Braunston bound

Shall we try this again?

It appears that not only did the system eat the post I wrote today, despite my saving it several times, but it also ate yesterday's, and perhaps even more than that.

Or...I will get up tomorrow, go to The Turtle, and find that everything has been magically restored. I'll go with that, for as long as possible.

So in case I don't have much time to get this in, here goes:

We were going to stay in Newbold (Rugby) until tomorrow, but it turned out that we were in a 48-hour spot, so we left this morning, intending to go as far as Braunston. In the end, we went right past Braunston and all the way to Napton, where we will be turning the boat in on Saturday morning. We went past the boatyard and moored up near a pub called The Bridge, handily located at Bridge 111 (Find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bridge.napton). Here we've had dinner and I've sworn copiously when my post disappeared.

(On the bright side, the landlady's Ipod has some great stuff on it, including Louis Prima and Keely Smith doing "That Old Black Magic". I've loved listening to the music.

"I've got this itch, you see..."

The day started out sunny and bright and stayed that way until we went through Braunston, when it rained. By the time we got to Napton, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining again. Now I'm sitting at a table overlooking the canal, watching the water's colour change as the sun sets.

Highlight of the day: As I walked up to one of the three locks I had to work today, I saw a volunteer teaching a woman and man how to operate the lock. They opened the gate for us, and the woman told me that this was her birthday present. She leaned close and said to me, "My son said 'Happy birthday. You're going to go and learn how to operate locks.' I'd rather have a nice facial, actually." She looked thrilled when I told her she could go on, and I would close the gate.

Tomorrow, we won't go much of anywhere, except to the next bridge, where we will moor the boat and walk up to the village. I want to visit the windmill again, and St. Lawrence Church. Erin and I climbed up to the church last year, and I want to see whether I can still do it!