Sunny Stoke Bruerne

It rained in the night, but by the time we were up and about, the sky was clearing.  We made porridge for breakfast, and put some water in the tank, before setting off at just after 9am.  It was gloriously sunny, with a lovely blue sky.

We didn't pass another moving boat all the way to the bottom lock at Stoke Bruerne.  It was so sunny, though, that the owners of one moored boat were sitting outside in their deckchairs!

At the bottom lock, we could see a boat coming down.  It turned out to be Lizzie and Chris on the Braidbar boat, Shimshams.  They're making the most of the lack of winter stoppages on the Grand Union by going to London.  It was nice to see them, if only briefly; the last time was at the Braidbar weekend last year, and then a couple of weeks later as we crossed on the Audlem flight.  

We made good progress up the locks, passing a couple of boats coming down.  Everything looked very pretty in the sunshine.

At the top lock, there are some tiny mushrooms growing in a crack in the balance beam.

A boat was approaching the top lock as we came up, so it was another one where we could leave the gates open.  We went along to the winding hole just before the tunnel and Adrian made a very efficient turn.  We re-traced our steps for a few hundred yards and moored up in a nice sunny spot.

After lunch, we did a bit of cleaning inside the boat and I started a chili for tonight.  Later, we went to visit Kathryn who lives by the top lock, taking with up some Halloween cup cakes bought from the museum cafe.  We had a good hour or so, catching up over tea.

6 miles, 7 locks.