A bit of a holdup.

On Friday I was unsure whether to move on or stay put, the weather looked grim but in the end the urge to make some progress won and it was around 10:30 before I set off.  I think there was a boat ahead of me somewhere because all the locks were against me, and with the poor weather it was not the most pleasant days cruising that I’ve had but I pressed on.

2nd lock of the morning was the middle one of the 3 Seabrook locks (36-34)

Passing these moored boats the view was pleasant but the skies were dark and showers frequent, hence not many pictures.

I passed by a mobile cycle rack.

After a steady few hours in very changeable conditions I arrived at the last lock of the day for me, Grove Lock (28) where a chap kindly opened the paddles when he saw me arriving, it turned out he was using the services at Grove Lock Marina and was just about ready to go down the lock himself so we shared.

I suggested he head out first as I was on the lookout for my mate Karl who was moored further along at Leighton Buzzard and after a slow crawl following the chap I saw Karl’s boat and pulled in just before it.

Following my lock buddy

Current mooring:

The familiar sight of Karl's boat 'Lizzie Jane' in front of me.

Totals this post: 5.5 miles : 9 locks

I met up with Karl later in the day and we had a coffee and catch up on board Quinquireme.

I also messaged Ed the marine engineer and arranged for a ‘fix’, a few weeks ago I noticed one of my engine mounting bolts had sheared off but I wanted to wait until I knew I was stopping a few days before I arranged the repair, so with a visit planned for Wednesday I knew I had a few days here to kill, then in the evening a nagging intermittent slight tooth pain became more serious, I think I have an abscess, so tomorrow it will be a trip to the dentist and see what happens with that, so I might be here longer than first anticipated, but I have good internet, TV and radio and with the town just a few minutes walk away there is no rush to head off again.

Yesterday the weather was again very changeable with sunshine, showers and then thunder and lightning accompanied by strong winds, I did little apart from nip to Tesco for some urgent supplies.

This afternoon I swept my stove chimney in preparation for the next job! more on that later.