Goodbye Stoke Bruerne, Hello Blisworth.

Hi Folks.

Stoke Bruerne to Blisworth, 2.2 miles and 1 tunnel in 55 minutes.

The time had come to slip our mooring and move on. We did not move to far, because we wanted to stop at Blisworth to have a look at the Pocket Park.

Before leaving Stoke Bruerne, we said our goodbyes to Pam and Mac on NB Mona Lisa, to Cynthia on NB Guinevere  and finally to Mike who runs Charlie the trip boat. We also wished them all a Happy Christmas, because it is unlikely that we will see them again before Christmas as they are all going in a different direction to us.

It was a chillier beginning to the day, so the shorts have been retired and the long trousers have come to the fore again. before setting off I rang our coal merchant Paul Hill to arrange for a coal delivery, which will also include Kindling, Firelighters and Toilet Blue, because even though we are not selling coal this year we will still be trading all the other things. 10am we fired up the engine and left the mooring, waving to friends as we headed towards the tunnel.

As we were approaching the winding hole, Stanton was about to wind, the steerer very kindly allowed us to pass first, he then winded.

We carried on into the tunnel past the Blacksmiths workshop.

It is so nice to see it being used again, the smithy looked to go a good trade over the weekend.

As we thumped our way through the tunnel, Stanton joined us, with her tunnel lamp high on the bow shining like a beacon in what was a smoky tunnel after other boats had been through the tunnel before us.

We only met one boat in the tunnel.

Stanton followed us out of the tunnel, we then stopped opposite Blisworth Mill allowing Stanton to continue on her journey to her mooring at High House our next port of call for the weekend.

After a coffee and some lunch, we donned our walking boots and set off back along the towpath towards the tunnel to find the Blisworth Pocket Park.

This coming weekend they are working on the park, such a shame that we will be at High house by then, but we look forward to seeing their work when we come back this way. Alan and the team are clearly doing a wonderful job.

Nesting boxes are being put up.

Flora and Fauna are establishing themselves already.

A new footpath is being put in place and I know they are planting Spring bulbs this coming weekend, so in the Spring it should look fantastic.

After completed our walk in the park, we then walked back along the road into the village, which has some stunning thatched cottages.

Thackstone Cottage is a mid-late C17 Grade 2 listed house of coursed squared limestone banded with ironstone, it really is stunning. During the 18th Century it was partly rebuilt due to fire damage.

The Royal Oak Tavern, is a late C17 Public House, built from coursed limestone rubble, which has been painted. It was originally thatched but after a fire in 1959 the thatch was replaced by tiles. It was said that a young lad threw his cigarette butt on to the thatch. These days the pub is kept busy by the villagers and passers-by.

The church is said to date from the 14th Century and is built from Limestone.

The village is a little gem and should be seen. After enjoying our walk, we popped into the shop and bought a couple of items, we then got back to the boat where I made us a coffee.

We have no digital TV signal so no TV tonight. I am beginning to think this digital TV thing is a waste of our TV license, because we cannot get a flippin signal most of the time, at least with the analogue as well we had a choice, now we have no choice at all grrrrrrr.

On that note I am off to take some more photos. Chat soon xx