November weekend - Day 3

We slept pretty well.  Adrian got up well before me this morning, and sat by the fire reading.  As we had breakfast, we could hear quite a lot of noise coming from the park.  When we set off at about 9.45, we could see that a Movember Run was getting ready for the off.  Most of the runners had moustaches, and quite a few of the children did, too.

We made pretty rapid progress until Giffard Park, when the number of moored boats from there right through to the Proud Perch moorings means tickover only for a couple of miles.

When we got to the moorings past the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, we stopped for lunch of leftover chili on toast.  More than anything, the pause was to avoid getting back to the marina too early.  We set off again at about 2pm, and I walked up to Cosgrove Lock.  A boat was just coming out, which was welcome news.  After we'd gone in the open gate, I spotted a woman walking up the towpath with a windlass, and then a little boat following on behind.  It turned out to be a short Sea Otter, which the owners were taking to Crick to go onto brokerage -- and at the same time they'd be picking up their new (to them) boat, a much bigger proposition at 62ft.

We got back to the marina under very dark skies, and with a bit of drizzle falling.  Adrian reversed into our berth (he thinks it's actually the first time he's done it!) and we got the boat secured.

We've been increasingly frustrated with the poor mobile internet signal here at the marina, so decided to drive into Milton Keynes to get the latest MiFi -- having been told about it by Lesley and Joe on Yarwood when I visited a couple of weeks ago.  It's all set up, and seems to pick up a 3G signal when the old one wouldn't.  There's also a socket for an external ariel, should we need it.

We are staying the night on board and going our seperate ways to work in the morning.  We'll be getting up early, so apologies in advance to the neighbours for the sound of our shower pump!

8.5 miles, 1 locks.  (17 miles, 2 locks)