Sunday 29 July 2012

We woke up this morning and realised we were grounded. The water level in the pound we were in had dropped dramatically overnight. We were literally at an angle of 45 degrees. As we had heavy showers, we loosened our ropes and refloated the boat.

We waited until 11.00am, but decided to go for it. We had showers then bright sunshine followed by more showers.

We had a total of 4 miles and 9 locks to complete.

Wendy opened and closed the first 3 locks. Then we had a flight of 6 locks. Wendy took control of the boat, and Pete worked the locks.

Today has been the only day in our three months of travelling where we have both got really wet. We have had hailstones.

After 2-1/2 miles we decided enough was enough, so we moored up about 40 foot from two other boats. As we dried ourselves out, we saw another boat heading towards us. It moved alongside the boat in front of us. Then we saw the owners carefully manoever the boat between us and the space we had left before the next boat, so as to give them privacy.

A woman on the boat then walked towards us, as we looked on bemused, and said, "We love it here, we only went down to get water and turn around, but as we came around the corner we realised you had taken our place, but don't worry we have got in".

Now we have 2,000 miles of navigatable canals in the UK, why for the life of us, we cannot understand why they had to move in between us, when we had allowed a favourable distance for privacy. Well they do come from Doncaster.

The weather improved, and we are in an idyllic position, so we decided to walk to East Marston (where we were going to moor up for the night originally) As luck would have it, all the visitor moorings were full, so we had made the right decision.

If you ever get the chance to visit East Marston, do it. It is a hamlet, and probably the best place we have visited. The views are stunning. The Cross Keys Inn is so warming and friendly, we have voted it the best so far.

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