An Internet Disaster As We Make Our Way to Braunston (Sideways)

Disaster! The wifi dongle crashed and we have been off the air for over three days. Rachael has the shakes from withdrawal and was prepared to pay anything to get back on line so I wasn't taking her anywhere near the phone shops. We arrived in Braunston yesterday afternoon and today we took the bus into Rugby to sort the issue out which, in the end, meant a new dongle.

So what have we doing while off the air? Well, from Wolverton we headed off to Cosgrove, another little village along the Grand Union Canal. The trip was uneventful until a few hundred metres before mooring we crossed over the River Great Ouse via the Iron Trunk Aquaduct completed in 1811, nice view.

If you wander around a bit, which I did, indications are that Cosgrove was an important port in it's heyday. This shot shows the narrow gauge rails on the wharf above Lock 21.

The mooring was great for doing some work on the boat so I got stuck into the sanding the starboard gunnel down to the straking strip. Now I just have to wait for a mooring with the tow path on the port side to complete the sanding process. We headed off after two nights, beautiful misty morning.

Passed the junction to the Buckingham Branch Canal just above Lock 21, the sign tells me it is currently under restoration.

A beautiful cruising day, lunch time Rachael picked this spot to call 'lunch'. We moored, set up the chairs and stayed for an hour or so.

While doing the last five locks for the day and being helped through by a couple of CRT Volunteers they advised us to grab the first mooring we could find. Turns out it was the 'Village at War' weekend in Stoke Bruerne, we planned to stay a few days, it was Thursday and we would stay at least 'til Saturday and take in some of the weekend. It was easy to fill in Friday, a tour of the canal museum, walk along the tow path, followed after lunch by more sanding inside and out, the engine room and the kitchen both need a little work. While wandering Rachael and I came across Geoff and Julie on their boat Willow Too, we were attracted by their flag, the RAF Blue Ensign. We chatted for nearly an hour before having to make our way back to the boat.

Saturday was most enjoyable, Stoke Bruerne was transformed. As we walked up to the village we were met with a line of WWII vehicles, camouflage nets and many people wandering around in old military uniforms or 1940's clothing. The formal opening speech was made by Sir Winston Churchill.

The Trip Boat 'Charlie'

A shot of the old single lock with metal gates beside the currently operating double lock.

After thoroughly enjoying our morning of festivities we decided we would take off for Weedon Bec at 1 o'clock. Up we went through the two locks in the village after battling to move people off the lock arms, through the many pre-booked moored boats and into the Blisworth Tunnel, 3076 yds.

Weedon Bec was a late arrival and an early departure the next morning as we made our way to Braunston. At the first lock for the day we met a couple on a hire boat waiting to go up and shared the lock with them. A lady with a bung shoulder operated the boat so after her several failed attempts to throw her centre rope up to her husband being first into the lock, I took over as first boat in from there on. No problems until she lost concentration in the pound before the second last lock of seven. I needed to pass her to get into the lock, she turned the tiller the wrong way, hit Serafina mid-ship, panicked and accelerated. I was moving down the canal almost side-ways doing all I could to slip back away from her boat. She eventually collected herself turning the tiller the right way and stopping. Sorry I haven't got any photos I was a little busy at the time! One more lock and they pulled over for the day, we continued on.

It was a thirteen lock day, the final leg of the day's trip was another two-way tunnel, the Braunston Tunnel, 2042 yards followed by another six locks.

We moored positioning ourselves across from The Boat House Pub and between the two chandlers. More equipment required for more work on the boat.