Sunday 28 August 2016

Pre-trip trip: Day 2

We both slept very well, and so had a pretty slow start this morning. After breakfast, we went for a walk down to Willen Lake. One of the main attractions was the water skiing, with people being pulled round by a cable. One girl was very good, and did tricks as she arrived back at the end of the circuit; so,e of the others didn't even manage to stand up before they were flat on their faces and swimming back to try again. We had tea in the cafe, while we continued to watch.

Back at the boat, I checked the batteries, then we had lunch. We set off in decent sunshine at about 1.15pm, heading for the winding hole just through Bridge 82. No sooner had I pushed the bow off than a boat came round the corner, so I tried to keep out the way so they could come past; there were also two boats coming the other way.

Heading north again we kept catching up with people, but managed to get past either because they pulled over, or stopped for one reason or another. Having seen surprisingly few Wyvern hire boats yesterday, we've seen dozens today -- and only one of them in the offside bushes.

We followed a boat across the Grafton Street aqueduct, while a boat held back coming the other way. I'm not sure why, as it's plenty wide enough for two narrowboats to pass. He set off as we passed him, just as the boat behind also started to come across. We heard the helmsman comment that the other boat would have to back up because he wasn't waiting any more -- but in fact they proved that two boats can pass with room to spare.

We arrived at Wolverton and moored up in a decent space, complete with a BT Wifi hotspot. There was a big black cloud up ahead, and within a few minutes of getting ourselves secure the heaves opened, with a real deluge. It lasted ten or fifteen minutes, and then the sun came out again.

6 miles, 0 locks. (14 miles, 1 lock)

 

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