One-way weekend: Day 1

We came up to the boat last night; Adrian drove up after work, and then met my train at Wolverton at 11.30pm. This morning began with a car shuffle. I drove to our destination for the weekend, and met our friends Brian and Mike there. We drove back to the marina, getting back at a little after 9am.
At around 9.30, our neighbouring boat reversed out of their berth and we followed. It was distinctly murky.

The trip to the bottom of Stoke Bruerne locks took the usual hour and a half. We shared the bottom lock with our neighbour, but a single boat ahead waited for them in the next lock so we were on our own. I feared this would mean a slow ascent, but there were boats coming down (all singly) which helped. Plus, of course, we had crew which meant Adrian could go ahead to the next lock.

At the top, Adrian knocked on Katharine's door and she came out to say hello. We then moored up for a lunch stop. Setting off again, we entered the tunnel to see a number of headlights coming towards us; in total, we passed five boats in the tunnel -- which came as a bit of a shock, as the last several passages have been completely alone.

We carried on in drizzle, until Bridge 38, just on the approach to Bugbrooke. We've got the Virgin trains for company, but that's true all along here. There's a massive bridge over the railway line, which Brian and I went to have a look at -- and look down on Briar Rose.

13 miles, 7 locks.