Friday 5th June 2009

It was cold this morning and we were almost back to winter clothes again. We set off at 0915hrs and knew we were getting close to the Blisworth tunnel - the third longest canal tunnel open to navigation in Britain. Evidently it is 3056 yards long. Just before the entrance to the tunnel we went under Candle Bridge, where the boatmen used to buy candles for use in the tunnel. It was Tom's turn to take "Lottie" through as I didn't enjoy the experience yesterday through Crick Tunnel which is nowhere near as long. We were very lucky as we only passed one boat, which turned out to be a trip boat. Why anybody would want a trip through a dark wet tunnel is beyond me but it was full up and the passengers seemed very cheerful - mind you they had lights and were under cover.
Once we emerged into daylight again, we were straight onto the 7 locks at Stoke Bruerne. We were very lucky and managed to go through them with another boat, halving the work. By the end of the locks we had discovered that they had a timeshare in Los Gigantes, Tenerife so are hoping to get together next October. Mind you, they are on their way to London too, so might see them further down the line.
I also met a lady who was on holiday for a week. Two days ago she saw a lamb in the water who was unable to climb up the bank. She got into the canal, only to find it was so frightened of her that it tried to scurry away. Eventually she managed to catch it and put it back onto dry land, where it seemed to be okay. She then found she could not get back onto her boat. Luckily a passing boat had a plastic chair which it lowered into the water, she was able to stand on it and then climb onto her boat. Not to be recommended, I think!
By early afternoon we started to look for suitable places to moor to enable us to meet with Cathy and Simon, who are visiting tomorrow. We decided on Yardley Gobion, which is a small village just outside Milton Keynes. We had a walk to the shop there and it seems a pretty village with a mixture of thatched stone properties and a new modern estate.
By late afternoon it had started to rain so we were happy to settle down for the rest of the day.
Sorry can't upload any photos at the moment - will try again tomorrow.