Sunshine again

 Monday morning dawned a bit overcast and cool and we made our way through Gayton Junction and on to Blisworth Tunnel, the third longest on the system. As many of our readers know Jenny is not fond of tunnels so once Sid had donned his life jacket and all the lights were on in the cabin she disappeared below for the 30  minute journey through the supposedly haunted darkness. As we emerged from the black hole the sun had appeared and the world looked a good deal brighter. Another short day for us as we tied up 8n Stoke Bruene for lunch and stayed there. We intended to visit the museum but got waylaid by The Navigation pub, which lured us in for our very first proper drop of ale for 20 months. Nectar!

Here he comes!

Cheers!

On our way back  to Hunters Moon we came across a group of local primary school children who were listening to  talk by the HorseBoating Society. We sat and listened to this fascinating lady telling stories about her life with horse drawn narrowboats accompaniedby two beautifully behaved heavy horses. She had some great tales to tell and the children, on the whole, were spell bound.

Sid's friend

Tuesday was forecast to be wet and it was. Heavy rain fell most of the morning and as any boaters know it is best to stay put in those conditions and read a good book! The rain cleared after lunch but left a very damp misty afternoon.

We were a tad short of milk and had some cards to post so Jenny thought she would like a walk. So she looked at the map and decided to walk back OVER the tunnel to Blisworth. It turned out not to be quite  the nice walk she had hoped, having started through the woods it very soon moved on to a fairly busy road, most likely a bit of a rat run, and found herself jumping on and off the road to avoid fast cars and farm vehicles. Eventually, with much relief she found the path back onto the towpath at the other end of the tunnel and continued the short walk to the  village store. Post done and milk purchased Jenny  just had the treacherous walk back  to Stoke Bruene to encounter and with it now being school coming out time the road was even busier. Anyway some 5 and a half miles and 2 hours after leaving Hunters Moon Jenny returned to to the sound of the kettle whistling for a much  needed cuppa. Good old Sid knew what would easy her aching feet and lift her spirits.

Interesting sculpture on the woodland walk

One of the above ground airshafts of the Blisworth Tunnel 

 

Mouth of the tunnel

Blisworth Mill

Phew! Now for the return walk.

Decsending Stoke Locks

The 7 Stoke locks were ahead of us on Tuesday morning and after a slow Top Lock we made speedy progress down with Alex and Emily on nb Gladvictor. The sun came out and by the time we moored at a very busy Cosgrove it was very warm. Gin and Tonic in the sunshine completed a very good day.