A walk and a rescue

Monday 3^rd June; Hillmorton to outside Braunston

We woke to early sunshine, which lasted for most of the morning.  I took Meg for a walk as far as the railway bridges, to start with in blissful peace

but then past the diggers which were already hard at work.

Who knows how quiet this stretch will be once the building is complete?  Will the towpath be ‘improved’ for people to cycle to Rugby?  It’s still lovely now, and quiet apart from the nearby railway line.

We carried on with cleaning the carpets (me), mostly of dog hair, and touching up some paintwork in the stern (Dave).  We left at 11, just as the cloud was coming over.  A problem with the edge along here is that you can be tempted to bang a pin in to a convenient gap – but then you may find it is totally immovable when you leave. This one is hard to spot, but very useful if you do!

We stopped for lunch near Dunchurch Pools, before continuing on to moor at one of our favourite spots about half a mile from Braunston Turn.  Along the way I managed my first photo of this year’s goslings.

Guess what the previous occupants of this field were.  If I had been up to date with this blog, I would have beaten Pip on Oleanna to this photo!

We don’t use the Pearson’s waterway guides much but happened to look at the local one yesterday.  There is a little nugget of info about the disused railway which ran near the canal, so we looked out for the concrete signal post mentioned in Pearson’s.  Near bridge 85, Dave spotted it.  We’ve never noticed it before.  Not a good photo I'm afraid - I had to wait for a gap in the hedge.

Once we had moored up, it was time for a long and interesting afternoon.  We started by writing our shopping list and setting off for Braunston with dog and rucksacks. Meg got menaced by a concerned parent while the other kept the babies safe near the other bank.

Then by a narrow part of the towpath with a dodgy edge was the share boat NB Stolen Time, sitting quietly a couple of feet from the bank, with no-one on board and all three ropes vertical in the water.  I managed to get the end of the extending dog lead caught under the edge of the sliding hatch so we could pull her close enough for Dave to get aboard, remove the mooring pin from the trailing centre rope, and throw the rope to me so I could pull the boat in.  He retrieved the other mooring pins, still attached to the bow and stern ropes, but couldn’t find their lump hammer.  While we were wondering how to secure it, a passing boater stopped – he could see a hard edge further along, and towed Stolen Time to it, with me on the bank clinging to the end – just – of the centre rope.

Using his hammer, between us we secured the boat and were just finishing when the owners returned with their shopping.  They just could not believe that their well-hammered-in pins had been pulled out, but then they hadn’t had a lot of experience.  The bank is very soft along here, the towpath narrow, the canal not particularly deep and there had been a deep-draughted boat and a speed merchant going by after we had moored, so we were not surprised at all.  This picture was taken as we continued on our way.  The rescuing boater is just about to leave and the relieved owners are behind him.

We crossed the road bridge to the chandlery, where we got some stove blacking and a new piling hook (one seems to have got left behind a day or two ago) before returning to the canal and walking to Braunston Marina to meet Paul from their brokerage.  He was just as nice as he sounded on the phone and told us about the process of selling through a broker, and how to prepare your boat for sale.  We may not use this info, but we’ve got it if we need it.

Then it was over Butcher’s Bridge and up to the village for some milk (too late in the day for Braunston bangers from the butcher, unfortunately), and back past the church to the footpath leading to the canal at accommodation bridge 89.  After a long chat with the grateful owner of Stolen Time, we eventually got back to the boat for yet more jobs.  Dave cleaned the bilges and blacked the stove, while I replaced the shower curtain, which was looking very tired, and cooked tea. It was a beautiful calm evening with a pink sky, though the photo doesn’t show it well.

The photo below shows Chuffed with Braunston on the hill in the distance.  Unfortunately the boat ahead of us had its pram hood up and it rather spoils the effect.

5½ miles