Going West: Day 26

Another beautiful start to the day, particularly the view from the galley window. We set off at 8.30, to make the short journey to Rugby Boats for diesel, and where we were meeting my second cousin Catherine and family. We spent a great morning plodding along the lock free pound, catching up. It was great hearing about their recent trip on their shared boat round the Four Counties Ring, and plenty of other news. We stopped at Blisworth for pasta cooked by Adrian, and cake cooked by Catherine.

In Blisworth Tunnel we passed three or four boats going the other way, and Grace and Matthew could be heard singing 'There's light at the end of the tunnel' -- particularly loudly when they could see people at the Stoke Bruerne end peering round the entrance.

We shared the locks with a boat called Kelly Louise, which had just been bought from Wilton Marina. It looked suspiciously like the one which used to be owned by a couple, Peter and Margaret, and which was loaned to Tom and Jan while they waited for Waiouru to be built. This post has a photo (at the end) for comparison.

Anyway, thanks to the crew working hard, we made good time down the hill.

We moored up at the bottom of the locks and said goodbye to our visitors. We then walked up to Stoke Bruerne, as we'd spotted Cleddau moored there. We introduced ourselves to Ken, then a little later Sue returned; we had a great chat, which ended up with us having bubbles on board Cleddau, and staying until gone 7pm. On the way back we knocked on Kathryn's door and dragged her to The Navigation for a drink. It was dark by the time we walked back down the locks to the boat.

13 miles, 7 locks. (335 miles, 269 locks)