On to Stoke Bruerne

There was Jan quietly standing at the open side hatch feeding bread to her fowl friends when a passing boater mentioned he hadn’t had breakfast and was hungry. Jan politely asked if he would also like a stale crust?  The offer was refused!

Yesterday evening I went for a local walk passing by The Wharf where a few patrons were enjoying the warm early evening weather in the beer garden. 

I was slightly surprised to see “Pockets” moored opposite the garden.  We last saw her out of the water near Hillmorton Wharf and before that, at Newbold.

It was a slightly late departure for us today (10am).  The plan was to reach Stoke Bruerne for the weekend.  Tomorrow’s forecast is rain and we would prefer to not be cruising in it.  Both of us were looking at the CRT services mooring at Gayton Junction and almost missed nb Jubilee moored opposite.

We had nearly passed by before Jan (from Jubilee) appeared at the stern.  She called out but with my hearing I couldn’t decipher the context.  No sign of Halfie so I guess he was hiding from the antipodeans inside the cabin.   I did read the complaint about the cold beer at Stoke Bruerne in his latest blog post.   That’s good news……I hate warm, flat beer!

The imposing former Blisworth Mill is located just before the tunnel. The mill was constructed in 1879 replacing an earlier mill severely damaged by fire.  The mill was sold in 1920 to the Northampton Co-op but this venture subsequently failed and the mill was then purchased by the Grand Union Canal Company for use as a warehouse.  During WW2 it was used to store hundreds of tonnes of tinned food.  In 2000 the building was converted into residential accommodation.

 

Blisworth Tunnel is 2812 metres long and very wet inside.

We met three oncoming boats inside.  The first was going very fast and the third was almost stationary.  Both of us noticed the new mooring rings being installed at the southern end

After a late lunch I masked up the rain damaged paintwork on the portside at the stern.  This is the section of new paint that was still wet when it rained last autumn.  I then rubbed it down and started to repaint the area.  Halfway through Jan popped her head out the back hatch to inform me she thought it might rain! <grrrrrrr>  Hopefully it will hold off until a skin forms on the wet paint.

PS…. Just been and checked the paint.  I think I’m going to get away with it!