We had a leisurely start as we weren’t going very far. Through Saddington Tunnel and then the locks
started coming. One good thing about the
locks we did today is that the gates are all nice and easy to push which does
have its down side as they swing open very easily when you have shut them! We kept coming across locks with one of the
bottom gates open and it wasn’t the boat in front.
Just below the first lock they were obviously having a wedding
reception in the garden. There was a
lovely marquee, bar, beer garden, bouncy castle but best of all lots of tents
for people to stay in – what a brilliant idea.
At the second lock one horse and two ponies shared the lock side with
me. I think the wedding reception was
probably being held in their paddock! I
hope someone had cleared the field up properly!
Even though we had no one to share the locks with and most of them were
against us they were a joy to operate, especially after the Grand Union
locks. Richard and I worked them between
us with both of us vying to walk between the close ones!
We had planned to stop at Kilby
Bridge. My daughter, son and
daughter-in-law are coming to see us tomorrow on their way back from Newcastle where
they have been for a wedding. Robert and
Laura are going to stay in a hotel and Victoria will stay with us on the
boat.
However, just before Tythorn Lock (28) there was a stretch of towpath
crying out to be moored against so we decided it would be rude not to!! We were only two locks short of Kilby Bridge
anyway. It was a hot day and our mooring
was nice and shady so the chairs came out and we relaxed until we discovered
that the pub at Kilby Bridge is closed for meals on a Sunday evening. More research showed that most of the local
pubs are the same. So what to do? I won’t go into all the different options we
came up with! These were all scuppered
though when Robert said that they have booked the Hilton Hotel which is nowhere
near Kilby Bridge! My suggestion had
been for the Holiday Inn in Leicester and very close to Castle Gardens moorings
but Robert had already paid for the Hilton!
We gave up trying to plan and decided just to set off early in the
morning and see where we get to and go from there!!
It was a lovely evening and the above is the view from the back of the
boat.
5.64 miles
10 locks
1 tunnel
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