What a fun day! We set out from Willoughby, north of Braunston just before 9am. We moored up near the marina after stopping to deal with waste, had a take-away from the Gongoozler's Rest and were finally met at11:45 by Dom, Helen, Defa and Trio travelling on Ravenspur. Dom has moved his Rugby Boat Sales office to premises at Stowe Hill Marine and today was the day to move their boat to wait for sale.
We had a fine day with wonderful sunshine and, of course, lots of conversatation between locks and boats as Bella and Ravenspur paired up for all the double locks on this section of the Grand Union canal (just to remind - Braunston is where the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union canal cross). One pic is of Helen stepping from Bella's bow to Ravenspur's stern as the loved yet forgotten crew is collected after Braunston top lock. The other pic is Ravenspur heading toward Braunston tunnel followed by Bella.
After the tunnel, we all met up again at Wilton Locks ready for the flight of 7 down to the pound for Stowe Hill. In that flight, we managed to buy ice creams and to lose a windlass and generally had a great time.
We moored up at Stowe Hill at 5:30 and by 6:30 were sitting in the garden of The Narrowboat pub, up the hill from the wharf. A fabulous reputation preceded so we had booked for a celebration dinner (Rugby Boat Sales move and Elizabeth's 55th birthday of a few days ago). We were met by Pat and Julie and had a stunningly wonderful dinner. What a day!
