Just cruising.

Now moored at Stowehill. 0 Locks/ 7 Miles
Total of 159 locks and 141^1/₂ miles and 1 Tunnel since 5th Nov 2006

Rotherthorpe Lock 2 looking towards lock 1

After a very quiet night on the Northampton arm we winded above lock 1 and headed back to the GU mainline. At Gayton junction we stopped to top up the water as facilities further north appear to be scarce.

The journey was a bit mundane as it is reasonably flat through this area which is all agricultural. The only interesting sightings were a pheasant cock bird and the pretty little Mandarin duck pictured who had adopted a pair of Mallards for company.

The one mystery of the day was a huge mound of earth under the hedgerow on the towpath side of the canal. There were fresh diggings from the entrance hole which was far too large for rabbits but may have been a Badger or Fox. It seemed unusual in that it was so exposed although I don’t think the towpath would get that much use there as it was miles from anywhere. I was under the impression that these 2 creatures preferred to hide in woods or copses.

We have now moored between bridges 25 and 26at Stowehill which is about a mile from the village of Weedon. We took a stroll up there to see what shops were there only to find 4 antique shops, a bridal shop, a baby & toddler shop, a couple of pubs and a couple of takeaway shops. We asked a couple of locals who were out walking their dog if there were any grocery shops around, only to be told that there was a village store about a mile over the hill in one direction or a service station convenience store down on the A5 which runs across the other side of the village. Just as well we have stocked up with food because there doesn’t seem to be much around for about 40 miles.

Mandarin Duck