Christmas eve laundry scene

Have we ever said how much we love this life? This is one of the reasons. We stand to do the mundane thing of hang laundry from the ceiling airer and this is what we see. We love this life.

Upper Nellie after a great day

Excellent day! We set off from the lower Nellie pound late this morning to moor up near the Stop House and meet dear friends. Met well, we had lunch, toured Bella, toured the Stop House then studio and waved Trafalgar South from the Braunston iron bridge.

We turned in the Braunston marina entrance and worked our way back uphill. We're now in the upper Nellie pound ( between locks 3 & 4) ready to set off early - hopefully before the rain!

The Admiral Nelson from upper Nellie pound.

Yes the stove is lit, and no we didn't wash Bella

There we are. We've owned up. The heat wave is past and the summer is ending colder than usual. And it's been raining. So we decided for warmth. Here's Squirrel, remembering the core purpose having quite forgotten for months. P remembered how to get the fire right first time.

We were supposed to wash Bella today. Yes, you've read the past tense. The boat maintenance gods remind us regularly that we were always built to get someone else to do it and delegate we must. When we washed the starboard side, we finally had the time (never the inclination) and that's the day the heat wave broke with rain. We washed between the showers. This morning, we got going to make it before the scheduled rain. P went to get a new chimney brush to find the shop had run out. Then it rained. It cleared a bit to think we could crack on, but no. The tow path gardeners were out with the strimmer and mower, rain or no rain. So we have given in and went back to holiday mode. Bella will be cleaned properly when we book the marina to do it. The gods have spoken.

My word. We're cruising!

Our dear friends on Trafalgar are racing around the Warwickshire ring this week whilst we're having a much needed holiday. We've brought dear Bella the huge distance from Welton Hythe to join them as they cruise through on Saturday.  We set out as early as they do (we lie!!) leaving home mooring just before noon. We were moored up in the Nellie pound - the pound between locks 2 and 3 of the Braunston flight, near the Admiral Nelson, by 14:30. See? Big journey 😆.

Truth be told, we both simply looked forward to a week of sleep. Life has been packed to overflowing. As it is, we washed one side of Bella a week ago and tomorrow, now that she's other side to, we'll finish the wash.

Saturday we meet up with those dear friends at the Gongoozlers Rest for a yummy brekkie. We look forward to it!

Anyway, here's a pic through Pete and Maxwell as we entered Braunston tunnel.