4 August 2011 - Braunston to Brinklow

Good old British weather!  The combines worked throughout the night - we could hear them - until 4am.  Which coincidentally is when it started hammering down with rain.  By 9am the heavy rain had gone so we set off, Annie making bacon butties as we went along.  Braunston is the junction of the Grand Union Canal and the north section of the Oxford.  We were turning left, back onto the north Oxford.  We stopped for nearly an hour to wander around Midland Chandlers based right at the junction and bought lots of bits and bobs.

Braunston is the middle of the canal world.  Much like Muslims with Mecca, Canal People turn towards Braunston at dawn and dusk, doffing caps at the former and raising a glass at the latter.  This centre of the canal-multiverse manifests itself in the form of ghosts.  Long dead wooden working boats have been resurrected by those with the faith, and now haunt the canals around Mecca Braunston. You pass them, sometimes sad and decaying, sometimes sunk, but often beautifully restored and painted with just a patina of rust.  Several went the other way during the day - two lovely pairs of motor and butty heading down to the Thames.  Then as we moved further north modern gaily painted tin cans much like ours took over and we saw no more of the ghosts.

Ghosts of the past wandering Braunston's waterways

Medieval ridge and furrow ploughing

Echos of the past extend even further back in the form of medieval ridge and furrow plough marks that cover many of the fields running down to the canal. Corrugated card board Annie calls them.  These were formed using early ploughs, pulled by oxen.  They have survived by the land only having been used for grazing since enclosure of the old open fields.

  A steady rain fell all day, interspersed occasionally with short periods of torrential rain.  However it was still quite warm and not at all unpleasant - until it started running down your neck.....  Son Mark was en-route from Southport to Fleet and had promised to call in for a cup of tea.  He tracked us using Google Latitude and duly turned up on an over-bridge at 5pm.  We stayed at the spot to have our evening meal after Mark left, then moved the boat about a mile further west, just outside Brinklow for the night.