We had intended to spend a few days at Grafton Regis but with very high winds forecast for late on Saturday and into Sunday we decided to move. It was not until 13.00 on Friday that we pulled pins. That is very late for us but as the heavy rain that we were supposed to have didn't arrive and only one boat had passed us all morning we went for it.
After the short cruise to the bottom of Stoke Bruerne lock we filled with water and got rid of waste.
We were joined in the locks by nb La Belle Brigitte. All was going well until we came to the lock under the A508 road. Carolyn walked up one side and the lady off the other boat walked up the other side of the canal. After passing under the A508 bridge the lady was nowhere in sight. We waited in the lock and waited and waited. By this time her husband was starting to get very concerned and thought she might have fallen in and went off to look for her . Then Carolyn went to look as well leaving me in an empty lock with the two boats. Eventually all three of them returned. It turned out she had taken a wrong turn somewhere and had lost the canal !!....Anyway it all ended well.
We soon got to the top of Stoke Bruerne locks and decided to get as far as we could before nightfall.
Not far after the locks you come to the 3076 yards of the Blissworth tunnel. It is usually very wet especially after any rain. There are several air shafts in the ceiling of the tunnel and the water pours down through them. So its water proofs on and in we go.
The tunnel is wide enough for two boats to pass but it can be very tight and you have to slow down to tick over to pass. It is also very difficult to judge how far the boat coming in the other direction is away from you. So if you can get through with out meeting any boats all the better and as we had only seen one other boat all day we thought there wouldn't be any boats coming through...... But guess what...We passed 6 boats on our journey through and it took us 35 minutes to go through. And we got a bit wet but its all good fun.
We found a lovely rural mooring the other side of Gayton junction and just got moored up before it got dark.
On Saturday we pulled pins at 08.55 and cruised for an hour to Bugbrooke. Then later in the afternoon the wind started to pick up. It was a lot stronger than last weekend and we really got rocked around all night. We have 25 mb/s of Internet which is really good . We need good Internet as Spurs are playing on Sunday and we watch it on the laptop with Sky go thanks to my lovely parents and we also have BT sport thanks to my lovely sister. (Got to keep them happy).
It is now 09.30 on Sunday morning and the sun is out and putting 12 amps into the batteries. We are just about to walk into Bugbrooke village and pick up a newspaper then its back to Inca to settle down to watch the football
..................COME ON YOU SPURS..................
Happy Days
No comments:
Post a Comment