On to Braunston

As I mentioned yesterday there were heaps of wasps around the boat when we stopped for the day, but we were too buggered to move any further! This morning there were hundreds of the little buggers flying around ...


Elaine made up a sage smudge stick to kill repel them, whilst I quickly untied the boat!

Talking of Elaine, she felt a lot better this morning.  I asked how I went looking after her whilst she lay crook in bed last night ... not too bad was the reply apart from you forgot to feed me!  I made up for it this morning by making her breakfast in bed!

The farmer had made a very nice job of this field ... the soil looked like velvet ...

Name and shame time ... this nob moored fair and square right in the middle of the water point.  He was a proud member of the IWA  and various other water type organisations ...

....to me he was an ignorant wanker!

Weather-wise  it started off rather chilly but by midday it was quite warm ...

We then reached the top of the Napton flight.  Elaine was helping a family with his final lock (the top lock) but they were struggling to get the boat out of the lock as they kept reversing it into the gates!  I walked up to see what the problem was ... the chap said the boat would only go in reverse no matter what he did with the controls.  You have probably broken the shift cable, says I.  I had a quick look for him and sure enough it had snapped.  I  put the gearbox in forward and told the chap he could now move forward but warned him that if he put the shift lever in reverse again it would stay there, so I told him to leave it in forward and shut the motor down before he moored up.  It was not the best solution but at least he would be able to do a few miles towards his base at Croperdy.  So soon as he left the lock he put in reverse and ended up in the weir...doh!

Good deed done we went off down the Napton flight very slowly.  There are so many boats on the move, easily the most we have seen moving this year.

The Napton windmill looked very nice against a very threatening sky.

This horse and its mate just stood next to its foal ...

We just hoped the foal was having a nap ...

I really hope that it is OK - it did move its head when we clapped our hands!

Nob No 2 moored right on the 'no mooring' winding hole sign ...

Once again it was a long day ... nearly eight hours and over fourteen miles.  Just by chance we were coming into Braunston, we picked up a good mooring dead opposite the Boat ...

Just perfect, off to the Boat we went for a couple of beers and dinner.

The epic trip continues tomorrow!!