Work, Save, Travel, Repeat...

Saturday 4th November There has been heavy rain overnight but it stopped as predicted just before 11.00am. As Hannah, Sam and Joey were with us we waited until mid morning before walking a circular route to Bottom Lock through the Pocket Park into the village and then back along the towpath. We saw that a boat was entering the 1st lock so planned to go down when they  came to us just one lock later-however half an hour passed before that happened! It was their 1st ever lock!!! The madness didn't end there either. A single handed boater emptied the full bottom lock even as we approached and I asked if we could come down? Apparently he was tied up in the tail of the lock so he carried on. This wasn't the slick demonstration we had intended for Sam. Once we were underway we had a very pleasant cruise along the Oxford canal before stopping for lunch on board. Joey wasn't fazed by the engine noise and enjoyed standing on the rear counter looking for other dogs. Aft...

Thursday 2nd Nov 2017 No time to blog yesterday, yet we had minimal cruising! We went for a morning stroll around the Welton Trail. A village with a pub, a church and a school but no shop. A local man directed us to search for a poignant gravestone for a child from 1806. How wretched that poor boy must have felt. After lunch we motored for an hour or so from our mooring spot to the junction  and back to almost the exact same place.

Friday 3rd Nov 2017 A beautiful autumn day today. We don't have much cruising to do so we went for a walk around the canal feeding reservoir in Daventry Country Park and back to the boat for lunch. Just the tunnel and 4 locks this afternoon  before mooring just below The Admiral  Nelson. Hannah and Sam are joining us tonight for the weekend. A lovely circular walk around the village for supplies  this afternoon. Probably our last visit to Braunston for a while.

Wednesday 1st Nov 2017 A longer break than we had originally planned We travelled to the boat when Col finished work yesterday so we had a full days cruising. The weather was perfect 12°C, light winds and milky sunshine. We are good progress to Braunston in time for lunch and a visit to the butchers for supplies. Braunston Bangers for tea. On our way up the locks we picked up some debris around the prop, not a nice job to remove that. Moored in our favoured spot on the far side of the tunnel.