Mikron at Calcutt - the other play, plus a tree tangle and a Braunston visit.

 It was a full house at Calcutt, if you can have a full house out of doors, but you know what I mean. Well over a hundred people I would think.  The marina had even set up a beer tent where you could buy Old Hooky bitter or Napton cider.  What's not to like?

The Mikron Theatre play this time was "A Force To Be Reckoned With" - a story about the history and role of women in the police force built around the experiences of one eager new recruit. Once again the performances were superb, the songs brilliantly delivered and the story well put together.  It's a tad more serious than the Twitcher comedy we saw the night before in that it had more pathos, but there were still jokes.  Both plays succeeded in being informative as well as really entertaining.  Mikron sets such a high standard, you can always go along with confidence that it'll be good. If you asked me which of the two to see if you could only see one, I really couldn't choose.  Go to see either and you'll have a good night.

Next morning we winded Herbie at the top of Calcutt locks, winded being a very appropriate term in this case as as soon as we were broadside across the canal the wind got us and was shoving us sideways towards the locks at quite a rate.  There was nothing for it but to whack up the revs at with the tiller right over, which delivered us smartly into the overhang of the weeping willow on the far bank where we just had to push through, collecting quite a mass of willow to dispose of when we emerged back into the daylight.  Fortunately Kath had the presence of mind to take a photo while we were in the midst of it, making sure that you can see it's my hand on the tiller.

Having thus extricated ourselves we journeyed back to Wigrams turn, swung left and headed for Braunston, which when we arrived had a surprising number of mooring opportunities considering it was an August weekend.  Having said that, our favourite spot just past the marina entrance was taken so we moored up just before the toll house, which was quite good because it put our solar panels in the sun.

After lunch came the obligatory trek up the hill to visit the butcher's and the village shop, which not only got us victualled up sufficient for a few days, but also got us a picking of blackberries on the way back - not masses but enough to add to our yoghurt, strawberries, grapes, apple and granola for Sunday breakfast.  Boaters will know that Braunston is a well manicured village, so it was fun to see one front garden with this sign in it.

In the evening I took a stroll into the marina to look at the boats for sale, not that I'm thinking of buying one, but it's interesting to see prices to get an idea of what Herbie might be worth.  It looks like prices might be very high still.  Here are a couple of examples. First a high spec one but at 9 years old surprisingly high asking high price

and another one 33 years old ( and could do with a repaint) but still asking just under £40k

on this basis Herbie ought to be worth not too far off what we paid for her 17 years ago.  Of course they probably won't get the asking price, or in this market will they??

Whilst wandering round the yard I came across this plaque which I had failed to notice on previous visits. It commemorates the Boaters Strike of 1923 of which I confess I had never heard.  I'll leave you to read the details.

Fourteen weeks with pay is a lot to suffer when you are already poor.  I wonder how they managed.

Now we're back at bridge 102 for Sunday night.  We'll probably be back at out marina berth tomorrow, or we might stay out a bit longer.  Who knows?