Christmas Cruise - Day 2

Last night's mooring was very quiet and very dark, just the type we like.  You'd never know there was a 700-man jail just over the towpath hedge!  Also a great success was Adrian's meat loaf, which turned out very well and was delicious.

This morning was cold and clear, although there was no frost.  We had porridge and set off at 8.40, heading for Braunston.  The countryside round here looks very medieval, thanks to the ridge and furrow fields coming down to the water.  It looked particularly atmospheric with the rising sun low in the sky.

After around an hour, we passed Braunston turn, and spotted Hadar moored up.  We carried on and moored just beyond the marina entrance, and walked up the hill to the village where we picked up our pre-ordered rolled turkey breast from the butcher and got a few odds and ends from the general store.  The turkey is huge -- 3kg -- so we've cut it into three sections and put two in the freezer.

Back at the boat, we walked down to Hadar taking some of the mince pies I made yesterday.  We spent well over an hour in Hadar's cosy saloon chatting to Jo and Keith over tea and mince pies.  It was nice because, although we've met and spoken to them several times before, we've never really had time to speak to them at any great length.

We returned to Briar Rose at around midday, and Adrian reversed off the mooring and did an excellent spin in the marina entrance.  We headed back the way we'd come, and with the sun out it was a very pleasant (in cold) afternoon.

Less than two hours later we moored up on the short stretch of piling by Bridge 75, which we used twice on our last weekend out.  We had a late lunch and have been pottering about ever since.  I've turned the leftover pastry into a few more mince pies, as they go down rather well.

We passed just a couple of boats while we were travelling today, and a couple more have gone along since we stopped.  Two of them were hire boats, neither of which appeared to have a solid fuel stove, which I think really is a necessity at this time of year.  It'll be interesting to see how many boats we see moving tomorrow.

9 miles, 0 locks.  (19 miles, 3 locks)