Friday 15th May 2009 Weedon - Watford

A bit cold and drizzly this morning but we waited for a bright spot and set off. We had decided that I would do the locks today - I obviously had no idea what was ahead. Everybody had assured me that the locks on the canal system were a doddle after the River Nene but that is not the case!!!

The first seven were the Wilton Locks and the Buckby locks - some of the gates were so stiff, it was impossible to move them single handed.

Luckily we had a companion, featured in the picture above. She was about 20 feet long and the couple who own her, spend many days at a time on her. It certainly made it easier with two people - the men had a good chat as both had been in the merchant navy while us girls huffed and puffed our way through the locks.

We stopped for lunch before we tackled the next seven - the Watford flight with a lock keeper supervising to make sure we didn't empty the locks in the wrong order.

We were very lucky as we had just completed the flight when the heavens opened. We weren't very far from our destination but we were both tired and wet and decided to moor on the riverbank very close to the locks.

The picture above is a cottage on Norton Junction which we stayed in about 4 years ago for a week's holiday, incorporating the Crick show. It seems quite different seeing it from the water.

In bed by 2130hrs tonight - not as fit as we thought we were!!