Date - 3 4 09 Day - Friday Start - 1000 Stowe Hill End - 1400 Stoke Bruerne
The weather today was very similar to yesterday, starting off cold and damp with the sun finally getting through a little after one to give a very pleasant afternoon. We set off at 10 am but didn't want to get to Stoke Bruerne before 2 pm as it takes 4 hrs to charge the batteries and if we arrived any sooner then we would just have to sit with the engine running. We met a few boats on the way but no one caught us up which considering how slowly we were going was a bit surprising. A boat pulled out ahead of us a Blisworth, they were travelling quite slowly as well so I slowed down a bit more. I didn't see them enter the tunnel but as soon as we entered I could hear them, but still couldn't see them, so I dropped right back to tickover. There was a fair amount of water coming down as usual and in the end I resorted to using the brolly. About a quarter of a mile before the south end there is a tunnel going off to the left at about 3 foot from the water level. Looking down this tunnel you can see light at the end and also water coming down. The floor of this small tunnel, it's only about 30" wide is covered with a bright brown/orange deposit from the water. We continued on and met a bout about 300 yards from the end, behind them was the trip boat from the museum, they had their spotlights on which completely blinded my, luckily they only go about a 100 yards into the tunnel and then reverse out, so we didn't have to endure it for long. We moored just on 2 pm about 250 yard above the locks. We will stay here until tomorrow afternoon as in the morning I will be attending a Web accessing course at the canal museum. You will find our latest position at http://tinyurl.com/Harnser-s-route -- Brian
