On our way to Braunston

With the weather forecast telling us we were facing days of torrential rain, this is what the skies looked like at Yelvertoft the evening before last.

And I did NOT enhance the colours, either!

So, we set out yesterday morning. It wasn't raining, but it was quite blowy. Then, not half an our down the canal, it hailed on us! Not too hard, but bad enough. We donned our new waterproof coats and kept going like old pros. Then came Watford Locks. A single lock dealt with by me, a staircase of four managed by BW staff, and another two singles left to me. Easy-peasy. Apart from the hail which descended with a vengeance as Kantara lay in the top of the staircase. It was painful! The lock-keeper and I tried in vain to find shelter, and we just had to stand it out. Grace, at the tiller of the boat, was able to sit under cover. But when the hail turned to simple rain, we had to continue.

Those last photos were taken just below the flight of locks, after we'd moored, changed into dry clothing, and had some well-overdue lunch. The rain had been quite something. The thing about good, waterproof coats is, of course, that they require equally good and waterproof trousers and boots. Below the knees, I was inadequately prepared for that rain. The bottom of my jeans was soaked to capacity, my shoes were drenched through, and my socks were totally waterlogged.

But, you know what? It was fun! We wore smiles on our faces the whole time - there is something very amusing about situations like that. It brought to mind a picture I saw on the web just the other day.

(I found THIS one a year later!)

We "just got wet". And now we're dry. And we will probably get wet today, too... and tomorrow. The canals are filling - that's the best thing about it.

We moored late yesterday afternoon just before Braunston Tunnel, 2042 yards long - that's about a 25 minute trip in the dark. After that, Braunston Flight - six locks close together. At the moment, we don't know if we'll simply do the tunnel today and leave the rest of the journey until Sunday. We're in no hurry. The last entry into the locks is 2:30pm, and it's 11:00am now, and we're very happy where we are.

It's wonderful, waking up to this sort of scenery.