Just after Buckby Top Lock, we had a good look around Anchor Arts and Crafts - if only we could have bought some of the Measham Ware! A few yards along the canal, was a sign pointing to a farm who make home-made pies - those we DID buy! At the foot of the locks, Whilton Marina is another with a good chandlery, and D-I-Y pumpout. A few miles further on, a quiet mooring, away from the almost continuous presence and noise of the railway, (Virgin Trains every few minutes), was found just past Stowe Hill Marine, where the canal has moved away for a mile of two, whilst the trains dive into a tunnel through Stowe Hill. A blissful night's relief!
After Gayton Junction came Blisworth, with a pair appearing just as we passed Blisworth Boats, and with us doing a quick shuffle to one side to make room for them! Next the tunnel - fascinating, suddenly passing from the old style tunnel, into the modern centre section, which seems so light and spacious, then back to the old again.
There was a nice mooring in the cutting just outside the tunnel at Stoke Bruerne, just past this spare tunnel ring from the rebuild in recent years of the middle part of the tunnel.
Walking from there to the village, we enjoyed the museum, where they didn't mind "plastic" to pay for our entry.
View from the Museum.
Seen in the museum-a winter job.
Unlike the museum, the cafe next door, wanted a surcharge for us to use "plastic" - needless to say, we didn't stay to eat!
An interesting "cratch-with-a-view"
Waiting at the lock, next morning, gave us a chance to see the boat weighing machine - much more easily done nowadays, if you have the money to pay for a giant road crane, with its automatic load scales!
Leaving Stoke Bruerne Bottom Lock.
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