Progress report

Arriving at the last pound of the Stoke Bruerne flight the towpath has badly fallen away despite BW trying to keep the water at bay with plastic sheeting. The situation is worsened by the close proximity of the lock. I see the stoppage to repair this is listed as 30th Jan-24th Feb and is listed as a contracted heritage repair to the wall. I just hope the end of the holiday season and the reduction of traffic through the locks will stop this getting worse.

Another sad sight  at the same location.

Just a short distance and we came across the remains of a tree poking out of the hedge. It was clear

others had been there before but we still managed to find a large  amount. As  can be seen the gangplank was needed to bridge the shallow water when loading the logs. One puzzle was where had the tree come from? Behind the hedge was a narrow corner of a ploughed field and no sign of a stump or hole. My guess was the farmer had cut it down as it made it awkward for the tractor in the tight corner. Perhaps the stump was still in the middle of the field and the canny farmer knew if he dumped the tree near the canal it would save him the bother of clearing it.

This picture taken soon after the wood was loaded is now out of date as today i spent a few hours cutting up another very large find. We just love to burn wood all day and keep the expensive coal for the long overnight burn.

So a few days stopping as when we want is the life we love and a lot of time is still being spent doing alterations. The latest is we now have a cross bed measuring 6` x 6`. My old 4` bachelor bed was fine for just me but now we can stretch out..........bliss.

We now find ourselves south of Milton Keynes and Saturday a visit from some of the grand kids (why did i not take pics) was lovely after not seeing them since May owing to our long stay in the USA.

What we intended was a trip into London after loading Jaq`s boxes, awaiting customs clearance, but my worry is if it should freeze and we are unable to get past the stoppages and remain trapped till March. So perhaps a re-think on the London trip.