A Day Off in Braunston

Monday 2^nd October 2017

Braunston

Two days ago I rather foolishly mentioned autumn and falling leaves - this was our stern this morning.

Time to get the broom out and take a walk along the roof!

There was, however, no sign of the forecast Tropical Rainstorm, but we were a day ahead of schedule, so decided to stay put anyway.  The boat behind us had moved, so we pulled back away from the overhanging trees, so we will, we hope, not be quite so well decorated tomorrow morning.

Once we were ship shape and Bristol fashion we wandered off towards the locks with Monty.  First past the marina - an apartment and a mooring would be pretty good.

To get over the marina entrance these stairs have to be negotiated.  Monty can sometimes be a bit diffident about anything new and possibly (in his opinion) hazardous, but he went for this without losing his stride.  Well he did until he got to the top when he waited for Chris to catch up with him, so he could tuck in behind him to let him lead the way across the top and down the other side!

This is the pump house up near the locks

On our way back there was a boat winding (turning round) at the marina entrance causing quite a traffic jam - this is a very busy piece of waterway.  These two were stuck as there was more coming along from the left.

There was one coming from the right

and yet another waiting to exit the marina!

They eventually made it round and order was restored to the canal

 We are moored just a bit further along from The Stop House which is manned by a friendly C&RT volunteer and contains an art exhibition - well worth a look.

We continued our walk past the boat to make our way into the village which is accessed from Bridge 91, across the main road, up a footpath and turn right up a long street - a good general store and PO is on the left and an exceptionally good butcher on the right.

This is the sort of house Chris would like, but preferably with sails.  Unless we win the lottery (and we rarely buy tickets) it will remain a dream I am afraid.

Last time we were here two years ago the church was undergoing major stone restoration work funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

They did a great job

as the stone work is looking pristine

It is a long street, but with plenty of good looking properties to admire en route to the shops

Much to our surprise the butcher was open (a lot seem to close on Mondays, but this one is open 7 days a week, but only to midday on Sundays).  Monty was 'parked' outside the PO/Stores opposite whilst we went to see if anything took our fancy.

 It did!  Not least of which was this enormous cauliflower for the princely sum of £1.  Cauliflower cheese for us tonight with sausage and bacon.  I rather think the cauli will last at least three nights, but it is something we have not had for months and it just looked too good not to bring it back with us along with a couple of sausages and small pork pies.

The smell of bacon from the Gongoozlers Rest ( a café boat) was too much to resist, so we gave in at lunchtime and I had a sausage, egg and bacon sandwich with salad and Chris had sausage and egg sandwich with fried potatoes.  They were both fabulous and we recommend them if you are passing this way.

What did we do the rest of the day?  Well not a lot!  The fire is on and we are going to enjoy a quiet evening.

The cauliflower cheese was excellent, however we really need to be travelling with at least one other boat as it is so huge it will take us days to get through it!