A boat came past early, and at about 8am we also moved forward past a couple of moored boats to join it on the lock landing. The lock keepers were running water down the flight to top up a low pound, and then at about 8.30 the lock was unchained and we were allowed in. Our locking partner was a professional boat mover. We had a good run down the flight, but only met boats coming up at the penultimate lock; at the bottom, there were a few queueing to come up. It was chilly, but generally sunny, and I always like the wooded section below the locks, when the M1 starts to diverge from the canal.
We needed to collect my car which has been at Heyford Fields since we picked up the boat last week, so I dropped off Adrian at the marina, and carried on. He collected the car, and our bill from Gary at BLS. Adrian then drove to the little car park near the bottom of Stoke Bruerne Locks. He’d made lunch for each of us before he left, so I had mine on the move while he had his at Stoke Bruerne. The time difference between car and boat travel is such that he was also forced to adjourn to The Navigation!
At Stoke Bruerne Locks boats we’re coming up and one was waiting to go down, so we had a locking partner. Pretty much all the locks were in our favour, and as the other boat had a couple of crew on the bank, I was able to go and open the lock ahead each time. Mike and Stuart from the trip boat, Charlie, also came for a walk down a couple of locks, so it was good to chat to them. As we went down the flight, the clouds built; at the second to last lock it chucked it down.
The flight took little more than an hour, thanks to locks in our favour, and the ability to work ahead. We stopped at the bottom to put the kettle on, then I set off the for final leg on the boat while Adrian drove the car back to Thrupp Wharf — adjourning to a different Navigation pub. We got back into our berth well before 6pm, so it had been a long day but not as long as we’d feared it might be.
21 miles, 13 locks. (39 miles, 35 locks)
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