June! Roll on summer.

Inexperienced Sailors!


Braunston Pumphouse

Poppy's Craft/Tea Shop


It was a lovely quiet mooring at Bridge 6 so we had a peaceful night. The sun shone early on, promising a good day. Captain finally managed to publish my blog of yesterday; many attempts were made last night on our return to the boat but the signal was just too weak, it seems. Of course the rain was terrible too. While still at the mooring this morning we saw ‘Dragonfly’ (Elton Moss) go past, followed by ‘Jenny Wren’, also EM. We had seen ’Bittern’ moored at the Wharf on Wednesday- these EM boats get around….
We didn’t set off until 1150 as we were in no rush and as we entered Braunston Tunnel we noticed another boat coming our way quite a bit further back. We slowed down and waited to see if they were going through the locks too and discovered that that was their plan. There were six men on board so that was quite good for us! We worked four locks together, then they stopped for a pub visit.
The towpath between these locks was terrible: a real quagmire in parts, with walking boots sinking deeply into squelchy mud, as there was no way to get away from it. The delights of the June weather. (I thought I wouldn’t mention it again, but it’s inevitable, I’m afraid. Have never mentioned the British weather so much in all my life.)
We finished the fifth lock at 1330 and moored before the bottom lock. We walked up into Braunston and got the newspaper, then crossed the road to Poppy’s Craft Shop/Tea Shop. We have never managed to get in there before- shop closed or we were too late in the day. So at last we made it and it was good! Lovely crafty things in the shop, nice knitted wraps, lots of toys, baby goods etc. Took a photo of just one section of it. We enjoyed a great ham & cheese toastie and nice coffee. It’s only a small place but well worth a visit if you can get in.
We got back to TQ at 3 o’clock and set off through the last lock - couldn't resist a photo of the Braunston pumphouse! Have I mentioned the weather? It just went (about every 10 minutes all day) from being very nice and hot, even, to being grey/cold/raining/very cold/hot. Unbelievable. Had to keep putting jackets on/off, pulling hoods up/putting umbrellas up/stripping off again.
About an hour and a half before arriving at the marina, the wind picked up into almost hurricane mode. The photos of the 'pirates' don't show the mess they made of their turn which forced us to stop and pushed us on to the banking! However, despite the strong winds, the captain did a brilliant job of getting TQ carefully and smoothly into her mooring place at the marina.
Later we drove to the ‘Bridge’ at Napton and enjoyed a really good meal; can recommend the Lamb for the main course. Now back on board and will be starting to sort things out tomorrow for leaving on Sunday, when we are going to our daughter’s for a few days, so looking forward to seeing our darling granddaughters!