Flaming June dawned grey, dank, and drizzly. We were up pretty early again, and set off about a quarter to eight; at Gayton Junction we reversed onto the service wharf to fill with water -- not that we particularly needed water as it was the last day of the trip, but so we could put a wash load on, for towels which live on the boat.
Through Blisworth tunnel, I managed to get decent shots of the two side shafts which link to an air vent which is off the line of the tunnel.
On the Stoke Bruerne side of the tunnel was a fairly dramatic scene -- a tree had come down on top of a moored boat. We saw some of the owners later, and they said it happened at half past midnight, and that because of the shape of the tree, the boat looked pretty much undamaged.
There was just enough room to get round the tree, so we made our way to the top of the locks. We had a quick chat with Kathryn while the lock was filling, and Mike from the trip boat. The volunteer lock keeper told us that a hire boat had gone down the second lock, and he'd asked them to wait for us at the third. When we got there, they were already going down with another boat. Two small boats, both single handers, were next in the queue. As we came along the long pound, two more boats pulled out to go down, and we knew there were two more behind us -- so seven boats in total waiting for the third lock. When it was our turn, neither of the pairs of boats behind us wanted to split up, so we went on alone.
After the locks, Adrian made some toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch as we went along. We got back to the marina at about 1pm, and although the direction of the wind didn't make it easy to get into our berth, we managed ok. About 45 minutes later we were in the car and heading home.
10 miles, 7 locks. (78 miles, 44 locks)
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