Onto Braunston and a natterfest

12th & 13th April

Yesterday we made an early start on another bright and breezy morning. We went round onto the water point first, and filled up the tank more or less. The supply there is quite slow, and we'll have a chance to top up when we leave Braunston, so it wasn't worth filling it absolutely to the top.

Sheila steered as we worked up the three Hillmorton locks in fine style, going in just after half eight, and getting to the top before nine, having passed boats in each of the intermediate pounds. Truly the holiday season has started.

By eleven we were at Braunston, which was buzzing. Sheila had decided to try and get a mooring between the Turn and the locks if possible – if not, she would wind Sanity in the second marina entrance, under the ladder bridge, and we'd go and moor on the puddle banks, winding again before resuming our journey on Monday.

I hopped off under Bridge 90, the first road bridge, and found a boat, Odyssey, moored just beyond the Turn, where Ivor Bachelor used to tie Mountbatten and Jellicoe. Her steerer had just started the engine, and when I asked if he was going, said he would be as soon as his missus came back from shopping in about ten minutes.

I signalled to Sheila to pull in behind, and we waited – Odyssey's mate showed up promptly, and there we were with a quiet mooring which, amazingly for Braunston, has a useable phone signal, and a fast data signal.

Immediately in front of us were the hotel pair Lady Selena and Lady Margaret of Ladyline Cruising. They were getting ready for their first trip of the season. The boats look very nice, and, unlike some hotel boat operators, they are very friendly and chatty.

After lunch we took a walk to the shop at the bottom lock, where they sell second hand books as well as a whole range of other stuff. The second hand books are in aid of Macmillan Cancer Charity, so well worth supporting. I bought a Peter Dickinson I hadn't read, and Sheila found an Alan Titchmarsh – not great literature, but good for a laugh. I also bought a new copy of a book about the old working boaters, Voices from the Waterways by Jean Stone.

On the way back, we stopped to chat to Jo and John on Acen, last met at Crick Show last year, and good friends of Graham and Carolann Richardson of Autumn Years with whom we have lost one or two afternoons in the past four years. Next thing we know we're inside having a cup of tea and a good long natter. We finally tore ourselves away and went back to Sanity for a quiet late afternoon and evening.

Today was a lazy start, as we won't going anywhere. We just enjoy the atmosphere of Braunston on a weekend, as well as the chance for casual meetings with old friends like Jo and John.

The only fly in the ointment was that for only the second time that I can recall, the Eberspacher failed to start at the first attempt, and had to have another go, after which it was away. It's overdue for a service, so we just hope that it will keep going long enough to get clear of the cold mornings.

After breakfast we set off to walk to the village to get a paper and some meat from the butchers, who now opens on a Sunday morning. We had a bag of rubbish to drop off in the bins by the Stop House, so went the long way round, crossing the canal by Butcher's Bridge (appropriately). We saw John winding Acen in the entrance under the ladder bridge, so stood on Butcher's and gave him marks out of 6 for his performance. They said they were heading for the sluice to pump out, so after doing our stuff in the village, we saw them again by the road bridge. Another natter ensued, then we all went our ways.

Back at the boat, we got down to some wood cutting, as I was completely without kindling. On our way down here, we'd fished a half pallet out of the cut, so that was dismantled, and we started cutting up the big scaffold plank we've been storing coal bags on over the winter.

In the middle of this, Jane and Colin came past. They live on Slow Gin, and Jane and Sheila will be working together on the finance side of things at the National Festival. Yet another natter occurred, before they went off for their Sunday walk, and we finished our wood cutting and had lunch.

This afternoon has been spent in intellectual and artistic pursuits (sounds good, doesn't it?) Sheila is designing a spreadsheet to record the split in our diesel use between propulsion and power generation/ water heating, as in November we will be paying different rates of duty for the different uses, courtesy of the EU.

I meanwhile looked through my photo stock for some shots to accompany an article we're writing for one of the magazines. Naturally, I didn't have many suitable shots, so the camera was got out to remedy the deficiency.

Meantime, I'm baking some more bread to eke out the loaf we've bought today – it will be a couple of days before we find another supply, as we head down the GU.