Braunston Marina

Braunston Marina is huge.  The picture above was taken before we saw the goats and bridge number 1 and still we hadn't reached the end of the marina and the lovely flats on the picture below.

Angela must have got fed up and gone home!  

Not really but as our walks are starting from quite a distance away from home Brendan decided to stay, after he had driven us to Stowe Hill, and have a look around Braunston so he was there to meet us and even offered to bring our coats to the nearest road when we were getting wet.  Thanks Brendan. 

Numero Uno

You can't see it of course but the number on this bridge is 1.  We are a bit bemused by this as we are only at Braunston perhaps we have walked the Grand Union canal and we don't have to cary on to Birmingham?  Oh well we better had now we've got the hotel booked and everything.

Animal Husbandry

We have seen plenty of sheep and cows (luckily we haven't had to walk through any this year) but we hadn't seen any goats before.

Braunston Boats

Time for a trip down memory lane for Catherine.  Catherine and Brendan hired a boat from here some years back to tour along the Oxfordshire Canal.

Hazard!

The rain produced this hazard that we weren't too keen on.

Braunston Tunnel Northern Portal

The end of the runnel.  It would take a boat 20 minutes to go through this one.

An Air Shaft

This is an air shaft for the tunnel.  We thought about shouting down it but decided that we had better not.

Going Over the Top

The rain has stopped and we are still going up over the tunnel.

Weather Deterioration

We can't really complain.  We haven't had much rain but it did rain very hard for a while when we were going over the tunnel so we had to shelter under a tree for a while.

Braunston Tunnel

Another day, another tunnel.  At 2042 yards long this one is shorter than Blisworth and again has no tow path so it looks like we are going up and over again.

Abandoned

So there's the bike but where's Brendan?

More of Rural England

Shall We Go to Leicester?

We could go on a detour to Leicester.  It's only 41 miles away.  

We decided that the Leicester arm is a bit far from home and a bit long so we won't be coming back in the autumn to do it. 

These folks decided to go though perhaps they are going to visit the Space Centre or go to Next or stock up on Walkers crisps?

Our Comfort Break

The lack of available toilets means that most walks have included a stop off at a pub for a comfort break.  I think it is just as well as we probably aren't drinking enough water when we walk so a soft drink helps to keep us going particularly today which was very hot.

Buckby Locks

We could do with some carved wooden benches like these in the garden.

Lines of Communication

One of our books had talked about Northamptonshire being crossed by different transport networks and this was obvious here as we walked alongside the canal with the railway line on our left and the M1 motorway on our right.  There was a fair amount of noise from the M1 but strangely the road and the railway didn't seem to interfere with the sense of calm by the canal.

The Nothingness

The books that we have on the Grand Union Canal have got nothing to say about this part of the walk.  Again it is quite rural except for the railway line passing through.  The line is quite busy but the sound of the trains going past is over pretty quickly.

Stowe Hill

We decided we would rather finish at a place with a bit more life so we are starting off from Stowe Hill again today but walking north this time.  The pub is still being refurbished so we'll have to wait for our comfort break!