Stoke Bruerne

We are now back in the pound below the Navigation Inn at Stoke Bruerne. We expect to stay here only a couple of days, although we are allowed up to seven in this spot. Leaving Cosgrove this morning the sun was doing its best to shine through some light cloud, but the forecast heatwave is yet to arrive. After ascending the lock at Cosgrove, we had a pleasant six mile cruise through the countryside, picking out some nice rural mooring spots for future reference. During the last mile before the Stoke Bruerne flight, we caught up with a CRT ( Canal and River Trust ) dredger which was weaving along. Square shaped with a large digger bucket on the front, they don't look the easiest things to steer in a straight line. Fortunately we needed a tank full of water so we stopped at the base of the lock flight to fill up. The CRT crew asked if we were going up, to which we replied "yes, in about 40 minutes". They didn't want to wait. We had lunch whilst waiting, then it was on up five of the seven locks. Tonight a visit to the Spice of Bruerne is on the cards for a takeaway curry. Tomorrow the weather is reported to be glorious, so a day of gongoozerling, ( boat watching ) whilst sitting outside one of the pubs will probably be the order of the day.

So far on our travels this year we have seen numerous ducklings and today we saw our first batch of goslings, just the cygnets to go.

       

                                                Our first batch of goslings this year.

Totals 6 Miles 6 Locks

Running total 81 Miles 52 Locks 3 Tunnels