grand union canal onwards towards London

view of the tunnel from the front of merlot      (   Wed 8th June  )

 view of tunnel from inside the front of merlot (those lights are my solar fairy lights!!

Wed 8th                                                                                                                                            Chugging along without incident (I am still bleary eyed)  operated and went through quite a few locks, then came upon the Blisworth Tunnel which takes around 45 min to get through - Trev's huge spotlight comes in handy now, all lights switched on inside the boat for extra light and we put jumpers on as the tunnels are cold and damp but quite fun, Trev said he could think of another way to make the tunnel fun - I have no idea what he is on about ????????????
Moored up for the night in a place called Stoke Brune, between two locks just outside a pub.  We had to pop in to see if the beer was any good and when we returned we found the front rope had come off and Merlot was half away across the canal - Whoops!!!
We moved Merlot as with all the emptying and filling of locks, we were pushed back and forward quite vigorously and would be constantly in danger of slipping the moorings.   Lesson learned . . . . .

Thursday 9th
Woke up with Merlot securely moored up just as we left her, then set off without further incident.  Quite a few locks on this stretch which I welcome - jolly good exercise especially for the old bingo wings he!he!

Later that day we moored up at a place called Fenny Stratford.  The mooring was behind the next lock.  Opposite the lock was a dodgy looking pub but the mooring looked quite suitable as Trev wanted to do some window sealing and painting ( the bank needs to be level with bottom of windows)
We walked to the shops and found a grubby row of shops (no food shops).  We decided to get a bus to the nearest town which was Bletchley,  a bloody awful depressing place but it did have a Wilkinson which I wanted for a pot to put my new herb in (fennel) and some carpet cleaner.   We also found a Sainsbury's.  We did our shopping and caught the next bus out back to the boat.  Trev undertook the task of re-sealing the windows then re-painting the frames - what a good boy - all is forgiven now.

Now when it tanks down again, we wont need to put cloths inside the bedroom window seal - the joys of living on a boat . . .
I felt left out so made a lovely shiny red box with a red knob on top and a red solar light on the side . . .

Im am not sure why or what I am going to do with with but its made now !!!!!!!!!!!!
Trev went to the pub whilst I made our supper.
We stayed for the night.

Fri 10th
Spent the day at Fenny Stratford, doing bits and pieces with Merlot as the weather was good.
I joined trev for a drink at the pub and found it to be a really nice place with a good atmosphere and friendly people despite its appearance  - never judge a book and all that hey.

Sat 11th - Sun 12th
Stayed put planning to set of Monday morning.

Monday 13th
Set off, went through a few locks.  Country side very pretty.  Passed through Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes without stopping as both places looked less than inviting and we had all the supplies we needed (in truth we have so much in the way of supplies,   we could get stranded for a few months and would not starve)
Trev will never go hungry with me around . .
We moored up in the middle of nowhere and stayed the night with plans to do more boat work tomorrow.

Tues 14th
What a lovely day, trev cracking on with the windows and painting, I am doing some repair to the cratch cover (zip need a bit of needle work) and catching up with blog.  The weather is so nice we decided to stay the night and have a braai (barbi) this afternoon. Yippeeee
Just a quick pic of trev enjoying a well earned relax  with a cold beer!!!!!!

goodbye rivers hello canals!!

Wednesday 8th June
Well we stayed overnight with trepidation (not the best town to moor up in) in Northampton as we have to get through 18 locks in one day.  The plan was to have a very early start to get the best of the weather and get through this part of the country,  however due to a late night on Monday and a very bad sleep last night,  I did NOT want to get out of bed at death o' clock.
Trev was up early and with no sympathy or empathy for tired old me,  he made me get up bleary eyed and knackered!!!!!!  Just you wait my boy. . . . . . . .
 We are now on the Grand Union canal, Northampton arm.    Not the same as rivers but not for too long.
 Its going to be a long day as moorings around here are not as safe as we would like and need to get through all
the locks so come on Caz wake up - lets get there with a spring in your step - aaaargh !!!

see how narrow these canals are !!!
 

back from visite in the north

Mon 6th June
We have been back on Merlot since last monday.  We had a lovely time seeing our family and friends, grand kids are growing up so quickly, both  Katey and Mason are running about and getting up to mischief

We had a lovely evening with our friends, enjoyed an Indian meal in Northallerton.  It was great to see everyone or almost everyone again.   We stayed with Suzie whilst in the North.

Back on Merlot.   We decided to extend our stay here at the marina as Trev wants to fit two more solar panels and we have to wait for them to arrive by post.
Pic of the marina

The marina is pleasant enough and only costs us 6.50 a day including electricity and we were told that there was a hotrod/vintage/classic English and American car show on Saturday and Sunday..

Yesterday a small cruiser moved from where it was moored up, went past us and moored up nearby.  We saw
a Coot struggling to get out from the back area of the cruiser,  later when we went out we saw what she had been doing in the back of the boat - sitting on eggs.  Poor thing must have been frightened to death to find her nest suddenly moving and making a blooming racket, so she scarpered.   Sadly she has not gone back to the nest abandoning her eggs.

We ventured into Northampton using the bus.  Its not a place I would go out of my way to visit.   They have an interesting sculpture in the town center but that's about all I can say about the place.  We did pay a second visit as we saw a proper fish market however it was only open thur to sat,  we duly arrived anticipating buying some lovely fresh fish only to find it was not a fish market but a art gallery in the OLD fish market - damm. . .

Sun 5th
Happy birthday Cappy...     Here are some of the lovely cars. .

 this was my fav . . .nude colour Cadillac

 scary beast - huge

We had a very nice day at the car show, wow what beautiful amazing cars.  There were stalls, a beer tent and food stalls AND the weather was good. 

Mon 6th
Trev has fitted the new solar panels, we did all the little jobs and now are ready to set off again early tomorrow.  London here we come!!!!!!