Look East: Day 17

We had a nice evening catching up with Kathryn, although The Navigation seems to have gone downhill.  It appeared understaffed, with queues at the bar, uncleared tables, and long waits for food.  The food itself was ok, but no more than that.

This morning, two boats started heading down then locks while we were still having breakfast, so we didn’t rush to set off.  It was 9 when Adrian walked down to set the lock while I set off on the boat.  We did the first couple of locks alone, but at Stoke Bruerne there’s always the chance of gaining a locking partner from the long pound.  As it happened, it was below the third lock that we joined another boat going down, a nice couple on a very old hire boat from Braunston.  After that, we started meeting boats coming up.

The locks took the usual hour and a half, and from the bottom lock to our marina also took the same amount of time — so it was 12 by the time we arrived.  After lunch, I drove Adrian to Milton Keynes station to catch a train back to London.  I’ve spent the afternoon doing odd jobs, such as topping up the batteries, and using cheap nappies to get the water out of the bilge that the pump leaves behind.

6 miles, 7 locks.  (164 miles, 122 locks)