Wednesday 6th February 2008

Location: Braunston, Northamptonshire, Grand Union

Today: 10 miles, 11 locks. Total distance: 1110 miles.  Total locks: 712

We walked into Yelvertoft village on Tuesday morning to pick up the papers etc. There in the window of the stores was my Stihl chainsaw. Returned to the boat with the chainsaw then spent half an hour reading the instructions and putting it together. Had to phone the supplier as it came with a 15” bar and a 16” chain and I didn’t want to open the sealed chain box if it was going to have to be returned. The supplier checked the part numbers and informed me that the MS280 saw does in fact require a 16” chain with the 15” bar – strange but true. Fired the chainsaw up in the afternoon and cut up some lengths of wood that were on the roof. Well impressed – it cuts through 9” thick logs like butter – it needs a lot of respect as it could do a lot of harm in a very short space of time!!! I had expected the saw to use quite a bit of petrol as it has a 54cc engine but was pleasantly surprised at how little it used - less than 0.5l over half an hour. The consumption will probly reduce even more as the engine wears in and loosens up.

Pulled the pins this morning and headed on down to Braunston. A long day but very enjoyable as the weather has been lovely. Spied a dead tree just south of Crick tunnel so it was out with the new chainsaw and down with the tree. All in all it took about 3 minutes to have the tree down, chopped up into manageable lengths and onto the roof – well worth the investment in the new saw.

Lindsay, Tom and Amy are coming to stay with us for the weekend so we decided that the best place to meet up and pick up was Braunston as they can get their car close to the canal and there is safe parking at the marina. Looking forward to seeing them all and having them stay with us for the weekend.

Thursday 7th
Went out for a meal at The Old Plough last night – as always it was very enjoyable. Met the owners of nb Slow Gin in the pub and had a brief chat. They have just recently moved onto their boat and are enjoying it.

Sunday 10th
Moved into Braunston for watter then back to the Puddle Banks

The weather has been lovely this past few days and the traffic on the canal has increased hugely – probably about 40 boats passed yesterday and the same again today. I think the traffic is mostly folk taking their boats out of their marinas for the sunny weekend.

Iain and Alison on nb Gosty Hill passed by yesterday and we bought another 6 bags of Stoveglow coal off them – it is very good value at £6.05 for a 25kg bag. The stove has not been out once since early October.

We were planning on moving today, starting a journey north up the Oxford then up the Coventry. As we are both feeling a bit on the week side we ended up staying on where we are. We will move when we feel better or when the water runs out and we have to move.

Monday 11th

Woke up this morning and am still suffering from some kind of flu. Decided to stay on here for another day due to not feeling well.
Will have to move tomorrow as we will be just about out of water by then.

Changed the oil in the generator and defrosted the fridge today, it's about all we felt fit for.

Current mooring

Interesting boat

PVC double glazed windows - look strange!!

Land slip at entrance to Braunston tunnel - Braunston end

nb Audax - has been moored on the 14 day visitors moorings for well over a year. BW have been trying to get rid of him but it takes a long time to get through the 'process'

nb Audax

The Mill House pub and hotel

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