Norton Junction to Bugbrooke

Yesterday arvo this family was near our mooring

This morning, Mel was looking askance at the mass of cords on the table. David is on notice that any cords that are out when I get up in the morning will be used to whip him. As he is not into pain, this is a valid threat.

But wait, there's more ...

And more ...

We are moored up just south of Bugbrooke after a fairly busy 5.5 hours of boating - we came down through Buckby Locks breasted up with a bunch of four Australians on a week's hire from Rose Narrowboats in Rugby. They had been told to leave gates open which is an anathema to us, so all gates were closed unless boats were approaching. Is it the new standard practice to leave them open? Doesn't make much sense to us.

The hawthorn blossom looks lovely and smells wonderful

There are some beautiful homes and gardens beside the cut

We were keen to get to Bugbrooke to have a Sunday pub lunch, a la Tom and Jan's pattern (nb Waiouru). We didn't stop to get water so we could get to Bugbrooke in time, and because we arrived at about 1.50pm, we were a bit limited in choice, so we went to The Wharf by Bridge 36. The food was rather disappointing really (£10.95 for a main course) and took over 50 minutes to arrive. A whole heap of meals came out at the same time, so I did wonder if the kitchen staff had had a lunch-break between times ... The chardonnay was pretty good tho as was David's blackcurrant cider (well, it was purple and had blacksomething in it).

Having not got water today, and having had two showers and done two loads of washing since we took on water yesterday at Braunston, we are in conservation mode just in case. Two saucepans have been filled so we at least have enough for drinking purposes. Being clean can wait!
Note to selves: Forget lunch, get water every day!

After lunch we moved about 300m down the cut to a mooring that is less busy and doesn't have dog poo. We are now stopped for the day. David is faffing in a most productive way with the TV aerial having cleaned his new toys, the solar panels. I've hung out some washing, brought in a folded some from yesterday, and am going to blob for the rest of the afternoon. I think I need to have an on-board chardonnay shortly to compare it with the one in the pub ...