Blow the winds blow.

Taken by Peter Frost.

Village at War Weekend Stoke Bruerne.

Yep it is me.

Hello Friends.

Let's begin with last night, because it was a night of strong winds with very strong gusts blowing down the canal. It was blowing so hard that things were rattling and rolling for most of the night. I was not sure we would be moving from our mooring.

The usual early start and the wind was still blowing, but thankfully it was not quite as strong as it had been over night, so we would be making a move up through the Foxton Flight. With breakfast eaten and the dog walked. We slipped away from our mooring. Keith steered the boat, whilst I strode on ahead to open the swing bridge. The foxton locks swing bridge is a doddle compaired to some we have done over the years. I closed the swing bridge behind the boat and walked up the flight to see if there was a boat coming down. Because the locks are single locks and in a staircase you can only pass at one point, so it is best to wait for any boat already on the flight to come down. There was no sign of a boat, so with the bottom lock empty Keith steered the boat in and I closed the gates behind him. I love this flight of locks because it is so easy to do. Just past the midway point, I met up with Lee walking down to go to the farm shop Rural Trading, I saved her the walk as she only wanted to know what they stocked, which I told her was pretty much everything. It is so refreshing to see a village store thriving, with so many having closed down due to the larger supermarkets having taken over and the fact that villagers failed to use their local village post office and store. Susan and her staff do a wonderful job and always offer a friendly service, so if your at Foxton to enjoy the locks and the view, go and visit Rural Trading and see what they have to offer. Lee off of NB Hot Toddy asked if we would stop and supply them with coal tomorrow, which we will of course do. Lee very kindly helped me with the lock gates before heading off to pick the remainder of the Blackberries still available in places a long the canal.
Having reached the top of the flight, the wind was picking up yet again and the sky looked as if it was full of rain. We managed to find a mooring in front of NB Archangel owned by Bim and Kaz. Bim and Kaz used to do the coal run up on the Leicester Line and infact did the run for four years. We had never met either of them until today, when Kaz came and purchased some toilet Blue. We stood and had a lovely chat about the Leicester Line and how beautiful it is. We discussed trade and customers and all the usual boaty stuff. It was lovely to put a face to the name. Many people have asked us if we knew them, and now I can say I do. I am sure we will see a lot more of them over the next few weeks.
Keith is still struggling with his back after yesterdays attempts to sort out galley draw out. he has pulled a muscle in his back, which is making him uncomfortable. This could prove to cause a few problems with delivering coal tomorrow, but only time will tell. I have dosed him up with pain killers to see if that will help. It is just as well I am in fine fettle at the moment.
As I type the wind is really getting up and we now have waves on the surface of the canal, but the sun is at least trying to come out, so maybe the rain is falling on someone else.

I have been shocked and saddened at the news that the Olympic Waterway will not be used during the 2012 Olympics after all. This has been reported on Narrowboat World. It seems that the police see it has a bomb treat target. Now whilst this maybe true, surely this should have been added into the planning stages when they were talking about using the waterways to ferry spectators to and from the games. It looks like another load of money has been wasted on this venture. Not only has the waterway been condemed so has the towpath and the new bridges which are also going to be closed to the spectators hoping to use them to get to the games. Someone's head should roll for this huge waste of money. On that note I am going to have a look in my freezer and cupboards, as I need to decide what to cook for tonights dinner. Have a great day everyone.