Crick Show -- Day 3

It's rained on and off all day, and more on than off.  With no particular reason to get up early, we were a bit later to surface.  Once we'd had breakfast we decided to turn the boat around so set off up to the winding hole.  Having turned, we slotted back into our space.  The whole thing took about forty minutes.

As it was raining, we both did some work before heading over to the show ground at lunchtime.  We hadn't been there long when there was a text from Kath asking if one of us would go on the waltzer with her granddaughter, Grace, as neither she nor Neil could face it.  Adrian was volunteered, and it's safe to say he enjoyed it less than Grace did.  Next stop was the dodgem cars, where I was the accompanying adult.

We were waiting for the result of the vote for Favourite Boat at the show.  It went to Shackleton, by Boating Leisure Services at Heyford Fields Marina.

We set off a little before 3.30, trying to get ahead of the crowds a bit.  We passed two boats in the tunnel, then arrived at Watford Locks.  One boat was coming up, and there was a queue in our direction.  One boat was in the pound below the top lock, and we were seventh in the queue at the top.  I went ahead with a windlass and helped the six boats in front of us down the top lock.  We were a bit too efficient, as we kept having to wait for the top lock of the staircase to be reset.

Finally it was our turn.  People from the five boats which had arrived behind us came to help us down the top lock, then it was a fairly rapid descent of the staircase.

With the two lower single locks done, we decided we'd stop at the first nice looking spot we saw.  A bit of piling just before Bridge 3 looked appealing, so we pulled in.  It was nearly 7pm -- a pretty late finish for us these days.  With the queue at the locks, a pretty short journey had taken a long time.  Fortunately, Adrian had started to make dinner hours ago, so we could eat soon after stopping.

5 miles, 7 locks.