Nobody on phones

It seems that every morning, wherever we are, there are swans or ducks at the kitchen window when I draw the curtains.  This is despite the fact we never feed them.

As I generally make the first beverages of the day I am always reminded of my Dad as I get the tea and coffee off the shelves.  He is very keen on wood working as it keeps him active.  He made these angled shelves, the two chopping boards and the fine solid oak table in this picture.

I went out to cut some logs but couldn’t get the chainsaw started and, as the sun had come out, we decided to cruise down to Braunston.  We had moored under trees on the Friday evening so the roof was covered in leaves.

After a couple of miles we went through the 2,042 yard long Braunston tunnel.  Amazingly, this was completed in 1796 and has two disconcerting bends in it so it is shaped like a drawn out S.  I think I mentioned that my son Steve and his partner Amanda gave me a smart brass tunnel light for my birthday.  It is much better than the previous car headight we used to have and makes the tunnel work easier. A boat called Fizzical Attraction followed us through the tunnel and then paired up with us as we locked down the first four locks into Braunston.

We decided to moor up in the pound above the final two locks.  This is well known as the Admiral Nelson pound as it is right next to the pub.  Even though it is the end of November it was packed with boats and we just managed to get the last spot.

This whole area is notorious in that there are no mobile or TV signals but, ironically, we get a very good broadband signal.  Karen made some parsnip soup and we walked into Braunston to get a paper and have a look around.

On the way back we popped into the Admiral Nelson.  It was refreshing to see that no one was on their phones – an advantage of there being no mobile signals.  We went back home to the boat and Karen made some smashing patatas bravas. We decided to stay in Braunston tomorrow (Sunday) as there are the ruins of a medieval village that we want to find and we have a few chores to complete.