Monday morning was
cloudy and windy, the sort of wind that makes one wonder if it's
worth trying to get out of the marina, but it wasn't raining, and the
weather prospects were good, so we set out, perhaps an hour or so
later than we should. Grace almost effortlessly pulled away from the
service platform and out of the marina despite the prevailing wind.
It soon became evident
that there are far fewer boats out on the cut now, but we had a wait
of 90 minutes or more at Watford Locks, with the lockies there
preferring the nine ascending boats over us. Never mind, we're in no
hurry, and some of the boats at the bottom of the locks had to wait
over two hours. Because we were leaving later than planned, Grace had
made sandwiches while I drove to Crick for some milk, and we ate
lunch on the move. We moored overnight in a wooded spot just north of
Norton Junction.
Tuesday got off to a
bright and sunny start, but it was very chilly, and I wore more
clothing than at any other time in the past year. Clouds built as we
cruised, and rain threatened. Moving down to Norton Junction, we
turned right to Braunston Tunnel where three men in a boat – a
strangely common sight on canals – failed to keep to their side of
the tunnel, and collided with us fairly impressively. No major damage
though – at least, not to us.
The weather improved
considerably at the other end of the tunnel, and was warm as we
descended Braunston Flight. We went with another boat, named 42 (The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything), and
this, plus the fact that all of the locks were in our favour as we
approached them, meant that the descent was smooth and fast (although we were in nothing like the hurry the skipper of the other boat seemed to be in!). At
Braunston Turn we headed up the Oxford Canal, mooring just past
bridge 100 for the night – a beautiful open spot with a huge sky
above us. The night sky was amazing, with no light pollution to spoil
our sight of the ceiling of stars.
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