Onto the Grand Union Canal

We arrived in Rugby cruising in some decent weather, only a short cruise which included the 250yd Newbold Tunnel and took up what were nearly the last two moorings available on rings. Rugby is even more popular than it use to be when there was just a Tesco (supermarket chain) and two retail parks nearby, now there's a new large retail park even closer and with 14 day moorings the boats don't turn over very quickly. It has been quite a few days since we were near a large shopping complex so Rachael was ready to go in a flash!

We had a pleasant few days at Rugby and with the bank account a little more depleted but the cupboards full we headed for Braunston, my favourite shopping venue with two large chandler's. Heading out of Rugby, the birthplace of Rugby, the artwork is always a welcome change to the usual concrete and brick.

It's a four hour cruise to Braunston including three locks at Hillmorton. I'm sure Hillmorton is not a particularly important place to most people but the three locks here are the busiest on the canal system and generally quick to negotiate because they're duplicated, three pairs, so you generally catch one in each pair set your way. That's the last of narrow canals we will see for a few months now as we continue south towards London we will continue on broad canals from here on. No problems picking up a mooring in Braunston and first stop was Midland Chandlers where I had already negotiated a cheaper price on a new macerator toilet, by the time we had left with some extra bits and pieces it was near £650.

Our Braunston mooring, the tell tale double bridges in the background

It took Kevin (from NB Dunslavin) and I a full day to complete the installation of the new toilet, finishing about 9pm, the finished job included a major cleanup of the existing wiring. Kevin doing the bulk of the work while lifted heavy things!

It was another two day stay in Braunston before heading off up the Braunston Locks. Broad locks means we can move together in and out of the locks although not in the case of the picture below, it gets a little tight under hump bridges.

Getting out of Braunston means completing six locks and the 2040yd two-way Braunston Tunnel, all in quick succession. We stopped at Norton Junction Services for water and the bins where our old unreliable toilet was disposed of. One more lock, the first in the Buckby Flight calling it a day. There was time to give the gunwale another coat of paint before calling it a day. Got the paint on and had enough drying time before a shower of rain, we are still dodging the rain although the weather has improved. We spent the evening at the New Inn where we stayed until the 9:30pm closing, haven't done that in a long while!

An overnight stay before heading off not too early to finish off the other six locks of the Buckby Flight. Water saving provisions are in place on these locks so they were unlocked around 9:15am, we were the third pair of boats to go down, so a good 40 minute wait. We were heading for another small town called Weedon Bec and along the way the poppies are in bloom.

The lock queue, next to go!

Busy on the flight

At Weedon Bec several old work boats passed our mooring heading for Braunston. This weekend is the Historic Boat Rally, an annual event. This pic shows a boat and butty (non powered boat) passing, total length exceeding 140ft.

Just an overnight stop at Weedon Bec,  where there was a small Tesco, several take-away shops and a nice pub The Narrowboat where we stopped for a pint. I should also mention that it was the noisiest mooring we've had for awhile with high speed trains flying past every 10 to 15 minutes all day and all night, I still managed to sleep well.

Only one night on our noisy mooring before heading for Stoke Bruene. A couple of days planned at this mooring so I can paint the other gunnel with an added degree of difficulty. Along the way, a broad beam doing a pub crawl for it's patrons.

Passing through Blisworth, the old warehouses in the background.

Heading into the 3076yd Blisworth Tunnel, I remembered to don my raincoat, it was very wet in there.

We arrived at the top lock in Stoke Breune just after 3pm, these locks were due to be locked at 3pm for water saving reasons but we managed to go down the first two locks and moor in the long pound thanks to a friendly lock keeper.
 
We continue to dodge the rain but as I said above the weather has improved and there is a promise of plenty of warm days ahead.