Surprise visit…

Just as I was dishing up our evening meal last night the phone rang.  It was Joe and Lesley from nb Caxton –they were moored around the corner on the Northampton Arm and had come to see if we were in - they were at the Marina gate.  We knew they were in the area, but thought we had missed them.  They came bearing wine, so we had to let them in!!

We had a good old natter and catch up as it’s a while since we last met and had a look around Windsong.

While I was walking Cassie this morning, I met them again purely by chance, along with Jill and Graham on nb Matilda Rose. Lesley and Jill were on the towpath walking their dogs. I was on the way back, but turned around and accompanied them back a little way and we all had another good old natter.

Great to see you all, have a good winter and we’ll try and catch up with you next year.

An extra wedding in the family…

Seems like Russ and Nat’s wedding on 5th November isn’t the only one in the family this year.  Granddaughter Flo’s reception class at school are learning about weddings in Religious Studies, and they had a ‘pretend wedding’ this morning in the church, complete with vicar, bridesmaids, ushers, guests – the lot!!  Flo was the bride (might have known!!) 

The rings

The Bride and Groom

Great fun was had by all, and vast quantities of sausage rolls were consumed at the ‘reception’ afterwards

The Bride’s mother cried, and so did the Bride when she realized everyone was looking at her!

NB – I have deleted the original post with the un-cropped and un-blurred photos because Emma reminded me that I hadn’t got the permission of the other parents to publish photos of their children.  Sad world, isn’t it!

Objective achieved…

Yesterday morning we made the short hop from Stoke Bruerne to Blisworth Marina – through the Blisworth Tunnel and on to Gayton Junction where the marina is situated, arriving about midday.

Blisworth Marina

Gayton Junction looking down the Northampton Arm of the GU – just the other side of the bridge from the marina entrance

As marinas go, it’s one of the nicest we’ve been in – most of the boats are on leisure moorings and not lived on much of the time so it’s quite quiet.  There is a railway line and a main road close by, but don’t they bother us much.  Everyone we have spoken to is very friendly, and we are moored over on the far side, with a large bit of rough grass between us and the canal, good for Cassie.  I can’t say that the thought of living in a marina for the next few months fills me with enthusiasm, but we really need to get Rog’s toe sorted out and we need to be able to get to and from St Mary’s in Paddington easily by car, whatever the weather.  He also needs to rest his foot a lot to allow it to heal.

Mum lives only a 20 minute car journey away, so if and when we get a bit stir-crazy, we can de-camp to hers for a little while.

Russ is picking Rog up tomorrow and taking him back to Willowtree to collect the car, so at least we will be mobile.  We think we might try and have a day out somewhere we’ve never been once a week to keep the boredom at bay.

I will do the odd blog now and again when there is anything to blog about, but they won’t be very frequentso TTFN to all our readers!!

Strange night-time goings-on at Stoke Bruerne!…

We went for a curry last night at the Spice of Bruerne restaurant, and very good it was too.

Spice of Bruerne, right beside the top lock

As we let Cassie out for a last wee before bedtime last night we could see torches and hear voices and the rattling of a plastic tarpaulin in the nature reserve just over the other side of the fence from the towpath.  Very suspicious – it was pouring with rain and not the sort of night that nature lovers would camp out to watch the wildlife, also they were far too close to the path to have seen anything much anyway.  After watching for a while we shrugged and went to bed, although Rog said that sometime later her heard what sounded like a shot, or a firework going off.  This morning there was a blue plastic tarpaulin rolled up and tied into a neat bundle just by the gate into the reserve, but no sign of the owners.  Our guess is a vagrant or two, but why leave their tarpaulin behind?  It remains a mystery – we’ll see if it happens again tonight.

This morning, to escape the inevitable result of Rog eating curry last night that was permeating the boat, I took Cassie for along walk along the horse-path over Blisworth Tunnel.

Stoke Bruerne wharf

The entrance to Blisworth Tunnel from the horse-path

The bank giving way just short of the tunnel entrance

Stoke Bruerne again…

We were last here on August 9th 2009, and that was for the second time last year.

We spent yesterday on our mooring in the middle of nowhere, and set off for Stoke Bruerne this morning.  It was another lovely morning, with the wind easing a little.  Got here about 12.30, having ascended the first 5 locks alone, but meeting 2 boats going down at each lock, so at least they were ready for us.  We  decided that it was cider o’clock, so we went to ‘The Boat’, and had lunch.

We will stay here tomorrow and then head for Blisworth Marina on Monday morning, and that will be the end of our travels for 2010 – apart from maybe the odd few days out during the winter.

The middle of nowhere

We left our mooring at Cosgrove this morning, planning to moor just half an hour along at ‘The Navigation’.

Pretty Cosgrove Bridge

However, we had to bypass that as the building of the new Thrupp Marina has meant that several mooring spots on the opposite bank have been sacrificed as they are directly opposite the entrance, which left only space for about 4 boats, all of which were taken.  But, hey-ho, not to worry, it was a nice morning so we decided to press on a bit and look for a spot in the countryside.  We soon came across a nice stretch of Armco, just big enough for one boat – so we nabbed it.  Not a moment too soon, as what had been a lovely sunny morning 15 minutes before became a howling, gale and threatening sky.  We had timed it just right for a change, and got inside before the heavens opened!

Just about to chuck it down!

The sun came out again before long so Cassie and I went for a walk.  There are a great many berries on the trees and in the hedgerows again this autumn – does that mean another hard winter, do you think, or is it just another old wives tale.

Hawthorne (I think) and rosehips in abundance

Our mooring in the middle of nowhere – lovely and quiet!

Later on in the afternoon we spotted this bird patrolling the towpath beside the boat several times. After looking in our ‘What’s This?’ book we think it was an immature pheasant but whether it was a male or a female, we couldn’t tell -  we also think that it might have lost it’s Mum.  If anyone knows different, please let us know.

Cosgrove

Yesterday morning we set out for Cosgrove.  It was raining and we considered staying where we were in Fenny Stratford, but we were half on the 24hr moorings and half on the 14 day moorings.  The mooring warden had been along earlier, as Rog was letting Cassie out for her morning wee, and made it clear that he expected us to be moving along!  So move along we did – but we were very tempted to tell him to move get the BW work boat moved off the 24hour moorings and we’d think about it!  They could do with him down on the K & A!!
An uneventful mornings cruising saw us at Cosgrove about 2 o’clock.  Cassie and I went for a walk and re-discovered the river walk beside the Great Ouse, down past Cosgrove Aqueduct – not so ‘Great’ here, more or a meandering stream.
 

The Great Ouse from Cosgrove Aqueduct

 

Cassie decided to go walkabout this morning, down a very steep bank to a stagnant pool below – 20 minutes later we managed to get her back – covered in muck and slime!  I think we might move on a bit tomorrow, as I’ve only just managed to stop her sneaking back for another go twice today.  There is a nice pub about half an hour up the canal, the Navigation, by Bridge 64.  We visited there many moons ago in our old boat ‘Teasel’ – maybe it’s time to try it again. (Has anyone counted how many canal side pubs called ‘The Navigation’ there are – it would be interesting to know!).