At the tunnel end

Our planned day off turned into two, the weather continued to be very blustery so we decided not to move.
After a day of getting the washing done and a bit of boat tidying on Sunday we had a fairly lazy day yesterday. I did some crocheting, porthole lace coming off the 'production line' and also owl keyrings.

Today the wind had dropped and we pulled pins and made our way to Buckby flight in cool but mainly sunny weather. We experienced the amusing scenario of overtaking the traffic on the adjacent motorway for about a mile, it's such a slow life on the canals!

When we had readied the bottom lock there were two boats heading up the straight towards us so we held the lock, then both of them moored up. It always seems to work that way, if you wait people are stopping and if you don't they are carrying on. There was a fair bit of movement through Buckby flight today, not busy but a few boats on the move. We did the usual 'facilities' stop at the top lock and were going to moor there for the night but the 'fridge man' phoned us to say he can see us tomorrow in Braunston so we moved up to the east portal of Braunston tunnel. We took a stroll to the shops and got some bread, milk and a few bits then made our way back to the boat fortified with a portion of chips to eat on the way. We can both remember not being allowed to eat in the street, even at the seaside we had to find a bench to sit on if we were allowed some chips, it's probably a generational thing.

We will have Braunston tunnel and seven locks to look forward to tomorrow and after that it will depend on what the diagnosis is on our fridge.

Today's journey 8.4 miles and 7 locks

This year we have travelled 132.9 miles, 146 locks, 5 swing bridges and 1 tunnel

In 2012 we travelled 876.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2211.5 miles, 1906 locks, 116 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 72 tunnels