Saturday 9th August

It started out bright and sunny and I walked into the village to get the paper in my summer outfit. We set off about 10 am to aim for Bedford. We were surprised how quiet this part of the river was, considering it is Saturday and school holidays.

Some of the pretty views en route

We weren't very far into our journey when the rain started, gently at first but then it pelteddown as Tom was in the bottom of a deep lock and there was no way of getting any protective clothes. The double V gates all took a time, as they were all against us, so by the time I managed to get to the boat, I was drenched.

Some woolly friends were seen despite the rain

We carried on, despite the weather and it just rained and rained and rained!! We finally reached the outskirts of Bedford about 3pm and moored up, having passed under some very low bridges.

The weir shows the drop in the river level about 15'+ to go up in the lock

Luckily we hadn't left the boat as some young lads started pestering us, and wanted to get on the boat and were knocking on it. As we were the only boat there we decided to turn back as the river was quite high and we didn't think we could get under the bridge that straddles Bedford Lock. We just went a few hundred yards back up the river and are now in Priory Marina, which is secure. It also means that yet again we can hook up so we are sitting here with the central heating on as it is so cold tonight, and all our electrics up and running.