Home for the Weekend.

Thursday 3rd to Sunday 6th October, 2013 at Braunston.
On Thursday morning, we left MM in good time to walk to the station for M to catch the train from Bedworth to Coventry. There is an hourly service with a single coach train that shuttles between Nuneaton, Bedworth and Coventry and back. But when we arrived, we discovered that the train was not scheduled for this hour, despite the fact that it was listed on the internet! We did see a notice about a bus service to Coventry, so went and found the bus stop and in due course M caught the bus and was on her way. Even then, M's adventures were not over as, when the bus stopped in the middle of Bedworth, the driver said that for Coventry the best bus wasn't this one but "that one over there" -  (on the other side of a busy main road and was just about to leave!).  A hasty change of buses and M was finally away.
R walked back to MM and started off down toward Braunston. The plan is to leave MM at Braunston for Friday and Saturday nights and R will go back to Reigate to be with M for her choir's "Come and Sing" day on Saturday.
At Hawkesbury Junction, R turned off the Coventry Canal on to the North Oxford.

The Junction is spanned by a beautiful old cast iron bridge.

 

Just after the bridge there is a "stop lock", with only a 6 inch difference in height, designed in the old days to stop the North Oxford from "stealing" the Coventry Canal's water.

R continued on down the canal and through Rugby before mooring up for the night.
In the morning, he continued on to Braunston, arriving just after 10:00, just in time to have breakfast at the Gongoozlers' Rest, a famous cafe in a narrowboat that you can see beyond MM in the photo.

After putting MM to bed in the marina, R took the bus to Rugby and thence back to Reigate.
M's choir's "Come and Sing Day" was a great success and, after only four hours' rehearsal, the choir gave an excellent performance of Karl Jenkins' "The Armed Man" and Rutter's "Te Deum" in the evening.
On Sunday, we arrived back at Braunston after an "interesting" journey. On the underground to Euston, R suddenly remembered that he had left his knapsack on the train at London Bridge! In it were a lot of rather essential items - like the boat keys! Panic!
He immediately dashed back to London Bridge, where he discovered that, thanks to the efficiency of the staff, it had been found by the cleaners and handed in. What a relief!
The rest of the journey was uneventful, although the Virgin Pendolino train was packed and "standing room only". Fortunately, we had boarded early and so had seats.  We arrived back at Braunston at about 2:00pm and took MM out of the marina.  It was a beautiful autumn day.

Dear little Braunston! How lovely it is to be back here again; we are very fond of this area. The village looked so pretty in the autumn sunshine. A walk round the village is essential, not least because up at the top of the hill in the village is the only place where there is a mobile phone signal!
The other essential visit was to the Gongoozlers' Rest for afternoon tea!

Over the Four Days: 23 miles, 4 locks and 11.8 hours.
Trip: 502 miles, 331 locks and 407.6 hours.