Rugby to Braunston

We moored overnight on the outskirts of Rugby - the canal does not go into the town centre - so that we could go shopping this morning. We had already found out that a bus went from Tesco which, somewhat to our surprise it really did! As we also had our bus passes at least this part of the expedition did not cost us anything extra!

Rugby town centre comprises almost entirely small, at least smaller, shops with very few of the main 'brand' shops. It also seems to cater to the less expensive end of the market (shall we say) but it was pleasant and had what we wanted - the main item Christine was after was a new mattress protector which we duly found, almost as soon as we arrived, in a branch of Dunelm Mill.

We wandered around, had a cup of coffee at Wetherspoons, bought a few more items - oh, forgot to mention an excellent outdoor market where we bought English strawberries - and then caught the bus back to the boat. We were back by 11:30!

Weather was very pleasant all day, sometimes quite warm and by the early afternoon we felt in need of some sun block! Most of the day was again plain cruising, interrupted only by the three locks at Hilmorton which we passed through quite quickly.

At one time Braunston was served by two railways one of which ran quite close to the canal for a stretch. It was a surprise to see the remnants of an old signal appearing over the hedge!

The approach to Braunston is advertised well in advance by the delicate church steeple which dominates the slight hill in the centre of the village, slightly higher than the canal alignment.

At the end of the afternoon we arrived at Braunston, pausing to use the facilities before continuing on the the flight of six broad locks. These we shared with another couple who were heading for Crick. As experienced boaters they were pleasant to share with and we reached the tunnel pound without any major difficulty. After the tunnel we moored quite soon - the bank is so very much better after the recent works by BW.