Saturday 30 September 2017

North West Passage: Day 36

We woke to a nice sunny morning. Before we set off there was a comotion outside on the water. About seven adolescent cygnets were running along the water trying unsuccessfully to take off. Their parents seemed to be showing them what to do. A bit later the adults seemed to be chasing off a third.

We set off about 9am along this very familiar route home. We waved at Del and Al on Derwent6 as we went by. It was sunny enough for shadows, but the breeze had a cold edge to it.

We did a touch and go at Gayton Junction so Adrian could get off with a bag of rubbish and recycling. When we got to Blisworth we moored up in the village to wait for visitors to arrive. Adrian made lunch while we waited, then at about 1pm, Catherine, Nigel, Grace, and Matthew arrived for their trip through the tunnel and down the locks. We set off after lunch and saw no other boats apart from the trip boat, Charlie, in the tunnel. As we got to the top of the locks an Alvechurch hire boat with a big crew of enthusiatic children also set off, so we went down together.

It was an efficient decent, and at the bottom we moored up for tea and some of Catherine's lovely lemon cake. By the time they were leaving there were spots of rain, so we decided to stay where we were.

11 miles, 7 locks. (406 miles, 294 locks)

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