I was in no rush to get going this morning, but even so I was away by 9am. I made my way through Gayton Junction and on to Blisworth, where the mill looked particularly fine in the sunshine, and the cutting on the approach to the tunnel had a sort of magical air, with dappled sunshine and mist rising off the water.
I’d hoped to get through the tunnel without meeting any boats, so I could keep the new blacking well away from the walls, but of course I met three. At Stoke Bruerne the top lock needed filling, and Mike from the trip boat, Charlie, came along to say hello. A friend who was visiting him today, Jane, helped me down the lock. There was quite an audience.
A boat had just come up the next lock so they left the gate so I could go straight in. I was soon down.
There was plenty of space to moor in the long pound, so I put my stern on the very first ring. I was all secure by about 11.15, and began to wash the dust off the towpath side of the boat. I’d only done about a quarter of the boat when I spotted that the boat coming down the lock was Debdale, the boat we had a share in before buying Briar Rose. On board we’re Stuart and Jo Bilsland, who were in the syndicate back then. I said I’d see them at the next lock, and walked down to give them a hand. They provided me with a windlass and I ended up helping them down the rest of the flight.
We were following a couple of boats down, but there were also a few coming up so progress was pretty good. At one of the locks, someone has repainted the cill markers, but has had a bit of spelling trouble.
At the bottom, they moored up and we all had a drink and a catch up. It was really lovely to see them after such a long time.
This afternoon, I wandered back up to the village, had an ice cream, got given a trip into the tunnel mouth on board Charlie (thank you, Mike!) and knocked on Kathryn’s door for a chat. It’s been a thoroughly pleasant day.
5 miles, 2 locks. (11 miles, 2 locks)
No comments:
Post a Comment