Hadar

Wednesday 17th December.

A cold and frosty morning. I think our indoor, outdoor thermometer over exaggerated just a tad on how cold it was over night (laughs out loud).It was a beautiful morning for a walk; both Paddy and I had a spring in our steps as we strolled along the towpath. Like on other frosty mornings, everything seemed so fresh and clean.
After breakfast we had shopping we wanted to do at Midland Chandlers and Tradline. Then after lunch we did a food shop at Londis, and the Braunston Butcher, we also checked to see if our post had arrived, which it hadn’t. Both Londis and the butchers are little gems with everything we needed for a few days. The butchers is really well stocked, not only with meat, they also have fruit, veg, jams, chutneys and pickles. We came away with some meat and a large jar of pickled onions.
Back onboard the boat the generator needed running, so I did a wash at the same time, which is now hanging in the back cabin, it looks a little like a Chinese laundry at the moment, but will dry really quickly. Keith fitted a new brass stern navigation light on the back cabin, as our other one which was plastic broke when Paddy jumped onboard one day and caught it with his leg. The time seems to have flown by today, maybe that had something to do with the fabulous weather we have had. It has been a wonderfully sunny day for a change.

Thursday 18th December.

Christmas came to Hadar a few days early, with the arrival of our post, which came in a box, lovingly taped up by Tina. The parcel contained our Christmas post, DVD’s from friend Chris, our membership to the HNBOC and all the usual mail. We always love receiving our post as it connects us with family, friends and the outside world. The box our post came in, found another use, when Marmite decided it would make an ideal hiding place. Whilst I had walked up to the Post Office to collect our post, Keith had gone to the Chandlery to buy some oil for Hadar’s engine, as she will be due for an oil change come the New Year, he also came back with an extension pole for the TV Aerial. The evening was spent in The Old Plough Inn, where we enjoyed an excellent three course evening meal, with a pint. Their ham, egg and chips is absolutely lovely. I think every time we have eaten at The Old Plough we have had ham, egg and chips. Neither of us can usually fit in a three course meal, but it was topped off with Keith having bread and butter pudding with custard and I had a piece of very scrummy lemon and ginger cheesecake with ice cream, we finished off the evening with walking back to the boat for cup of Jasmine Tea before bed.

Friday 19th December.

Braunston to the top of Hillmorton Locks, 7 miles.

We left Braunston and the Grand Union Canal and headed to the top of Hillmorton Locks on the Oxford Canal for the weekend, on a lovely sunny morning. The is some lovely scenery with wide open countryside all around us. The one thing we really noticed was the ridge and furrow patterns on the fields along the canal, which is part of this ancient landscape. As we skirted around Barby Hill, we headed under the M45, with its screaming traffic and onward to the top of Hillmorton Locks, where we moored up.
After lunch we walked into Hillmorton where there is a newsagent and a couple of other shops. You get the feeling that Hillmorton has been swallowed up by Rugby and is now a suburb of Rugby. On walking back to the boat we stopped and had a coffee in the café near the bottom of the flight, where working boat Badsey is moored at her home. Inside the café there are some fascinating pictures and history about Jack James the original owner of Badsey and Badsey’s life. Whilst we were drinking our coffee, we got chatting to a lovely gentleman, who told us he is a vicar, who loves walking and boats, so combines both passions with walking the towpaths. We got chatting about boats and what its like to live and work onboard a boat. It was a real pleasure chatting to him. Having said our farewells we made our way back to our boat where we are settled in for the evening.