Here at Stoke Bruerne!

We followed a couple yesterday who were travelling so slowly they were nearly coming to a stop, and every bridge they came to they had to pole it through... So when we saw them coming round the corner this morning we quickly pulled the pins and set off. They did wave to us as we pulled away into the distance. We soon got to the Northampton arm and then onto Blisworth, The canal here is very pretty as it ducks and dives under the trees. When we got to the tunnel we could see in the distance seven headlights from boats coming our way. As we passed them one by one there was a sigh of relief. Still if that didn't get you then the water did..It was cascading down the air vents like a waterfall and out of the sidewalls, at one point Al had to shut the side doors because we passed a boat at a point where the water was pouring out the sidewalls.

We got to Stoke Bruerne at about midday and got a mooring which appears to be just off the white markers which are reserved for boats in the show. We set off to find the guy who was looking after the moorings (the harbour master) to see if we could book a slot, but couldn't find him. As we were looking around the museum area who should we see but Jo & Keith on n.b Hadar coming through the lock.We had a coffee with them on the way back to Derwent6 and a good chat. We are all staying for the weekend so it should be fun. Then the sky's opened with thunder and lightening, so we hurried back and lit the fire. As always when we light the fire the sun came out.. so we wandered back down to find the harbour master. " yes, stick it down between the first two locks" he said. So back to Derwent6 we go and locked down with some more large clouds looming up on us. We just managed to moor when the sky's opened....... good job Al had stuck the casserole on the stove. That went down well watching the rain.

In the evening we had a few beers in The Boat Inn. A good pub with a boat as a bar.