Rediscovery Cruise: Day 1

 Adrian came up to the boat yesterday, and did things like making the bed and stocking the cupboards. I worked the last of three night shifts and drove up this morning, arriving about 8.15.  Before I arrived, Adrian found that the batteries were unexpectedly very low; he plugged into the shoreline for a bit to give them a boost.  We set off at around 8.30, in conditions my Scottish friends would call ‘driech’.  The sunflowers in the field margins on the offside were doing their best to brighten up the day, but not entirely succeeding.

It took the usual 90 minutes to get to Stoke Bruerne Locks, and as we arrived a Wyvern hire boat was just coming off the water point and into the bottom lock.  The two couples on board should have been in Vienna, but were loving their first canal boat holiday.  The two ladies remained a bit confused the entire flight about which paddles did what and when they should be opened and closed, but with people on the bank Adrian was able to go and set ahead, while the boats did synchronised transfers between locks.

At the fifth lock we had to wait for a boat coming down, and at the top two locks there was a boat going up ahead.  Even so, we did the flight in an hour and 20 minutes, which is pretty good.  Our lock companions were mooring up, but we headed straight for the tunnel.  On the approach I wondered how we’d get in, but the boat moored right there was a bit further forward than it first looked.

We had lunch on the move through Gayton Junction, and then the weather worsened a bit with proper rain for a few minutes rather than just drizzle.  We moored up at Nether Heyford at about 3.15.  Once the engine had had a bit of time to cool a little, I did an oil change.  Unusually, it’s the second of the year — the first was in March before we set off on our aborted long trip.  That was three weeks, then we had ten days getting the boat back from Nantwich, and then last month cousin Catherine and family had a fortnight on board doing the Warwickshire Ring instead of going to Canada.  So BR has had quite a bit of use.

Of course after we moored, the sun came out.  Adrian made a chilli as we came along this afternoon, and I’ll be having an early night — I’ve been up 23 hours already.

15 miles, 7 locks.