All change – Banbury out, Market Harborough in.

I’ve always said that it’s best not to have a plan – that way nothing can go wrong. Sadly, we’re going to have to abandon our plans to take Herbie to Banbury canal day because we need to get to the funeral and wake of our friend Sarah.  Apologies to those folk we were looking forward to meeting at Banbury. We were already under time pressure getting to Banbury, as we couldn’t start until after my towpath ranger induction on Tuesday, and the funeral being a day later put the cap on it. Some things are more important than others, and we can’t not be there with all the gang to say goodbye to Sarah, even though we have just spent three flippin’ days sweating over a model hot air balloon with twinkling LEDs on the basket to flaunt at the canal day.  Their theme this year is balloons you see. I’m sure we’ll find a use for it somehow, and I notice that I am slowly improving my soldering from atrocious to not very good, so every cloud as a silver lining.

Banbury was a bit of a detour really as it fell at the start of our Autumn migration south, and looking on the bright side it will save us two trips through Braunston locks and tunnel, which despite their many charms have become somewhat over familiar to us this year.

However we are supposed to be out of Crick marina by the end of September and we don’t want to arrive at Slough before the end of October, so after the funeral we will have time in hand.  That being so, we can now do something we have been planning to do for three years and never got round to it.  A cruise to Market Harborough – hooray!  We will try to negotiate a couple of extra days at Crick to see us past the funeral, then enjoy a few days tootle along to Harborough and back before heading south down the GU.

I must say I am really looking forward to going down the GU again. It is one of our favourite canals, especially from Milton Keynes down, and we already have a number of enquiries from would be crew for various bits, so we’ll be in good company. We might even carry on right into to London for a few days if we get there early.