A visit....

....then a move.

Yesterday my daughter, ex wife and granddaughter visited the boat, after a cup of tea and a natter we headed off to ‘The Fishery In’ for lunch, but not before Hazel had fed the Canada geese through the side hatch and off the stern and shown me her sunglasses.

We had a very pleasant lunch, the food was good although the child menu was not really for very small people, no baked beans!

They left around 3pm to avoid the Friday rush on the motorway, a lovely visit. I then walked to the local shop to replenish my bread supply J

This morning I cast off around 9:30, but soon found I wasn’t really in the mood, some days you just don’t feel like it, I persevered though, a lot of the locks in this section leak badly and have to be left empty, I suppose it’s swings and roundabouts really when going uphill, the lock is empty when you arrive, but when you exit you have to walk back to the bottom gates and raise the paddles to leave it empty again, all part of the joy of boating but not a joy when you are not really in the right mood to start with.

A leaky Boxmoor Top Lock (62)

As I was leaving lock 62 I could see a boat approaching going my way, so I thought I would wait for him at the next lock and we could also deal with the Winkwell swing bridge together to avoid too long a delay for the car drivers, approaching lock 61 I could see a gate open.

Winkwell lock 61

 Thinking ahead I went into the lock through the open (left) gate and moved across to the right side of the lock, that would allow the boat following to come straight in and then leave first to open the swing bridge while I closed the lock then closed the swing bridge, perfect planning and all that! I knew he’d be a little while so I went below and put a load of washing in the machine, I waited....and waited...after about 25minutes I assumed he’d moored up, blast, never mind, the best laid plans and all that!

Then of course as the lock was almost full a boat appeared, but not the same one, ok I thought I’ll wait at the swing bridge for this one, but on asking them if they were going through the bridge they replied no, so I dealt with that solo as well, some days things just don’t go your way, I knew it when I set off this morning.

Wnkwell swing bridge (again), I know this well now.

After the next lock I actually saw a view I thought worthy of a picture.

At the next three locks I met boats going the opposite way, two were in a position to assist me and one was a case of me assisting the solo boater, but it was nice to see some other boats moving.

The pound between locks 57 and 56 was very low and it was all I could do to get my bow onto the lock landing, walking along the gunnels to get ashore and deal with the lock, presumably the result from all the leaking gates behind me.

I moored up just after the lock and was glad to stop, not a bad trip, just me not in sync with the rhythm of life today J

Current Mooring:

Totals today: 3 miles : 8 locks : 1 moveable bridge

When I put the washing on the airer I realised I hadn't put a full load in, time for a lay down I think!