Crick Marina and singlehanding

I had to go to Crick Marina this morning for a boat test.  Because the boat builder had quite a distance to travel, we agreed to start a bit later than usual.  This meant I ended up with some time to kill, so routed through Braunston, where I made a visit to the chandlery at the bottom lock, and had a cup of tea at the Gongoozler's Rest floating cafe.

When we got to the marina, the boat in question was hemmed in, with another boat right in front.  All the staff qualified to move it were apparently out shopping, but eventually, thanks to a bright idea from the marina manager, we managed to extract the boat from its mooring and get going.  Fortunately, the weather was far far better than the forecast, with blue skies and warm sunshine.

We seemed to be very efficient today, so were all done by lunchtime.  I headed off to Rugby, where I stopped at Tesco for some provisions, then made my way to Brinklow and Briar Rose.  As it was such a nice afternoon, I couldn't resist taking a little trip.  Surprisingly, this is the first time I've been out on the boat on my own, although Adrian has single handed a couple of times (first on Debdale, then on BR).

I turned left out of the marina and was soon going through the dappled sunshine in All Oaks Wood.  There were quite a few boats on the move.  At Stretton Stop, I turned in the arm just as a boat was about to come through the little swing bridge.  I moored up just after Bridge 34 at the All Oaks Wood moorings that we've used a few times.  The guy who'd come through the swing bridge also moored here; he just managed to fit into the gap behind me.  Shortly afterwards a heavy shower came through, but now it's sunny again.  Heavy rain is forecast for tonight, which is probably just as well given that British Waterways has just imposed even more restrictions because the reservoirs are so low.  Now Foxton Locks will be all but closed from this weekend, and there are restricted opening times at Atherstone and Calcutt Locks.

4 miles, 0 locks.