We had a lovely evening last night with Catherine, Nigel, Grace and Matthew, sitting out on the towpath in the sunshine, with plenty of layers on as it got chilly. We had barbecue food but not cooked on a barbecue as we don’t have one. We haven’t seen them in person since September, so there was a lot to catch up on.
Another sunny morning today, but there was a tedious and very cold wind along with it. We set off about 8.30 and soon reached Leighton Lock, which has had new bottom gates.
We were surprised to find that Wyvern Shipping had twenty boats in — we understood many hire fleets to be fully booked. It will be interesting to see how many there are when we pass again later in the week. At Grove Lock the wind was pretty strong, and at Church Lock we caught up with a little boat out of Cook’s Wharf, which we shared the next few locks with.
We stopped for lunch between the Ivinghoe and Seabrook Locks.
Setting off again, two boats were just coming down Seabrook Bottom Lock, but the next two were full. I went and swung the bridge just beyond the top lock. We shared the two bottom Marsworth Locks with a Wyvern boat, then tied up on the rings beyond Bridge 129. We went for a walk up through the village of Marsworth, past the church, and had an ice cream from the tea shop.
We walked round the reservoirs, the Marsworth and Startops End ones looking pretty full, but the string Ford one pretty empty. They do appear to be doing some work there though, so maybe that’s why.
We have no tv signal at all, but we do have internet, so Line of Duty tonight will be via the Firestick and iPlayer.
10 miles, 12 locks. (26 miles, 18 locks)
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