pub buzzing with activity as people revelled in the sun and celebrated the end of another working week. Finally making it back to the car park where our car awaited us to take us back home.

Where have you and your family ventured to recently?