Bridge 37 to Yelvertoft (Leicester Arm - Grand Union Canal)

It was dry this morning as we set off but not so warm, wonder where the sun has gone!!  We are chugging just over 5 miles today to Yelvertoft, a long way for us!

This part of the canal is very winky wonky so we wove our way along, a few boats came the other way but generally the canals are much quieter now the holiday period is over.

We moored just before Bridge 20 in a nice open spot opposite a field with cows in.

Knightly Arms pub

We walked along the towpath to the bridge, up onto the road and shortly we were in Yelvertoft village.  Yelvertoft is a very nice small village situated in the wilds of rural Northampshire.  The main thoroughfare, called High Street, is approximately three quarters of a mile long.  It is not far from the towns of Northampton, Rugby and Daventry.  The village has a general store/post office, a butchers/deli and a pub called The Knightly Arms

Village Pump

As you walk into the village, there is a building which used to be a charity school and was built in 1792 (the school was established in 1711)  It now serves as the Reading Room, and there is also a town pump dating from 1900, which was renovated in 2000.

Stores/Post Office

Unfortunately the village store/post office was closed on Wednesday afternoons, but is open tomorrow so we will pop back up then.  We walked on down the high street and came to Squisito, a butchers/deli.

Squisito Butchers & Provisions

Squisito is a unique family run not-just-for-profit producer of Italian food from fresh local ingredients to slow food principles.  They have renovated the Victorian butchers shops in Yelvertoft.  They sell local meat as well as handmade Italian sausages from Tuscan to Napoli plus over 100 specialities from around the world from South African Boerevors to Mexican Chorizo and Warwickshire Beer & Rosemary to Worcester Apple & Perry.  All of the sausages are produced from family recipes using Italian cuts and methods so they contain no additives, no artificial preservatives, no water and no gluten and handmade.  Their saying is “no hooves or eyelashes in any of our products”.   They also sell fresh pesto and tomato passata and a range of Italian cured meats and they even make Ragu Bolognaise, Beef Cacciatore, Tusan Meatballs to heat up at home and also sell local and Italian cheeses.

It is a lovely shop with some great products.  We bought some Tuscan and other Italian sausages and some local cheese and fresh Italian breadsticks.

We walked back to the canal.  We had a shower of rain in the afternoon but it didn’t really come to much, so that was lucky.  We are staying here tonight and moving on again tomorrow.

Moored at Yelvertoft