Bus trip back to Braunston

Today was due to be bright and breezy so we had planned to get the bus back to Braunston via Rugby to pick up the van and a few essentials on the way.

We're not too far from a fairly small back road to Brinklow village centre, about 1.5 miles' so it was up and out fairly early for the first leg of our journey. We managed good time to the village (good for us anyway) at just over 25 minutes. It has been a while since we have used local buses so were pleased it was on time but we didn't have a clue how much it would cost. Naively we got on and duly handed over our £20. Ah... all the passengers were, lets say, bus pass users and the bus driver had about £3.20 in change and doubted whether he would pick up many cash passengers. Rather than kick us off and let us get the next one in 30 mins or so, he drove round the corner and parked outside the local shop so Deb could get some change. Don't think you would find bus drivers like that very often. 

We had a bit of a closer look at Rugby town centre with its 'once you've seen one you've seen them all', shopping mall and a browse round a few charity shops looking for a book identifying tree types for the next time I got my chainsaw out again, no luck yet. A lot of Rugby's large architectural buildings are part of Rugby school and I would guess always would have been as the school has been around since the 1820's.

From Rugby to Braunston was a pretty journey and it was nice to see some of the surrounding countryside. We didn't stay long but were glad to see that the van was still where we left it and all in working order and now hidden on the end of all oaks wood just up from the canal.

All Oaks Wood (looking like all Beech to me!)

The new batteries are proving a worthwhile investment and we havent drained them yet. The new monitor shows quite easily what %age left and we have cut our diesel bill by about 25% and I am hoping to get below 50% of Aprils usage as soon as we have solar up and running.