Stoke Bruerne to Weedon to Whilton

Just behind our mooring at Stoke Bruerne there was some kind of overflow or canal top up from the River Tove, when I looked our this morning there was water being pumped into the canal, I haven't seen this before when passing so not sure if it was because water levels were low in the canal or if it was a timed daily/weekly operation.

Water being pumped from the River Tove

Into the canal

After taking Dudley for a quick stroll we set off round the corner to the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne Locks. Luckily as we got round the corner a boat just pulled off the water point so we had someone to share the locks with, it happen to be a boat we've been playing leap frog with for the last couple of days. It was slow going up the flight as we had a couple of long waits for boats coming down, we finally got to the top where our lock partners stopped at Stoke Bruerne. We continued on to the mouth of the tunnel and the Old Stables where Martin has set up the Ark Stained Glass Studio, he was open so we called in to say hello and put faces to names.

James and Martin outside the Studio

There was a boat stopped just in front of us who had problems with their tunnel light, he had been trying to get it working, as they had been there a while and had no joy they decided to use a mains lamp and one of them sit at the front holding it, they seemed quite pleased we were setting off at the same time and asked if we would like to go in front in case their system failed, luckily they were successful. We only passed two boats in the tunnel and made good progress through and it didn't seem as wet this time. 

The Blisworth side of the tunnel

And the stable on the Blisworth side

We continued on our lock free way passing a few unusual boats, here are some of them.

This one is steered from a wheel at the front - it's even got side mirrors

Remember Reckless?? The boat that Guy built

I got off and took Dudley for a walk it was turning out to be a much longer day, in both time and miles, than we usually do so he (and I) needed to stretch our legs. 

I love this camp site right on the canal side, it's usually pretty empty when we have been by before, but that hasn't been in school holiday time, today there was quite a bit of activity there.

We finally arrived at Weedon, the moorings on the long straight were full so we went under the bridge and moored just after, really handy for the Indian restaurant we visited, also it was much quieter from the train which is just across the canal on the other moorings, there was a bit of traffic noise this morning but not as loud as the trains. There has been a Tesco Express opened in Weedon since we last stopped here a couple of years ago, they have converted the old tatty Globe Inn and it looks good now, it's quite big for an Express so we were able to top up the cupboards a bit before we left.

Moored at Weedon

12.5 miles and 7 locks

Today we did the short hop to the bottom of the Buckby flight outside Whilton Marina again, James needs to catch up on some pen making before we arrive in Brauston.

And moored by Whilton Marina again in the sunshne

3 miles and 0 locks

TOTAL 439 miles and 397 locks

Fenny Stratford Canal Festival

We arrived at Fenny Stratford early  and managed to successful pick up our ordered items from Halford and Argos. It's great that courier companies and the stores have got together it's ideal for us as we don't have a delivery address. We were left with a few days to organise ourselves before the festival on Sunday, although on Friday it was pretty much heavy rain all day.

I went for a bit of an explore with Dudley and came across Caldecotte Lake which was huge and so much going on for a Thursday evening. 

Hard to believe this is Milton Keynes

Sunday arrived and we had a little trip round the Fenny Poppers Festival area which was the High Street, lots of stalls were going up and the fair was setting up. Back at the canal it was all go as well with the traders setting up for the Canal Festival and a few stalls as well. We set up our displays and people starting arriving, we weren't expecting it to be too busy as it was the first canal festival to be held there and we weren't sure if many people would venture down from the High Street. Well I'm pleased to say we were wrong and we had a very busy and successful day, in fact our second best trading day to date. We even had a visit from the Mayor and Mayoress of Milton Keynes and they are now the happy owners of two pens.

All set up ready for the crowds

The Pen Maker hard at work

The Mayor making his purchases

In the evening the organiser Rosemary and her husband Paul had very kindly laid on a BBQ in their garden for all the trades as a way of saying thank you for our support. All we had to do was bring what we wanted to drink, we had a lovely evening and for once we ate properly after a busy trading day. 

We were going to head off on Monday but were told there was an Ikea about a 10 minute walk and we wanted to get some more display frames so plans changed and we went to Ikea instead and left Fenny on Tuesday. We stopped at Campbell Park and managed to get a mooring on the park side. 

Park side mooring

One of the sculptures in the park

And another one

LJ just beyond the pond

Today we left in the lovely sunshine and did the journey through Cosgrove lock carrying on to the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne flight. It was a fairly quiet journey and would have been quieter if we hadn't seen all the Wyvern hire boats out.

17 Miles and 2 locks

TOTAL 423.5 miles and 390 locks