I mentioned earlier that I had my reasons for going down the
16 locks on the Northampton Arm, there were 4 reasons really.
1st I
wanted to do it anyway, it was a matter of timing as to when I did it as I didn’t
want to go on the river Nene this year, but the other reasons meant now was a
good time.
2nd I intended to
visit my son near his birthday and obviously see my granddaughter and the rest
of the family and Northampton had an Enterprise car hire near the station,
unfortunately my son had a wedding to go to this weekend in Norfolk that I wasn’t
aware of so that put paid to that.
3rd I wanted to buy a fold-up
bicycle.
4th I had my cousin visiting from New Zealand and
Northampton has a good train service into London where we had arranged to meet.
I am now the owner of a Pro-Rider E Wayfarer electric fold
up bike
it’s only been briefly tested and so far I am happy with it although
the gearing could be better when riding without assistance, I only really need
to use 7th gear most of the time, but I have ridden it a few miles
with and without the battery assistance and it’s ok, like most things ‘boaty’
this bike seems to be a compromise, time will tell if it was a good purchase or
not.
On Thursday 9th I caught the 9:50 train to Euston
to meet my cousin Pauline and her partner Jim and my sister Carol and her
partner Peter, it was the day of the underground strike, I don’t like London at
the best of times and using the buses proved beyond me and I ended up walking from
Euston to Covent Garden, we met at Henry’s Bar and cafe about 11:30 and had a
couple of drinks and reminisced and caught up, we then found somewhere to eat
and had a lovely meal.
 |
| Left to Right - Carol-Pauline-Me-Jim-Peter |
Pauline and Jim had to leave by about 4:30 so we said
our goodbyes and Carol Peter and I went for a coffee nearby, I then walked back
to Euston and caught the 7:20 train back to Northampton, and Carol and Peter
got a taxi to Waterloo to catch their train home, it was a wonderful day.
Friday was a rest day and I did some shopping for provisions
intending to leave on Saturday, unfortunately I woke up Saturday distinctly
under the weather, I felt tired and had a couple of dizzy spells when I stood
up, so I stayed put and watched the womens final at Wimbledon, and hoped I’d
feel better today.
This morning I woke feeling quite normal, don’t say it, I
know.
Rain was forecast for later so at 8:15 I set off, the first lock showed
me it was not going to be an easy day, the dredging has resulted in loads of
reeds and other debris floating down towards Northampton and of course it
gathers at the top gate of each lock, so lock 16 took about 30minutes as I had
to remove enough from the water to enable me to open the gate, 15 and 14 were
similar but not as bad and from then on it was normal service.
 |
| Reeds piled high, I didn't clear it all but I did my bit. |
I reached the
service point back at Gayton Junction around 12:15 and had a short wait for someone using it, then it
was my turn, so watered up, elsan and rubbish emptied I set off to find a
mooring, as luck would have it the space I left was empty so I am back where it
all began, timing could not have been better as the moment I had finished mooring
and done all the little things you need to do (grease the stern gland, put away
everything, leaving it all ready to go again) the heavens opened for a heavy
30minute shower of rain, luck was with me.
I will rest up tomorrow again, sadly no TV signal here so no
men’s final but never mind.
Todays travel : 5 miles : 16 Locks : 2 Lift Bridges
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