Saturday 11 May 2013

Stoke Bruerne to Blisworth Marina

Stoke Bruerne to Blisworth Marina : 4 miles, 0 locks, 1 tunnel (without tunnel opera)
To date : 285 miles, 159 locks

I was awake before 6am this morning and goodness, what a sight.  It was so pretty out there!  There was a pink flush across the sky.  I grabbed the camera to capture it.

We need to be at Bugbrooke for Tuesday morning (for our engine service) so decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights in a marina over the weekend.  We'll charge up, wash up, tidy up and have a spring clean.  Barry and Carol decided to take the opportunity of our delay to sort out their belongings at their daughter's place down South.  We had a last morning tea and said farewell until next week.  They're hiring a car.

We began preparations to head off and ended up having a chat to the folk who pulled in to moor behind us.  They were New Zealanders.  Then it was time to tackle the Blisworth Tunnel... again.  This time we didn't have Carol singing opera to keep us company.  We only passed one boat the whole way so we made good time of it. 

We reached Blisworth Marina and were shown to a berth.  It was very windy so we didn't even bother trying to reverse in.  The pontoons are rather short here - about 50ft so the rear end of the boat pokes out beyond and we need to come in and out through the cratch.  That's ok.  It feels so luxurious to be able to turn on lights, leave the tv on, use an electric kettle or the microwave, do ironing etc without a thought for the electricity.  We did a load of washing/drying using the marina laundry.  It's a pleasant facility with a table and chairs to sit and read, a library of books and magazines, a "free to good home" box where we picked up a couple of vents for the front doors, and a good washer, a dryer, and a laundry trough.  I read in the marina newsletter that some of the moorers were having barbeques on the gravel path so the marina allowed them to build a deck with tables, chairs and a barbeque.  Fantastic!


Photos :
1. Stunning morning at Stoke Bruerne
2. A tree in blossom by the lock
3. Nice old building canalside




1 comment:

Unknown said...

Blisworth Marina sounds a lot more accommodating to boaters' requirements than Aston is!

Sounds like you're having a great cruising season this year.