I made a pot of tea this morning. I am not seeking any reward or praise; we were both awake after one of the windiest nights that we can remember whilst afloat. Rest assured dear reader, the tea tasted wonderful, even at 4.35am!
Eventually having breakfasted, we cast off into a pleasantly still morning, although the clouds were moving fast towards Milton Keynes. We had gone through but two bridge holes; the curse of Iain manifested itself yet again! There, in the mud at the offside edge of the canal was a slightly unhappy looking ewe, head thankfully above water, but unable to remove her legs from the mud. Shades of Bingley 5 rise and Heifer. Myra appeared on deck and said very forcibly (I like her like that)DO NOT TRY AND GET HER OUT BY YOURSELF, GO AND GET THE FARMER. I tied up Martlet and walked to the farmhouse near to the bridge. No barking wall eyed collies here, only electric gates and a keypad and entry phone. Welcome to farming today. I pressed both calling buttons and a driver in a lorry saw me and on arriving at the gate, I told him what had happened. He came down to the canal and telephoned the farmer who was out checking his flocks as he was feeding them. Maths obviously not one of his strong points.
Moving away for the second time brought us soon to the moorings and the new Marina at Gayton, which looks well maintained and spacious, ideal for the hard of hearing with the A43 Dual carriageway on the south side.
Approaching Candle Bridge we were warned by the crew of an approaching boat that there was a wide beam boat heading North through the tunnel, we stopped at the entrance and waited only 10 minutes before a wide Dutch Barge came into view.
Through the tunnel lots of mooring space at Stoke Bruerne, but we continued and shared the locks with a Leighton Buzzard hire boat.We tied up at Br.56 in the middle of nowhere at 12.15pm. The wind really became strong in the afternoon, but the rain kept off.
2009 Totals - Locks 21; Miles 29.5; Bus pass Journeys 2.
