Sunday 20 September 2020

Blacksmiths and Bangers in Braunston!

 Sunday 20 September Emily Bronte mends our stove!

Blacksmith Brian Greaves cleverly removed our damaged stove door and fixed the jammed door latch plus refitted the door glass with heatproof braid. We can now use our multifuel stove! He also mended Liana’s favourite Fox tiller pin. 


We met Jack and Jacqueline Reay, on NB Cleveland, who accompanied us on our cruise across the Wash from Boston to the River Great Ouse two or three June’s ago.



Brian and Jane live on NB Emily, with butty Bronte set up as a smithy. Brian makes and sells all sorts of iron ware. We have met them several times over the years, notably on the River Weaver, when we both towed pontoons downriver for CRT after the Winsford Festival. Half way there, we paused for Brian to weld a new gutter on Annie, with pontoons linked in between the boats and Annie four out from the bank!

The locks were very busy again, with pairs of boats crossing over in our pound constantly.




The Bottom Lock Chandlers is now an art studio 

We walked uphill to the excellent Braunston Butchers for their sausages, bacon, mince and pork chops - not quite vegan, yet! After the coop opposite, we rested on the bench nearby to use our phones, now they had a signal.

Saying our goodbyes to Brian and Jane, we joined with a passing boat to descend the bottom lock, before setting off up the Coventry canal in the sun. As in previous days, we passed loads of moored boaters plus a continual stream of oncoming boats. It was manic.

 Once past the Old Turn we enjoyed the sunny pastures on our way to Barby. Dunchurch Pools Marina looks good.


Annie’s engine started sounding a bit intermittent, so we moored for the day near Barby. John topped up oil in both the PRM150 gearbox and Isuzu 4LE1 engine, plus used nappies to start clearing the bilges.

We must have had boats passing us both ways every few minutes, until things quietened down about 1800 / 6pm.


No comments:

Post a Comment