On to Braunston

We're not exactly emulating a hire boat, despite what we told Ian and Sharon, but we are doing about twice as much in a day as we'd normally do. But then, at our normal rate of progress, it would take us three weeks to get from Crick to Poynton, and by the time we got this boat there, it would nearly be time for her to go back.

So today we did two tunnels, Crick and Braunston, and two flights of locks, Watford and Braunston. Setting off at seven, we arrived just before twelve, after a pretty smooth trip. The lockie at Watford was having to run some water down to refill a drained pound at the bottom (as he said, they've sorted all the gates, so now the ponds are leaking), but we were still able to go straight down.

I took over for Braunston Tunnel, Sheila having done Crick; I met one hippy hutch towing another just as we reached the far end, and had a bit of trouble avoiding him. He'd made the classic mistake of stopping altogether, so there was no bow wave to push the boats apart, and the bows gently bumped.

A boat that had preceded us through waited at the top lock so we could share down, which was good of them, and saved water. This is going to be the theme of this year; the lockie at Watford told us that from next Monday there will be restrictions on all the major flights around here, so Watford, Foxton, Braunston, Buckby and Napton will all be padlocked and only open maybe ten till four or just ten till three.

At that, both Crick and Braunston Shows are at risk of cancellation, because by June there may simply not be enough water to cope with all the visiting boats.

We were sat in the boat after lunch pondering a little shopping trip, when who should turn up but Jayne and Stephen; they've had the misfortune to acquire a bend in one of the prop blades coming through the Nuneaton/Bedworth section, and are waiting to go on the dock to have it straightened.

They took a cup of tea from us, and we caught up on all the goss. As a result of our news about the water situation, they may well change their cruising plans and not carry on to London after all. I suspect that there will be a lot more boats around on the northern waterways this year; the water situation divides neatly between the south east and the north west, so the T&M, Shroppie and Leeds and Liverpool should have no trouble, whilst the GU, Oxford and Coventry may struggle or even close.

It's really interesting using someone else's boat. She's a fantastic boat, but we keep setting off to walk through in the wrong direction, as the saloon is in the stern. Another first for me today was lighting the Lockgate/Squirrel stove, which was very straightforward; it gives off loads of heat.