A weekend at Stoke Bruerne Part II

Saturday 11th July

First thing this morning we decided find out if there were any geo-caches in the area as we haven’t done any for ages, also we wanted to launch our own Travel Bug to travel the waterways. Sorry the photo is a bit blurred, but I’m not a very good photographer when it comes to close –ups.

Sure enough there were two caches in the area, only one was a micro cache so no good for putting stuff in, so we set off along the old horse path to find the other. This is a lovely path, signposted Woodland Walk from the towpath right where we were moored.

Along the way there are some copper wire sculptures – a horse and cart, a fox, and a couple of deer.

We soon found the cache, after a scramble up a steep bank. It was bad enough going up, but going down was worse – I got the giggles and ended up having to go down on my bum!

We found a Help for Heroes geo-coin and decided to move it on

We returned to the boat just in time to see the boat in front Rock ‘n Roll (fellow bloggers, although we didn’t know it at the time) being refuelled by the diesel boat ‘nb Towcester. Always willing to use the people who trade along the canals, we decided to fill up as well.

And what a cheerful lot they were too – it was well worth it for the banter and cheek they gave us! Jokes about shiny boats and scratches were at the forefront, and when they found out that we were retired and CCing they gave us no end of stick! Just jealous, they admitted in the end!

After they had left, we carried on to find the other cache – it took some finding as it was so tiny, but find it we did, in the end.

Back to the boat for lunch and then a trip to the museum – not a lot different from when we were last there, but good to look around all the same. While we were there we spotted that there was a wedding reception going on at ‘The Boat’ over the other side of the canal, and were in an ideal place to take a photo, being upstairs in the museum.

The guests were also treated to rides on the trip boat, nb Indian Chief, which is resident outside ‘The Boat’, and seemed to be having a great time. We were photographed so many times during the weekend that Rog decided to get his own back later on when the other, smaller trip ‘Charlie’ boat came past.

We had our two meals for a tenner in ‘The Navigation, and were distinctly under-whelmed! I know you get what you pay for, but we’ve had better. Rog said his liver and onions were ‘ok’, but the mash tasted like instant, and my Sweet and Sticky Chicken tasted like something ‘Boil in the Bag’ – very light on the chicken and heavy on the sweet potato. We were tempted to cancel our booking for Sunday lunch, but in the end we thought we’d give them another chance.

Sunday 12th July

We had a very lazy start this morning, not breakfasting until nearly 10 o’clock, then took Cassie for another walk along the old horse path. We went for our Sunday lunch, and it was much better than the evening before, although, again, we’ve had better. We will give The Navigation a miss next time we come through, and try The Boat instead.

Rog did a bit of fishing this afternoon, and then I took Cassie for yet another walk along the horse path, this time as far as I could go before it turned into a road.

I don’t think we’ll do too much stopping in popular tourist spots – I’ve got a little fed up of being in a goldfish bowl, however, I suppose you have to accept being asked lots of stupid questions when you are moored in a place like this.

Blisworth Tunnel entrance – Stoke Bruerne end

The Wharf

Pastures new tomorrow!