Bourne End

I woke this morning at about 8am, the sun was shining and it looked good so I decided to move on, by the time I had sorted myself out it was 10:30 and as luck would have it a pair of boats were in the lock (63) directly in front of my mooring heading my way, so the lock would be open for me, I set off before someone else nabbed the lock and as I was leaving the lock a boat was approaching, so no need to shut the gates, a good start to the day.

 The cruise was uneventful through lock 62 although I had a small audience sitting on the top gates and they seemed oblivious to the fact that I would need to open the one they were sitting on until I actually mentioned it to them. 

Canals are full of water and lots of fish, you can fish almost anywhere if it’s not private water (club angling rights) there are exceptions that are usually signed and the one absolute exception is not in the locks or on the lock landing areas, do anglers abide by this, not all apparently, lock landings seem to be favoured by many anglers and as I approached lock 61 there were two of them fishing in the middle of the three available bollards for me to tie up to, one was between the 1^st and 2^nd and one was between the 2^nd and the 3^rd, why? I assumed they would move as I approached, but no, just waited until I had almost reached them and lifted their lines out of the water I tried to stop short of the 1^st bollard to avoid them but grounded, so with a bit of effort I got in directly in front of them walking around them to tie up, they ignored me totally, not worth a comment, so I ignored them too. 

On to Springwell Swing bridge, this one is electrically operated and has the controls on the towpath side along with bollards, it is on a quiet looking little lane but by the time I had worked through there were 5 cars and half a dozen pedestrians all waiting patiently.

At lock 60 I had a young family watching as dad explained to his two small children how the lock worked, both children looked happy so I guess they understood. At lock 59 my last one for today a lady cyclist had stopped for a breather and as I opened the top gate to leave she offered to close it for me, some people are so kind.
Not far after the lock I found a mooring spot, my general plan weather permitting is to cruise every other day stopping to look around the small villages and towns or any other point of interest, I am in no rush at all so I won’t do more unless I have to, that way I will also charge the batteries whilst cruising and save fuel on rest/exploration days, beside 5 or 6 locks is enough on your own, why work hard!

Todays Mooring pictures.

Happy Easter J

Todays Totals: 2 Miles : 5 Locks : 1 Swingbridge